Elisa Lam’s case is an anomaly that raises several questions that can’t seem to be answered or universally agreed upon, making her case by far the most confounding death at Cecil’s Hotel. To simply put it, how did she fit?
On January 31, 2013, 21 year old Elisa Lam went missing in Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel. Elevator security footage, the only footage of Lam, showed her entering the elevator and committing random acts. Afterwards, she exited and never returned.
On February 19, 2013, her body was accidently found in one of the hotel’s water tanks by a maintenance worker, who only investigated the tank due to complaints of low water pressure and the tap water tasting strange. Lam was floating in the tank naked, her clothes adrift.
As it stands, nobody has concrete evidence as to how Lam’s corpse fit into such a condensed area. What’s even more chilling is that nobody knows how she went undetected for so long. In order to get to the hotel’s water tanks, Lam needed to go to the roof which was only accessible by employees via a key; if anyone else were to go through, they would’ve triggered the alarms. Having getting past the alarms, she then needed to climb onto the water tank platform, then climb a 10-foot ladder (which wasn’t there before or after her death) on the side of the tank, and open the tightly sealed lid. Afterwards, she would’ve needed to close the lid herself. The tank, however, wasn’t designed for humans to fit through. So, how could Lam manage that on her own, nevertheless, close the lid after fitting?
The released autopsy report suggests that because she was on prescribed medications to treat her bipolar disorder and depression, but not taking her antidepressants properly, caused her manic episode on the elevator. This is plausible, though this theory didn’t support the fact that she somehow snuck into the hotel’s water tank. On top of this, foul play wasn’t evident and the autopsy was incomplete due to the pathologists not being able to examine Lam’s blood because of her decomposing body. People hoped that the autopsy would bring answers, yet it only brought more questions.
With science not providing needed answers for Lam, some believe that the supernatural had something to do with her death. This isn’t surprising given the gruesome history of the hotel. Between suicides, overdoses, and murder taking place at Cecil Hotel since its genesis, some find the hotel to be haunted in some capacity. It’s believed that over 80 victims lost their lives at the hotel, many of the cases being unexplainable like Lam’s.
Will Lam’s case ever be solved? Did she commit suicide accidently or was someone or something else behind her demise? Unfortunately, with her case being closed, the world may never know.
