My translation of a Chinese news article on Yahoo! News China published today (thanks to four_seasons again for directing me to this) :
http://news.cn.yahoo.com/ypen/20130302/1633648.html
Legendary inspector Dr. Henry Lee speaks about Elisa Lam's case : "This may not be a suicide".
There has been widespread international publicity on Elisa Lam's mysterious case. On 25th February 2013, our reporters from NanDu Daily got in touch with the legendary inspector Dr. Henry Lee. Nicknamed "The Chinese Sherlock Holmes", Dr. Lee has over 50 years of experience in law enforcement. He has worked on over 8000 cases. Some of the cases he was involved in include the reinvestigation of John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the JonBenet Ramsay case, and other famous cases. After his retirement, he set up the National Cold Case Centre at the University of New Haven's Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science.
Dr Henry Lee has been paying a lot of attention to the Elisa Lam case. Dr Lee is an avid proponent of the principle : "Let the evidence speak for itself". In his telephone interview with us, he uses his expertise to analyse the Elisa Lam case.
"This may not be a suicide."
NanDu : What are your views on the case?
Henry Lee : As I am not directly involved in this investigation, I can only offer an analysis based on information given by various news reports. It has been reported that her dead body was found in a water tank. So there can only be 2 reasons for this : She ended up in the tank on her own, or someone murdered her.
The manner of death is not the same as the cause of death. In America, there are 5 manners of death : Suicidal, Homicidal, Accidental, Natural, or Undetermined. And then there are about 30 causes of death, including drowning, poisoning, gunshot wound, stab wound, etc. This is why when a case like Elisa's occur, the first thing to do would be to ascertain whether she died before she entered water, or after. This is not difficult, because her abdomen and lungs can be examined to see if any water has entered them; her windpipe can be examined to see if the micro organisms inside are similar to the ones found in the tank, etc. Now the second thing to do would be to ascertain if she has any external or internal injuries. Then the third thing would be to see if there are any traces of drugs, alcohol, medications, etc. left in her system. Once we have obtained the results of these examinations, we can then evaluate and conclude this case. In the beginning, many media outlets speculated that Elisa committed suicide based on the circumstances, but this is not necessarily the case.
NanDu : Is it difficult to do all these medical examinations on her?
Henry Lee : The process can be roughly broken down into 3 steps. The first step is the autopsy. This ascertains if she has any stab wounds, strangulation injuries or gunshot wounds, if she had been beaten, knocked out, etc. This is usually very easy for the examiner to find out. Examining her abdomen and lungs for signs of water - this is also pretty straightforward. The second step - if Elisa had used any typical drugs or medications, this will be ascertained through the toxicology test, which is normally completed in 1 to 2 days. But to test for more unusual poisons or drugs in her system would require very specialised drug analysis that will require her specimens to be sent to a select few laboratories worldwide - these are the only places in the world which can conduct such specialised drug tests. The third step would be to look at Elisa's past medical history, see if she had any prior mental illness, and making comparisons between X-rays taken of her before her death, and after.
In addition, the water tank will be examined. What is its height? Was it locked previously? Would she have been able to climb up the tank? Can we find her fingerprints on the tank? I heard it reported that her body was found naked. Is that true? Or was she actually clothed? If she was found nude, then were there any of her personal items left behind between the time she left her room and just before she entered the tank? These questions will have to be answered by very experienced experts in this field.
"Let the evidence speak for itself, do not jump to conclusions."
NanDu: Going by the information we have been given by the media, do you have any opinions about what might have happened to Elisa?
Henry Lee : It is very hard to rely on information found on the Web. Even though the case has been published online and in newspapers, those involved in the investigation would normally prefer not to comment on the case, because we know that the information given out in the media is not often accurate. I don't usually have any opinions on cases because I think its more important to examine the evidence, let the evidence speak for itself. It is very important to take an absolutely unbiased attitude when investigating a case. Us investigators cannot jump to conclusions. If it really is the case that Elisa was found nude as per reports on the internet, then of course that makes the circumstances of her death suspicious. If she committed suicide, then it will be necessary to see if she had left a suicide note. Its very easy to find out if she had left any suicide note. Some people said perhaps she had got involved in a romantic situation that went wrong. All of these are just rumours. Without hard evidence, it is very hard to make any conclusions.
NanDu: So does that mean that its dangerous to make hasty assumptions?
Henry Lee : I believe we must go by hard evidence. The simplest thing to do is to wait for the investigating departments and the Coroner's office to release their investigation and autopsy reports. These are all official documents, so they will be publicly released. After that, we can then begin to analyse and review the case. In past investigations that I was involved in, it was apparent that even the most legit news sources can be biased and misleading - needless to say, internet sources are worse.
NanDu : There is surveillance footage of Elisa in an elevator. Are you aware of it?
Henry Lee : Oh yes, that video. It only shows her in the elevator. The police have made a portion of the video public - I'm sure the police possess more video footage of her other than that. We are also not certain at what time that video was taken. This is why it can be so misleading. We don't know if the police purposely released that video clip of her doing those actions. We don't know what the true intentions of the police were when they released that video. She was waiting for the elevator, but which floor was she on? For how long had she been loitering in and around the elevator? We just don't know the exact details.
"Solving a case is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle."
NanDu : According to American media sources, initial autopsy findings showed she had no signs of trauma or injury?
Henry Lee : Even if she had no signs of trauma or injury, there are still other questions to be answered : Where did her clothes end up? Were her clothes and shoes in her room? Were they found next to the water tank? This aspect would be publicly reported straight away. If I were an investigator on the scene, the first thing I'd be looking for would be her clothes, bags, purses, handphones, etc. These are personal items that modern girls usually have on them, so where are they? The surveillance footage taken of her already tells us what she was wearing on that day, so the first step must be to find these personal items of hers. After that, we need to look at whether she left any suicide notes in her room, whether there are any signs of a struggle that took place in her room, whether there are any cup(s), beer/wine/spirits bottle(s), or miscellaneous items left behind in her room. If beer/wine/spirits bottle(s) are found in her room, then laboratory tests will be conducted on any traces left behind in the bottle(s). If there are any cup(s) found in her room, then its much easier. Laboratory tests will be conducted on any traces left behind on the cup(s) and the results will be compared with what can be found in her body.
Also, we can find out from her handphone who were the last people she spoke to on the phone. The elevator footage should also tell the time and date of when the footage was recorded. It is imperative to form a detailed timeline of events starting from the day she was last seen alive. For this sort of case, this would require a lot of witnesses, soft and hard evidence, and they have to be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. At present all we have to go on is information available from media outlets and online. For this reason I am very reluctant to comment too much on this case.
NanDu : The Cecil Hotel has been the scene of many crimes. What is your opinion on this?
Henry Lee : The area around that hotel is not very safe, but that in itself doesn't prove she was murdered. It is very important to see if her body has any injuries, if there are any signs of sexual assault, and to find out why her body ended up in that water tank. Is it because the perpetrator didn't want to be found out? If the web reports are indeed true - if her body was really found to be naked - then of course her death becomes very suspicious and it would be imperative to find her clothes, whether they have been ripped/shredded, if there are any traces of mud, bodily fluids, hairs, etc. on them.
NanDu : Did the LAPD invite you to assist with this case?
Henry Lee : No. I have retired many times before. I am already out of the game. I am still involved in work at the National Cold Case Centre at the University of New Haven. If the Elisa Lam case remains unsolved for a long time, then it will be passed on to the National Cold Case Centre and we will assist in any way we can to solve this case. In America over 30% of cases so far have remained unsolved. There are on average 6000 to 7000 cases to solve every year. In addition, there are 20,000 to 30,000 sexual offence cases that remain unsolved as yet. So many cases go unsolved because of insufficient clues. And they become cold cases - unsolved cases. Now that I'm already retired, my National Cold Case Centre assists police forces worldwide - particularly the American police force, and we specialise in solving cold cases. If the LAPD does eventually announce they are unable to solve this case, and ask for assistance from the National Cold Case Centre, then we will assist. America is made up of many jurisdictions. It is not up to me to decide whether I will be investigating a particular case, no matter how much I may wish to.
