This is my first post. I have been drawn to this case because Elisa sounds somewhat like a younger version of me. I am of Chinese descent, grew up in Asia, travelled to the West as a single lone female when I was just a few years shy of Elisa's age. In my personal experience, mental illness is a taboo subject in Chinese families (I can't speak for all, just for those in my experience). Also, as someone who suffered from depression as a teen, and fell out with my folks, I know the urge to soul-search, to see the world, to try and make a new start, a new change in a different place, is very strong. I did it. I lived to tell the tale and I feel lucky. Though I have to admit personality-wise, I'm a bit more cautious and less sociable than Elisa. I was aware of the "darker side" of humanity from my family life, and already developed a sense of intuition and a way of sussing people out. I also have a pretty good gut feeling about people and will not hesitate to walk away or leave a place I have booked to stay in if someone in there gives me a really bad/weird vibe. I was prescribed Celexa for my anxiety/depression once, but never took to it and had really strong side effects with it even on a half dose, so I stopped (despite my doctor's warnings, etc.). Ever since then I have never really been on any psychiatric medication. Experimented with street drugs, yes. But I never liked them too much either, they left me very vulnerable and doing weird things and not thinking clearly. I like to have my wits about me. Also I have some allergies and I react to drugs of many kinds more strongly than average people it seems. So yeah although not being able to hold my drink or drugs (or even ciggie smoke for that matter) wasn't "cool" at that age, it somehow helped me to stay pretty clean off substances.
I watched the video of her in the elevator and it does seem really odd behaviour from the get go. I really don't think there is any semblance to Chinese dance movements. I just get the feeling she is not all there in the head. Whether it is a mental condition due to her illness, or if she was under the influence of a drug, I don't know. But the whole thing seems very abnormal.
I also get a very strong feeling she was alone in all of that video. I really do. I don't get the feeling at all that she was interacting with anyone - or at least, no one real. Granted there are no camera videos of what was happening outside of the elevator to support this, I can't be sure. But I get the feeling she was either talking to an imaginary friend or to herself.
Someone asked if her actions may be Asian influenced more depending on how long she's been living in Canada. Well according to this news report (
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-hotel-water-corpse) it says her parents' restaurant has been around for nine years. So give or take - maybe they were there a year or so before setting up the restaurant - I would say maybe Elisa has been in Canada for around 10 years, since the age of about 10 or 11 years old? I would say that she would probably have been more or less "Westernised" by her time of death. So no don't really think her actions are characteristic of Asians or trying to act cutesy. I also do not really believe the poster who said she might be planning a suicide and therefore did it this way to avoid bringing shame to her family. That to me, seems very far-fetched. Not even a modern Asian girl from Hong Kong or say, Singapore today cares that much about "honour" to a family to the extent of planning a suicide this way! I mean come on. Even when I was Elisa's age (that was more than 10 years ago, and I'm revealing my age, lol) I did not care that much about family "honour" when I was depressed and just wanted out of my life by travelling abroad when I could. The depression and the sense that I had to get out of my old life was so strong that it eclipsed anything else in my life - family "honour" being one of my last priorities at that point. I can't speak for her, but if she was so depressed, it makes sense that she would not have cared that much about family "honour" to want to plan an elaborate suicide (crossing a continent, finding a hotel with a water tank, working out how to use that tank to die?!) . Especially if relations between her and her family were not that great. From her Tumblr posts (and it does seem like it is hers) it sounds like she is not feeling her family understands her well. Also people like that normally leave a suicide note, don't they? If it was planned? But she didn't leave a suicide note at all, or at least it's not been reported. So I don't know, just a guess, but I just think this was not a suicide.
I do think its odd she didn't have her glasses on though. My daughter needed glasses since about 3 and she has never liked going a day without them because she can't see well without them. I don't know how bad Elisa's eyesight is. If she was under the influence of drugs though, or if she was suffering from a mental problem at that point, then yes it makes sense she would not be doing logical things like making sure she has her glasses on when going around places, like leaving her room to go in the lift to get somewhere - especially if she was going to the roof to hang out! What are the chances of falling off a high rooftop if you can't see well and don't have glasses on?
The picture posted earlier from a Chinese newspaper, taken of the inside of the water tank is interesting. It seems there are no ladders inside the water tank. So if she did go in to hide, and the tank was empty, she would probably sustain quite a big fall since she couldn't slowly ease herself in with a ladder. But the autopsy didn't say there were bruises found on her body?? Let's say the tank was full of water, and she just plopped into the water and drowned. But she was found face up and her cause of death is not ascertained from the autopsy - meaning she did not drown when she died?? I am inclined to believe she did not climb into the tank at all to die. In fact, I think her body was hidden away and then dumped in there later by someone. I am wondering, since her body was already in a state of decomposition (I don't know how a decomposed human body looks like but I imagine it would be full of mouldy green and black or blue spots perhaps?) would it make it harder for the autopsy to detect bruises sustained from say, an assault attempt on her when she was alive, say? I'm just wondering how much an autopsy on an already decomposing body that has been floating in water can reveal. If it can reveal as much at all.
Sadly I have a worry that this case may never be solved and the poor family will never have closure. But I do hope this won't be the case.
