IMO, in the case of a suspicious death we have to assume that there is or could have been a perp. To come to the conclusion that "it could have been an accident therefore let's rule out homicide until we know for sure" gives room for the perp to slip away.
If the police took that approach to crime, there'd never be any justice.
I don't think there is much chance of catching the perp if there was one. Why do I say that? I didn't see anyone collecting any evidence that could be used to determine who the perp was. Unless she was sexually assaulted and dna can determine who the assailant was how is the perp going to be found?
If you look at the live news video taken from a helicopter above the Cecil Hotel showing the firefighters climbing all over the tanks, the reporter who is flying in the helicopter says that "apparently this call came out just a little over an hour ago"
So a little over an hour before this live shot was taken is when the maintenance man or the staff at the hotel called called 911 reporting that a body had been found in the water tank. Every homicide investigation I have ever followed crime scene services (CSI) is called, the crime scene is secured, individuals are logged in and logged out as to know who might of contaminated the scene, photos are taken, measurements are taken, possible evidence is collected, and an investigation that takes hours is conducted before the body is ever moved, ect, ect, ect. BUT in this case every fireman in the department is climbing all over the roof and the tanks only a little over hour after the "call came in". The fire department is then trying to remove her body and eventually had to cut a hole in the side of the tank to remove her that way. WHAT I didn't see was any investigators (CSI) collecting evidence, although I did see one photographer with a camera in some of the still photos. Ya, I did see some guys in suits on the roof too who were likely investigators from the LAPD, but they didn't look like they were actually looking or collecting evidence, they looked like they were more worried about staying dry holding their umbrella's.
This is also the same reporter who said that the body was floating face up (which we all know bodies float face down) It was also reported that the body was "wedged" in the tank by MSM. Who was right, who was wrong?
Wedged in the tank means to me that the body was caught in the pipes somehow inside of the tank which makes more sense to me than floating (face up or face down) because this would have likely explained the cause in the reduction in water pressure if the body was obstructing the inflow of water to the pipe leading to the rooms in the hotel and everyone should know that the intake pipe for a water tank would be near the bottom of the tank.
Now the big question for me is how did this reporter, who is flying around in a helicopter above the hotel a little over an hour after the call came in, know if the body was floating face up? Did he land and take a look? Did he call one of the firemen on the roof who was looking into the tank and ask? Did he call and talk to the maintenance man or hotel staff within that hour to know for sure that this body was found floating face up? Was it reported on the scanner? (Car 51 we have a body floating "face up" in the water tank on the roof of the Ceclil Hotel, respond code one) I don't think so. The one thing I'm sure of is LE didn't call this reporter and tell him that the body was floating, much less face up. I think this reporter is just doing what he does best and that is sensationalizing the story.
JMO
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9_X4kgxZwU"]Body of Missing Tourist Elisa Lam, 21, Found in Cecil Hotel Water Tank LOS ANGELES - YouTube[/ame]
