CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013 - #3

[agnostic98]

Did I read it correctly that her body was found nude, broken limbs with lid locked?

Great read, thanks!

Yes that's what the Chinese article said. I find it amazing that all the Chinese articles always give much more information than anything available in the western media outlets, with the American news being the most conservative, and Canadian ones giving slightly more info, and the Chinese media seem to know everything including pinpointing which floor she was on, how she was found (nude with all 4 limbs broken), and even the prime suspect already detained! Based on this I would take the information with a grain of salt until we get a bit more further confirmation, although there's a chance the Chinese media is more aggressive and thus has more leaked information.

 

[smeinzer]

if you don't mind me asking, where did you get the idea of going to the roof, or is it something you often do in hotels to get the glimpse of the sunset?

just trying to piece if elisa would have gotten the idea of taking a pic for her blog prior to leaving, as most of the theories has been she was "lured" onto the roof.

thanks!

You nailed it. I do this at MOST hotels I go to. Have for years. As I stated in a previous post I am a photographer and I am always looking for new vantage points. It's also a bit of an adventure because all hotels are different. The big draw recently is to launch an RC helicopter off the top of a roof and get a shot that is impossible from launching from the ground.

 

[ceefry23]

Yes, I agree her room is on the 4th floor, I believe she somehow made the mistake of going to the 14th floor by accident, and she tried to use her key on the wrong room.

I know, this seems far fetched, but I've been working in hotels for years, and this kind of thing happens. Almost always, the person in the room is freaked out, thinking someone's trying to break in their room. Now consider a hotel in Skid Row, where chances are someone IS trying to break in your room, and chances are you're a paranoid drug addict.

Again that was my exact impression as well.

I made that connection due to her bad eyesight maybe she pressed 14 instead of 4. Walked around couldnt find her room and perhaps saw something she wasnt supposed to see. In an attempt to get out of there shes caught and killed.

Now I believe her sight isnt a problem at all. Shes probably had a drink or two too many at that point and thats what making her lean in close. I wouldnt be surprised if she had contacts on too.

Also the decor of the fourth floor is much much different than the decor of the 14th. I would bet to say even if youre blind as a bat you would notice the difference in decor instantly. This is proven in the video. The first two floors we see look the same, then the third floor looks significantly different. Why? because that is the 7th floor.. which is part of where Elisa was staying (The Stay Hotel floors 4-7)

 

[smeinzer]

I hope smeinzer will be able to recall if there was a mirror next to the elevators on the 15th floor.

Again I wish I be 100% sure but I am not. I do think that I remember seeing mirrors at MOST if not all of the floors at the hotel though.

 

[Chorley8]

http://theplanettraveler.com/

Thanks to previous poster - so this is apparently where she stayed in Toronto - near Kensington Market, University of Toronto "green" hostel fits with everything we know about her and shows what she might have been looking for the trusting the website at the Cecil.

So she probably visited the BMV bookstore near Brunswick on Bloor - sorry I realize this hardly seems germane - but you never know, meet ups etc. Street with name of the hotel in Toronto in the vicinity of the hostel just thinking maybe as she did picking up words ideas she does seem that way.

Of course we all hope LAPD has the person already that would be ideal - hope they don't browbeat anyone into it though - not that they would try - but it can happen.

 

[hopeitcanhelp]

I can say with a good amount of certainty that both elevators had the 15th floor button while we were there. At least until "Elevator 1" went out of order and we were unable to access that elevator.

Thank you, this is important info.

So the button to the 15th floor was removed after your stay. Maybe by law enforcement, for analysis? Or else by hotel staff, to prevent people from going to that floor for, although people could go to 14 and then walk up to 15.

And again I'm almost 100% certain she was on the 15th floor. The colors match better than 14th.

 

[ceefry23]

And what if the other floors also had their wallpapers repainted like the 14th floor?

Don't forget that piece of new info.

What other floors? I assume floors 8-15 all were renod to look like the pictures we see today.

I wouldnt put any stock in a youtube video made in 2010 or so. These pictures we are seeing are said to be very recent even within 2013.


Turk Im still interested in hearing your answer to the biggest hole in your theory of it being the 15th floor. That is Why do the first two floors look the same, then the third floor looks different?

In your theory the elevator is shown starting at 15 then..14..then10? Am I right? So what makes 10 so special that it looks like that? and why do 14 and 15 look the same and 10 looks different?

Because it isnt 10. Its 7. Damn man it seems so obvious. All floors (8-15) probably look the exact same. Id bet my house on it.

 

[Justiceforever]

Whew...I'm having a hard time "catching up" and "keeping" up at the same time!!

 

[ceefry23]

Elevator out of service
The "Elevator 1" was out of service on the 7th and 8th. It was just stuck on the 7th floor. This is probably totally unrelated but I thought I'd mention it just in case there is something to it.

Snipped ^^^^^

Which elevator was that? Looking at the elevators was it the left one or the right one?

 

[smash the stack]

On her 1st attempt or 2nd attempt?

If you are talking about the 1st attempt, I still believe the elevator door closes due to her pressing the DOOR HOLD button on that exact moment at 3:13 in the CCTV recording when it was about to close.

Ok.. 1st time she hits it I think is at :13 seconds in.

Door closes at 2:58.. so that's 2 minutes and 45 seconds roughly for the timer on the door hold.. don't like it.

Now.. I will go with you on the second attempt, because even though we can't see exactly when she hits the button.. we can safely assume it happens between 1:34 and 1:50 in the video.. again.. door closes at 2:58.. which is anywhere from 1 minute 24 seconds to 1 minute 8 seconds.. neither of which would seem to be a number anyone would program for a door hold.

Now.. I do notice the timer on the camera stops a few times and motion detection has been mentioned.. so really all of this amounts to conjecture because of that fact.

The point is we really have no way of knowing whether it was her actions or the actions of someone else that ULTIMATELY KEPT the door open.

We do know that her inadvertent pressing of the button did cause the door to remain open at first, at the very least.

 

[smeinzer]

Thank you, this is important info.

So the button to the 15th floor was removed after your stay. Maybe by law enforcement, for analysis? Or else by hotel staff, to prevent people from going to that floor for, although people could go to 14 and then walk up to 15.

And again I'm almost 100% certain she was on the 15th floor. The colors match better than 14th.

This is interesting... It must have been on Feb 8th or soon after that. The last time I remember using that elevator was late the night of the 8th. The morning of the 9th it was stuck on the 7th floor for the rest of the duration of my stay.

 

[walklikeacat]

THANK YOU FEI!! That is a huge piece of information and I think even gives us our main suspect. MR.R. Why would these people suspect their own friend of murder?? thats so wild.

That elevator is missing the 15th button. Thats why shes on the 14th floor because the elevator button to 15 is gone! Wow what a tip this is.

When she start to push these buttons I have always thought she push or were about to push a button to the right on the right row. It seems like that at 0:07. She stays there on the right for a short while. Was it because this button was gone?

 

[Kaliste]

Of course... No offense taken at all. I totally understand. And also... I'm glad you mentioned that. I had my dates wrong haha. We checked in on the 7th and checked out on the 10th. Please adjust my dates in the previous post accordingly.

Here is my receipt for my stay... I booked through Hotel Tonight.

Unfortunately we didn't shoot too many photos up there because the shots just weren't that great. My brother did get this shot though. The water tanks are directly behind where I am standing (I am up on the ledge of the building looking out)

As for the photo of the fire escape exit... It looked very similar expect that the window did not have any blinds over it. The window was cracked and had a little resistance but was easy to push open. There was no alarm present on the window. After we were out on the fire escape it was VERY easy to get up the ladder. the ladder came almost all the way down to the metal platform we were standing on. This is the fire escape we used.

After we were on the roof, we stayed for about 15-20 minutes and did not see any security all. In fact the only place I ever SAW security was in the lobby.

Hope that helps. I would happy to answer any other questions people might have.

Just catching up but welcome! And thanks for the insight.

 

[Justiceforever]

Could the button to the 15 th floor been removed by LE? Perhaps they were still investigating something on that floor and removing the button was the easiest way to keep people from accessing it.

 

[smeinzer]

Elevator out of service
The "Elevator 1" was out of service on the 7th and 8th. It was just stuck on the 7th floor. This is probably totally unrelated but I thought I'd mention it just in case there is something to it.

Snipped ^^^^^

Which elevator was that? Looking at the elevators was it the left one or the right one?

I am pretty sure elevator 1 was the left elevator. I remember using the right elevator consistently after that day.

 

[Turk February]

What other floors? I assume floors 8-15 all were renod to look like the pictures we see today.

I wouldnt put any stock in a youtube video made in 2010 or so. These pictures we are seeing are said to be very recent even within 2013.


Turk Im still interested in hearing your answer to the biggest hole in your theory of it being the 15th floor. That is Why do the first two floors look the same, then the third floor looks different?

In your theory the elevator is shown starting at 15 then..14..then10? Am I right? So what makes 10 so special that it looks like that? and why do 14 and 15 look the same and 10 looks different?

Because it isnt 10. Its 7. Damn man it seems so obvious. All floors (8-15) probably look the exact same. Id bet my house on it.

Calm down ceefry.

We're both trying to figure out the truth together comparing contradictions.

I'm not here to battle out theories and prove whose fact is 100% correct. Like I said before, I ALWAYS thought from the beginning that Elisa was on the 14th floor.

It was only until LittleWing showed me that new contradiction on 3:13 in the video when the very top button suddenly goes dark, making me think otherwise -- and if she was actually on the 15th floor based on the new info coming in today and days previously.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjVBpyTeZM"]Elisa Lam Video - YouTube[/ame]




However, before I comment any further -- does the basement button also light up when pressed?

Somebody here said it was security locked (which is a bit baffling if it's right out in the open for anybody to press) and doesn't light up. This can't be confirmed however since they haven't provided any proof that they were at the Cecil Hotel, unlike smeinzer who has verified earlier on this thread showing the e-receipt of the Stay At Main that smeinzer was in fact at the Cecil Hotel on dates Feb.7th-10th.

Can we somehow confirm if the B (Basement) button does light up? The DOOR HOLD button didn't light up by the way when Elisa Lam pressed it.

 

[FutzBucket]

Again that was my exact impression as well.

I made that connection due to her bad eyesight maybe she pressed 14 instead of 4. Walked around couldnt find her room and perhaps saw something she wasnt supposed to see. In an attempt to get out of there shes caught and killed.

Now I believe her sight isnt a problem at all. Shes probably had a drink or two too many at that point and thats what making her lean in close. I wouldnt be surprised if she had contacts on too.

Also the decor of the fourth floor is much much different than the decor of the 14th. I would bet to say even if youre blind as a bat you would notice the difference in decor instantly. This is proven in the video. The first two floors we see look the same, then the third floor looks significantly different. Why? because that is the 7th floor.. which is part of where Elisa was staying (The Stay Hotel floors 4-7)

Wouldn't surprise me if she had a few drinks, but I don't think she was drunk.

As for her not noticing the decor, keep in mind she's been traveling for a while now. Eventually people start looking the same, places start looking the same.

See, the strangeness in this video is caused by the collision of two completely different worlds. One world is this sweet, love everyone world (in camera), and the other is this sick, hate everyone world (out of camera).

 

[Fei]

10th floor (reporter checked in on 2/24, photo taken on 2/24 or later)

More pics: LINK

 

[agnostic98]

The 15th floor button was dug out on the elevator Elisa was in? Strange.

Was it recently done before the CCTV video done on late hours of Jan31st - early hour of Feb.1st?

Why was that button dug out to begin with? Was there somebody trying to cover up their tracks?

smeinzer, do you recall going on the elevator around Feb.7th-10th during your stay there at the Cecil Hotel/Stay At Main and notice the 15th floor button missing?

Elisa Lam Video - YouTube

I don't think you can jump to that conclusion just yet. That still does not disprove her being on the 15th floor already and then the elevator going down the 14th floor after. I'm just not convinced yet.



And remember, she could of simply took the stairwell up the 15th floor.

In the article Fei referred to the people stayed in the hotel very recently, like around Feb 23, so that's when the 15th floor button is dug out, perhaps related with the investigation. I don't think this button was dug out earlier before the body was found.

 

[ceefry23]

The biggest reason I lean on the side of
Disagreeing with your theory, is that I do not see why/how a random guest would know of or think of hiding a body in the water tanks.

I'm also having trouble, short of being a psychopath, understanding what the motive this random guest would have to murder elisa.

The water tanks would provide the absolute most amount of time for escape. The roof would do sure, but wouldnt be nearly as good as being inside one of those tanks. This is proven by the police probably missing the body when they did their searches.

Elisa IMO was in those tanks for 3 weeks approx. Feb 1st (the day she was last seen alive) and Feb 18th (the day she was found)

And who knows if she hadnt clogged the tanks how much longer it would have been before someone looked in their.

Her body was discovered by a worker, not even the police could find her.


My Guess is the perp wasnt intending to murder elisa. Either 1 he wanted to have sex with her and either thru force (as is being reported now by asian papers) or by drugs he ended up killing her. Im guessing it wasnt at all the plan but happened and created a problem for whoever did it.

In the interest of not getting caught he takes the body up to the roof and hides it in the water tank.

Does that answer your question?

Also people also consider this. ELISA MAY HAVE DIED BY HER OWN DOING. Just throwing this out there but maybe whoever Elisa was with wasnt a bad guy at all. Maybe this person just wanted to do what any young person wants to do and that is drink and have fun. Its possible with what we know about her medications that she probably shouldnt be drinking if she is on many meds. Maybe the booze and pills killed her and the unfortunate guy she was with just hid the body because he was afraid of getting accused of murder.