CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013 - #2

[ceefry23]

Has anyone considered that the body might have been put in the water tank as an attempt to buy the killer some time to escape and maybe flee the country?

Attacker: I have a dead body in my room that I can't leave in my room for obvious reasons. Where can I hide it that would buy me the most time to escape? On the roof maybe? *examines roof later on* No one would ever look in this water tank.

Dude flees the country never to be seen again. He'll be the one person that checked out that the police can never find.

 

[ceefry23]

As for the flooding water.....maybe something that shouldn't be flushed was? Unrelated? Or related to the perp/s? This sounds horrible but possibly flushing a prophylactic down the toilet....?

Omfg... Or possibly someone's IDs credit cards and personal belongings??
You're on to something

 

[ceefry23]

How about this.. Attacker takes Elisa to the roof at gun point. Forces her into the water tank at gunpoint closes the lid behind her. She drowns in the tank with no signs of struggle.

 

[Indy Anna]

I don't remember seeing this posted earlier:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9002570

A toxicology report and other tests on Elisa Lam's brain and other organs have been ordered.

This is an odd statement, suggesting the possibility she did suffer from a major psychiatric disorder. "Other organs" likely implies the liver and kidneys, which filter drugs and toxins, so this would be a routine toxicology test. It is the tests on Elisa's brain that would be unusual.

 

[Sillybilly]

I really don't believe that she was on the 14th floor. I could be wrong but here are a couple screen caps I took.

The first is of the floor Elisa is on. Note my red arrows, indicating the bottom of a wall light (top arrow) and a spot on the floor where 4 tile corners meet:
..

The second is of the next floor going down, which, as I indicated in a previous post, seems to be floor 14.
..

Note the differences - no wall light and now there is a black tile where the four tile corners meet, where many screenshots I took of the floor elisa was on showed there wasn't in that particular spot on the floor on that level.

<rsbm>

Hi LittleWing, and thanks for being here, and for your great observations and hard work. I took the liberty of taking out your pics just to save space.

It is interesting that in your first pic showing the "floor tiles", it is at 2:27. Back in Thread 1, that is the point in the vid (i think i had said 2:28) where I observed what I thought could possibly be an edit of the video to delete an image of a person other than Elisa.

In looking closely at the floor tiles in the 2 pics you've provided ... the black corners of the tiles where they join up to the upright white slats on the brown wall. Those little black corners seem to line up perfectly with the wall slats in both pics. IMO, this is an indication they are one and the same floor, because I couldn't imagine tiles on two different floors being laid so precisely that the pattern would match exactly with another floor. (It's late, so i hope i'm making sense here).

I really need to think it on this, but best i put my head to it tomorrow.

 

[Indy Anna]

Or someone creeped her out so much at her room, possibly security itself (who'd have a key so she couldn't just lock them out), who may have gone away for a while. She slipped out but eventually became desperate enough to end up on the roof, thinking the best place to hide would be the water tanks, since she couldn't go down. Someone on security staff, former security, long time boarder with tight connections to certain security guards. In this scenario, part of her elevator behavior is from an earlier chapter that evening, at that point still trying to tame internal demons.

Respectfully snipped for space
BBM

If Elisa felt threatened by someone outside her room, even security personnel, she could lock them out. This video tour of the hotel shows three deadbolts on the doors @ 0:50:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlnOqmzwZuQ

Even if someone had a key to her room, Elisa could easily lock them out.

 

[ceefry23]

Also I'm the one who said that I read that the video took place around 2 am. I've gone back to find the article and I can't find it, however I do remember reading something of the sort when the video was first released. Now all I can find is about how they found a body in the water tanks.

I'm too lazy to find the guys quote that told reporters that he heard loud noises that night but didnt he say the sounds almost knocked him out of his bed? This doesn't confirm that it was 2 am but I think it suggests it was during the late night.

Here's the quote "Bernard Diaz lives in the hotel. He told KTLA that he heard a disturbing sound around the time the UBC student went missing. &#8220;It was so strong, I fell out of bed. Then the following day the water system was all plugged up.&#8221;

To me that suggests it was late at night. But he lived on the third floor and he heard ruckus on the fourth floor. Supposedly we see Elisa on the 14th or 15th floor? Is that 100%? Because I can't see an attacker leading her back to her own room then bringing her back to the roof.

I feel certain the flooding and water problems were caused by this attacker flushing her ID and some belongings maybe a phone.

Perhaps they found the phone was causing the blockage? The whole "we don't want to talk about the phone now" thing has me going

 

[LittleWing]

<rsbm>

Hi LittleWing, and thanks for being here, and for your great observations and hard work. I took the liberty of taking out your pics just to save space.

It is interesting that in your first pic showing the "floor tiles", it is at 2:27. Back in Thread 1, that is the point in the vid (i think i had said 2:28) where I observed what I thought could possibly be an edit of the video to delete an image of a person person other than Elisa.

In looking closely at the floor tiles in the 2 pics you've provided ... the black corners of the tiles where they join up to the upright white slats on the brown wall. Those little black corners seem to line up perfectly with the wall slats in both pics. IMO, this is an indication they are one and the same floor, because I couldn't imagine tiles on two different floors being laid so precisely that the pattern would match exactly with another floor. (It's late, so i hope i'm making sense here).

I really need to think it on this, but best i put my head to it tomorrow.

Hello SillyBilly

Thank you very much! That's very kind of you

That's interesting...why do you feel that the video was edited at this point? I remember talk of the footage jumping but didn't remember exactly when!

I know the exact spot you're talking about, where the tiles meet the Plinths in the back, there are those distinctive dark spots correct? I think they do match up quite a lot and I'm not sure what those anomalous spots are at all, considering the dark mini tiles are only in certain spots in the design. However I still feel there are differences.

That being said I am fairly certain than when laying tile flooring it is advised to start from the center of the room, so the flooring might be consistent because of that. I am no expert and I'm not sure where I heard this so can't provide source.

I was looking at this video of a tour of the hotel...
http://youtu.be/_zkukLsXdE0

And they stop on floor 14.... Which is painted a very distinct shade of green. And now I'm so totally confused. Lol. Is there only one set of elevators per level? Have they been repainted? Why ones the light for 14 go out when the elevator door reopens at 3.12????

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Sillybilly]

LittleWing .. I knew i should have gone to bed sooner

It was 2:58 (not 2:28) i referenced in my earlier post in Thread 1, but this will give you the gist. It was based on someone on the FB for Elisa saying the video had been edited and I thought I could see indications that might be the case:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8882063&postcount=278"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013[/ame]


The wall fixture has me thinking. We know the cam is fixed within the elevator, so IF it's the same floor, it's almost as if the camera / floor of the elevator has shifted downward a smidge and therefore doesn't capture the bottom of the fixture.

Man, this is all such a poser, but will keep plodding tomorrow.

Goodnite .. really !!

 

[otto]

It seems like she has schizophrenia with her elevator paranoia and ultimate slipping into the hotel water tank.

 

[ceefry23]

I think the footage jumps around 2:55. It's definitely messed up the door is all of a sudden half closed.. Almost like a full second Is missing. If the idea of the video being edited is
Correct than I wouldn't put it past the attacker to force her to emulate her movements with the button pressing.

 

[ceefry23]

It seems like she has schizophrenia with her elevator paranoia and ultimate slipping into the hotel water tank.

Slipping into the hotel water tank? Did you not see that thing? It's a hell of a feat to even get atop those things let alone take off the lid and get in.

 

[cath999]

From my medical point of view there is a reason the cause of death has been delayed. There are two types of drowning. Wet drowning and dry drowing. If COD was dry drowning this explains why the autopsy is inconclusive. They need to wait on toxicology because when someone dry drowns there is an absence of water in the lungs. It can also mean they were deceased before submersion. Therefore drowning cannot yet be excluded.

 

[summer_breeze]

Hello to all our newest members, and Welcome to WebSleuths!!!

:welcome6:

 

[Ruth&Montgomery]

Something I thought about during thread #1 but forgot to post was that maybe the blocked pipes between floor 3 and 4 were caused by a generic problem such as the building's age or a clog. Gravity dictates that if there was a clog between floors 3 and 4, then the water would have started pooling on 4, the floor Elisa was staying on.

She might have called front desk for a plumber, and the plumber used that opportunity to take advantage of Elisa. The plumber is the one who would have best knowledge of the water tanks and how to open them too. Maybe there is also more than one plumber (ie. working different hours of the day) and the one who fixed Elisa's pipe problem and possibly put her in the water tank, was not the same one who found her body and reported it. Or maybe it was. Or none of the above.

It seems like quite a coincidence that two incidents in the building that are related to the water source happened at such close times to each other. Come to think of it, the plumber could have even quietly blocked the pipes when she was out, or from a part of the building that doesn't involve accessing the suites, so that later when she found the problem, it gave him an excuse to come fix it and perhaps access the room when she was there.

 

[Eileen730]

Hello to all our newest members, and Welcome to WebSleuths!!!

:welcome6:

I think she was lowered down or dropped down on top of that tank not carried up.

Easy enuff from that building along side!

 

[ceefry23]

Has anyone questioned why she was in the specific tank she was in? My roommate and I noticed that the tank she's in appears to maybe be the main tank out of the 4 due to the amount of piping going into it.

Does anyone think the choice of tank was specific?

 

[ceefry23]

I think she was lowered down or dropped down on top of that tank not carried up.

Easy enuff from that building along side!

You have to climb a completely vertical ladder to get atop that building, unlikely the killer lowered Her down.

 

[commspecialist]

Maybe this is obvious, but I think she got into the elevator playfully at first, and was waiting for her new 'friend' (the attacker; and maybe he had drugged her) to join her in the elevator. But he wouldn't get on because of the surveillance camera, and when she realized this, she became a lot more nervous? The way her hands waved at the end make me think she was grabbed. All of that is just my opinion, of course, and other theories make sense too. Maybe the perp knew there was no hall camera. I've only watched the video once, though (it's so depressing and creepy )

She seemed like self-deprecating person on her blog, maybe too trusting of strangers and too diminishing of her own self-worth. It haunts me how I am around the same age and Canadian too, if I'd never moved away from Vancouver we might have been friends. I hope the perp is found andthat her family can at least have some closure, may Elisa rest peacefully

 

[Shlock Homes]

You're welcome Shlock and Ghostwheel.

I believe in thread #1 the hold door button was already mentioned, so it seems very likely that it's her fault for the door not shutting.
.......................................

So why else would someone push that many different floor buttons......?

1. Throw someone off your track
2. To be cute
3. Can't remember which floor they're on
4. Going to another floor that they don't remember which by number, but by the look of the floor (like how floor 7 is orange).
5. Sleepwalking/drugged/psychotic episode

Thanks for pointing out the Door Hold theory being mentioned in the earlier thread. I missed that.

My thoughts on the way she pressed the floor buttons. I don't think she was trying to hide from anyone, otherwise why stick to one set of buttons. I would have expected her to press floor on all three columns, in a random fashion. Not straight down.

I'm thinking now that she pressed the buttons that way because in her altered mental state (whether it was drug induced or sleepwalking), she believed that in order to go downstairs, she had to press the buttons in a down sequence. Her intention wasn't to hit all those floors. In other words, if she had been on a lower flower and wanted to go up, I think we'd see her pressing the series of buttons in an upward fashion.

Whatever happened on the elevator, it doesn't explain how she got into the water tank. As far as I'm concerned, where she ended up is unrelated. Unless someone took advantage of her in her altered mental state soon after she got off the elevator.

Someone also mentioned that maybe it's not even her in the video. I thought of that too, but then I'm sure the police took the 2 weeks or so to review it carefully before releasing the video while her case was still a missing person. Her family was probably involved in that process.