The Elevator Video: What's your take?

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Just throwing out there that Ambien can make people act subtly strange as well. Can overall appear normal and not out of it but then subtle behaviors/movements can clue you in that the person is on ambien (assuming they haven't yet fallen asleep from it). Can cause hallucinations as well. I don't see the toxicology report yet to see if they found medications/drugs in her system?
 
No tox yet but I am so glad you mentioned Ambien! That is a great alternative to all of the street drugs being tossed around. I feel ashamed for not having thought of it myself. We shouldn't assume erratic behavior is always the result of mental illness or illicit drug use.
 
Her behavior does remind me of someone under the influence of a sleeping med - much more so than the previously mentioned mdma or ghb. What I have been leaning toward is the theory that she took an ambien or similar drug prior to going to sleep on the 31st, then woke up close to midnight with the urge to use the bathroom. She went to the one on her floor, but it was in use. She earlier had used one on 14, so went up there to go. She didn't have her contacts in, was under the influence of a still active sleeping med, and then was taken advantage of. She may very well have been picked because she seemed like an easy target.
 
Threelittlepigs, let me start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed reading your analysis! You made some very interesting points and sharing your thought process was enlightening. The comments below are for the first half of your post and if I ever want to make it out of the house today the second half will have to wait! ;)


“Elisa enters the lift from the left. Her demeanour suggests that she is pretending (emphasis) to be casual but she is in fact nervous... Her body language is not that of somebody who is drunk, but somebody who is smirking and thinking to herself "I'm going to outsmart you!"”

Perfect! (in my opinion at least) I have been stuck trying to find the words to describe her demeanor at this point in the video and “I’m gonna outsmart ya!” really does have the playfulness she displays.



“She remains in the lift but can hear her chaser run, hence her cornering on the right side. But she isn't trying to flee! she is just hiding like a child playing hide n seek would do.”

I agree that she does not corner herself out of fear- she simply does not demonstrate any true fear response. Anxious? Yes. Fearing for her life? No way! Someone fearing for their life would not simply side step out of view of such a threat. You would scream bloody murder and get the hell outta there! The stairways are open so you could definitely hear sounds spanning several floors. See the photo I attached for a view.



“At 1:06 you can see her arm drop. She is completely relaxed. Would a person in danger drop her arm like this?”


Absolutely not 


“…at 1:24 she turns round and you can see both her hands are behind her head. A lot of people do this when they talk to a friend or person they feel attracted to.”


Couldn’t agree more! Why would she increase her body’s exposure to a threat? Fetal position comes to mind…


“A lot of people are saying that she tumbles at 1:26 perhaps due to intoxication but to me it looks as if somebody told her to get into the lift in a threatening manner. Perhaps she got caught by hotel staff or another guest, who told her to be quiet. “

I was thinking the tumble at 1:26 was due to the uneven floor as it transitions between carpet-metal-elevator floor. Regardless of that, I do think you are onto something with her getting caught. I saw the residents on the 14th floor and trust me when I say that the last thing they want is some young tourist playing games in their space. They have very little to their name, no more than what can fill a small hotel room. And now the owners want to take that away and give it to trendy tourists and we shouldn’t expect any backlash? Elisa playing hide n go seek could have made someone snap or decide to show some force. I suspect that privacy and paranoia related to illicit behaviors are also a factor. I saw evidence of more than one type of “business” being ran up there. At one point I felt threatened enough to hide at the end of the long fire escape hallway to avoid being seen.


“She takes the time to put her hair behind her ears. I know I do this when I want to get my hair out of my face because I foresee the need to see everything around me.”

Or… it is another example of her opening herself up/increasing exposure just like the hands above the head gesture?

More to come later today.... :)
 

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What I have been leaning toward is the theory that she took an ambien or similar drug prior to going to sleep on the 31st, then woke up close to midnight with the urge to use the bathroom. She went to the one on her floor, but it was in use. She earlier had used one on 14, so went up there to go .

From what I saw there is more than one toilet on each floor and the showers are separate. Doesn't mean both could have been occupied or that her floor had 2, but I am just throwing my observation out there.


Also, some guest rooms have private bathrooms. Do we know what floor or room she was on?
 
Forgot to mention that the upper floors seemed to be residential so I'm not sure she would have had a room on the 13th. I'm not positive on that though.
 
No tox yet but I am so glad you mentioned Ambien! That is a great alternative to all of the street drugs being tossed around. I feel ashamed for not having thought of it myself. We shouldn't assume erratic behavior is always the result of mental illness or illicit drug use.

There have been so many posts that some streams of thought have been lost in the shuffle. We did discuss Ambien a while back (March) -- here's a link to some posts on it. The hypothesis seemed to get lost among a number of more bizarre ones.

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9100620#post9100620"]Elisa Lam - What Happened? - Page 13 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]
 
Here's a couple of views looking out the elevator door

View attachment 32422

View attachment 32423
Just wondering if someone came up on the second elevator while EL was having troubles with the elevator she was trying to go to another floor and that maybe what she heard and went and stood between the 2 elevators explaining to person/persons the predicament she was in with the elevator she had been trying to use? Whoever might have told her "Well this 1 is working ride in this 1" Then she may have been attacked in the 2nd elevator? Does the 2nd elevator have a camera if so where is that footage? From photos I've seen from inside this hotel it all looks so dingy and creepy Yikes Poor girl too bad she picked this hotel to stay at :( RIP EL I hope they find her killer soon
 
Or someone else coming from the hallway or staircase who would also be reflected in the mirror.
Or someone standing in the 2nd elevator with the door open? Then when EL couldn't get her elevator too still not close the 2nd time she tried she then got into the 2nd elevator with the perp who had been waiting or acting helpful? Someone I feel was on that floor with her :( Wish she had not have left the area of the elevator that had the camera :(
 
Here's something I've always wondered about. Why did LE release such a long and strange video if it was for identification purposes only? They could have released just a few snips, such as the moment when EL re-enters the elevator and her face is quite clear. It seems to me that they wanted input on her behavior, or that someone would recognize something and come forward. They would guess that interest and speculation would be aroused by such a strange video. I'm not familiar with other cases that reveal such odd behavior to the general public so early. Then there is the strange silence afterwards. This is why I think the analysis of all angles of this video could be useful. Maybe it was just released for identification purposes, but it has always seemed to me that the police felt it could include a clue.
 
The angles don't match up for the mirror hypotheses. I attached a photo I took from what I estimated to be her position during the verbal exchange.
 
I was watching a Utube vlog and this guy stated that he heard/read EL knew sign language.
Could she have been signing to someone? Does anyone know ASL here?
 
Something I noticed, near the end of the video when she's doing the hand gestures, she seems to be bending her fingers back hard on each hand. Someone that was under the influence might do that to keep themselves from falling asleep/blacking out. Also could be done in frustration of not understanding why the elevator isn't moving. Her legs/balance definitely seems off late in the video as she steps around herself walking away at the end. I am now thinking that she may have been drugged, left the company of the person that drugged her, then eventually that person caught up with her as she was waiting out in the hallway. Things obviously went downhill from there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is not possible that she may have had a fast-acting drug in her system that was gone after her being in the tank for 20 days?
 
What I wish we could learn is when EL first came up to the 14th floor. Is there another tape showing that? Was she there briefly, or for a length of time? Did she take the stairs?

I now see most of the elevator video as consistent with someone who is severely near-sighted and not wearing contacts or glasses. It is hard to see the elevator buttons without leaning in close, and when she first goes in and out of the elevator it's because she has noticed herself in the mirror and is not quite sure whether that is herself or another individual. I have poor vision and have done that myself to reassure myself that a mirror reflection is just that.

The only strange part is the odd gestures and the hand-wringing at the end. It really looks to me like she is pressing on something brown, like a pill bottle, and fails to open it. The way her knees bend is the way that knees naturally bend when pressing down on something.

The arm waving may indicate a psychotic break, but I still have a strong feeling that something else happended. If I knew more, perhaps I would agree with the coroner's report. As it is, I have my doubts. I'm pretty sure that nothing else will happen, unless a true crime author, or someone like that, picks up on the story.
 
My post most likely won't add anything new either, but then again, at least it continues the discussion of this case (which has dried out recently), so here's my two cents:

I do not think she is drunk or under any type of drugs when she gets on the elevator. I could understand why some would think that, since her behavior is odd, but I disagree with that sentiment. To put it quite simply, people do weird things when they're alone sometimes. When I think about it, I can remember specific examples of when I felt I was alone, that I've done things similar (pretended I was being followed, talking to myself, etc). It's a very child-like quality, but one a 20-something still very much can possess. It's almost like she's "celebrating" (for lack of a better word), subconsciously, her freedom of being all alone on the floor of a hotel (which can be as desolate and abandoned as any hotel I've ever stayed at, 5 star or 1 star) playing games with herself. There is no panic that I can sense.

After she peers out to the left and right, when she jumps out of the elevator, I can imagine her yelling "HA!" There's nobody there, and she's not surprised by this -- because she never truly believed her life was in danger. Perhaps she was entertaining the thought of someone trying to get on the elevator from outside, which would've been why it wasn't moving. This is dispelled quickly after she jumps out.

When she re-enters the elevator, she's laughing at herself -- because she knows what she's doing is goofy. She puts her hands to her head, saying to herself, "am I crazy?" because she knows nobody is (nor was) following her.

The bending of her fingers on her hands, to me, is her counting the seconds it's taking for the elevator to get going. She has no idea she's pushed the hold button, so she's utterly confused as to why it isn't moving. I see frustration, in both the way she's bending her fingers and the slight buckling of her knees. The game she's playing with herself isn't funny anymore, and she's become slightly annoyed now at her predicament.

At the end, she simply wanders off on her own volition. I still wonder if she was close enough to hear the elevator doors close; if she returned after they closed. Part of me thinks she didn't -- she took the stairs, perhaps thinking she could get on the elevator on another floor (she wouldn't want to walk all the way down to the 4th floor).

In the end, I don't think this video has any direct correlation with her death. It's absolutely haunting, in every sense I can think of, but nothing substantive can be obtained in determining how she died ultimately. If anything, it illustrates her state of mind, and gives us somewhat of a timetable from which to work; so it is somewhat useful.
 
I feel that without sound so much is missing. If Elisa is reacting to something she hears (that anyone would hear, if there were sound) that changes everything. I understand a camera monitoring an elevator would be annoying with sound (usually). But, there is a school of thought that Elisa is reacting to things only in her own mind. This MIGHT be true, idk. I don't get the sense it is, but I think it is within the realm of possibility. However, we will never know because we cannot hear whatever was happening as the events in the video unfold.
 
I just finished the first EL thread (43 pgs).

I think it is important to note the police believed Elisa was alive at that point. The video does show her mannerisms and exactly how her hair looked (length, highlights, the way it fell). IF she'd been alive, it may have led to finding her.

Also, it was interesting that people posting from Asia didn't find her mannerisms at all typical of mental illness. Another reason for releasing the video, again, people can see exactly how she acted (as far as the police knew, I know her friends say this wasn't her typical behavior).

It makes me think of the video in a different way.

Also, all the elevator stuff (shots without Elisa) may have been their attempt to see if anyone else had weird experiences with that elevator.
 
BTW, I am not trying to say the LAPD is taking up elevator repair. But, if they could find someone with a similar elevator experience, they might be able to get an idea what Elisa is hearing whether it is a mechanical issue or someone out in the hall.
 
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