TW: mentions of suicide, drowning

The last moments of Elisa Lam’s life became a viral sensation when videos were released of the 21-year-old’s erratic behavior in the Los Angeles Cecil Hotel on January 31, 2013. Her body was found just 4 weeks later inside a water tank on the roof of the hotel. Although Lam’s death was determined to be an accidental drowning, the public became wary of how she ended up in the water tank, leading to the curation of theories regarding her death.

Elisa Lam pictured in the center

Early Life

Elisa Lam was born on April 30, 1991. Her family had immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada where they opened a restaurant in British Columbia. Following the move, Lam decided to take a trip to Los Angeles, California for the first time…alone. She arrived in Los Angeles on January 26 and checked into the Cecil Hotel just two days later. Initially, she was assigned a shared room, but her roommates complained about her odd behavior, and she was moved to a room of her own.

Lam was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and prescribed four medications to sooth her symptoms: Wellbutrin, Lamictal, Seroquel, and Effexor. Her family said that Lam had no history of suicidal ideations or attempts, but she had gone missing for a brief period.

Lam documented her mental illness on her blog titled Ether Fields. In a post from January 2012, she wrote about her relapse that caused her to drop several classes at her university, leaving her feeling “so utterly directionless and lost.” The post was titled “You’re always haunted by the idea you’re wasting your life.” She later abandoned Ether Fields and created a new blog on Tumblr called Nouvelle-Nouveau.

Post taken from Elisa Lam’s Blog.

Disappearance

On February 1, 2013, Lam was scheduled to leave the hotel and leave for Santa Cruz. After being in contact with their daughter everyday for the entirety of her trip, Lam’s parents called the Los Angeles Police Department when they did not hear from her that day.

When police arrived, they searched Lam’s room which still had her belongings inside including a wallet, ID, and her laptop. Police also had search dogs go through her room and the roof, but they were unable to pick up her scent.

Eventually, the police issued assistance from the public and released a video showing Lam inside an elevator in Cecil. The public found her behavior strange; she was pressing numerous buttons, looking out of the elevator, moving into a corner, stepping outside the elevator and waving her hands. This video sparked nationwide interest into Lam’s disappearance and sparked many theories about the case. Below is the video that was released to the public:

Body Found

After missing for a few weeks, a few guests at the hotel claimed that there was low water pressure and that the water was colored black and had an unusual taste. On February 19, 2013, a maintenance worker checked the water tanks on the roof of the hotel and found Lam’s body.

Water tanks located on top of Cecil Hotel

Investigation

After finding Lam’s body in the water tank, further investigations took place to figure out what happened. Hotel staff claimed that access to the roof was restricted to employees only and the staircase leading to the roof was locked and equipped with an alarm. There were also fire escapes that led to the roof.

Following an autopsy and toxicology test, the cause of death was an accidental drowning. There were no signs of physical trauma and no drugs that could have contributed to her death. There was mention that Lam’s bipolar disorder could have played a significant role in her death.

The lead investigator of the case believed that Lam went off her medication and fell into a state of mania, leading her to find her way to the roof and climb into the water tank. This claim was not satisfactory to the public eye. Lam would have needed to make it to the roof, through the locked and alarmed door (or through fire escapes), climb up a 10 foot ladder on the side of the tank, and open the heavy lid of the water tank before climbing inside.

Although the coroner has confirmed the cause of death, many people are wary and unsatisfied with the answers provided.

Sources

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/elisa-lam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam

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