CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013 - #1

[canadiansleuth]

I've watched the video and it seems more like a mental issue than drug intoxication. She is at the age when females begin to show symptoms of schizophrenia.

I agree, I think its schizophrenia as well. I've been studying schizophrenia videos on youtube and I really believe that Elisa was hallucinating in the elevator.

 

[LaborDayRN]

I agree, I think its schizophrenia as well. I've been studying schizophrenia videos on youtube and I really believe that Elisa was hallucinating in the elevator.

It would be great if Pensfan would take a look at the video and give a professional opinion.

 

[Livvy]

VERY creepy video! After watching it quite a few times in full screen, I noticed something that I didn't notice before... right before she is not seen again, her feet actually leave the floor while she is doing the finger counting movements. Like someone is jerking her up or back. Gave me the creepiest feeling... I really hope Elisa is ok somewhere.

 

[Seajay]

It looked to me like she was playing with someone in the hallway. I noticed that when she had her back to the elevator she appeared to be talking to someone or "singing out" to them right before she jumped out and looked to the right. It was like she was playing peek-a-boo with someone in the hallway. I wonder if there was a little kid out there? Then she goes back in and back out, then does the hand gestures. I was wondering if she was playing some little finger game or song with whoever was in the hallway. She looked playful to me. JMO.

 

[Sillybilly]

Worried Canuck here, following along with the rest of you and hoping Elisa will be found safe. I haven't been able to watch the video because i'm on a mobile connection, but you've all provided a pretty good description of its content.

Just a couple of really mild observations that aren't very helpful:

WRT whether or not she was sharing washroom facilities, could be the case given she has no purse, eyeglasses, or phone, etc with her and is dressed very casually. However, i would think any shared facility would be on the same floor as her room (?) in which case she would not need to be taking the elevator.

I note some discrepancy in MSM reports wrt how long she had been in LA (some 4 days, some indicating she arrived Jan 26 and last seen Jan 31 which would already be 5 nights at the Cecil if she stayed there since her arrival). I also note in one of the recent articles that her family are staying with friends while in the LA area, so makes me wonder how many people they know down there.

She is a very beautiful young lady, and needs to be found.

 

[Sillybilly]

Is it normal for the homicide division to be involved in missing person cases in the USA?

ETA: I notice in Pics 1 and 8 of the yelp photos, there does not appear to be a separate shower stall in the washrooms. The photo contributor comments on Pic 1 " .... where the curtain is it goes to the right and there is your shower. Take FLIP FLOPS!" Elisa did appear to be wearing flip flops or sandals.

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/ceci...0XWlhUYap81ZxsIiz5llZw#-OWLhagZg5E7tpXwXfn8Fw

 

[shmip]

The more I think about it, the more I think Elisa's disappearance is not as plain as it seems. Anyone, whether normal or with disorders, will not be able to survive without money and without contacts for over 2 weeks.

I think it could be the case that she may have been abducted and then the abductors contacted her family for ransom money, perhaps via her cell phone. This could explain why her family and the police have revealed so little about the case and especially the reluctance to discuss about the cell phone.

 

[Karenlisam]

I agree, I think its schizophrenia as well. I've been studying schizophrenia videos on youtube and I really believe that Elisa was hallucinating in the elevator.

I just can't decide
A hallucination wouldn't stop the elevator closing though - I think there must be someone holding the button outside

 

[Catchew]

It looked to me like she was playing with someone in the hallway. I noticed that when she had her back to the elevator she appeared to be talking to someone or "singing out" to them right before she jumped out and looked to the right. It was like she was playing peek-a-boo with someone in the hallway. I wonder if there was a little kid out there? Then she goes back in and back out, then does the hand gestures. I was wondering if she was playing some little finger game or song with whoever was in the hallway. She looked playful to me. JMO.

I completely agree. The more I watch the video with this theory in mind, the more it seems to me that she was playing and that both times she exits the elevator she is speaking with someone, possibly someone familiar that she has met while staying at the hotel/hostel.

 

[jojowood]

I think if someone was holding the button you'd see them or see some sort of shadow of them.. is it possible the elevator wasn't working correctly? I have had the same happen to me where the door wouldn't close unless you pressed the close door button..

 

[mollymae]

So LE has said they were looking to see if there were any bank transactions related to Elisa since her disappearance. I wonder why they haven't said anything further? I get the feeling LE has more information, but they're holding their cards close to their chest for whatever reason. The fact that the homicide squad is investigating cements this even further in my mind. I wonder if LE has reason to believe Elisa had met someone and they released the video in the hopes of getting a tip of who it was?

I don't think Elisa is playing a game in the video. If she'd met people her own age and went to play games with them, why wouldn't she wear her glasses? I also don't think it's normal for people that age to be playing hide and seek or elevator tag. I mean, it's possible - but not that common.

I feel like with these kinds of cases, the most obvious explanation is usually the right one. You've got a young girl traveling alone who's staying in a hotel known for crime and drugs (i read one review where the person said the room beside theirs was sealed off with coroner's tape!) She's acting drugged in the video and now she's disappeared. I maintain she was either unwillingly drugged and taken advantage of or she willingly took some kind of drug, wandered off and met with some kind of misadventure.

 

[Snoopster]

The more I think about it, the more I think Elisa's disappearance is not as plain as it seems. Anyone, whether normal or with disorders, will not be able to survive without money and without contacts for over 2 weeks.

I think it could be the case that she may have been abducted and then the abductors contacted her family for ransom money, perhaps via her cell phone. This could explain why her family and the police have revealed so little about the case and especially the reluctance to discuss about the cell phone.

Good thinking, shmip. I don't think it's an abduction for ransom though. If it was, I don't think LE would have held a presser.

Sillybilly highlights the fact that LA homicide (actually the Robbery-Homicide Division) was involved right from the beginning. That implies to me that her personal belongings are in her room and they know of something else suspicious....i.e. they suspect foul play. Was there evidence of a crime scene in her room? LE clearly has more to go on than they are sharing with the public.

They have said she was last seen in the outfit she is seen on the video. That attire strikes me as 'go to the shared bathroom' attire. If LE just wanted to show her attire they could have just released a couple of still photos from the video, yet they released that unusual video. Why?


From the LAPD website:

The Missing Persons Unit (MPU) investigates approximately 3200 adult Missing Person (M/P) reports annually, or 250 to 300 reports per month.

Since being a missing person is not a crime, police are given a very limited role while conducting these types of investigations. As a general rule, all people have a right to be left alone, and police intrusion into their lives must be minimal. However, in cases where “foul-play” exists, police can investigate just like any other criminal act. Also, in cases where the missing person is “endangered” due to medical problems, or life-threatening situations, police will take appropriate investigative measures.

http://www.lapdonline.org/lapd_adult_missing_persons_unit

It was the Missing Persons Unit (MPU) that investigated this missing Italian tourist situation last summer:
http://www.lapdonline.org/west_bureau/news_view/51149
This man was feared to possibly be suffering from depression.

So why would the RHD be investigating Elisa's disappearance? I believe it is because the request to investigate came from the RCMP as opposed to 'just' the family. I believe that LE said that in the presser. (Other possible reasons possible reasons for RHD involvement, based solely on reading the RHD webpage, are extortion, abduction or human trafficking.)

Requests from outside law enforcement agencies.

http://www.lapdonline.org/detective_bureau/content_basic_view/6262


Where are you Elisa. I hope that you've just wandered off and will be found soon!

lease:

 

[summer_breeze]

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/An...ng+missing+Vancouver+woman/7933565/story.html

By JESSICA BARRETT, Vancouver Sun February 7, 2013 12:14 PM

<snipped>

Bump! FWIW

<snipped>

Lam's family notified Vancouver police of her disappearance when daily contact with the woman ceased on Jan. 31. Vancouver police in turn notified the LAPD and the case is now being handled by the department's robbery and homicide division, which is standard protocol for cases involving foreign nationals, said LAPD Officer Tenesha Dobine Thursday.

 

[dotr]

Everything in that video seems contradictory - actions that appear related to drugs, drinking or psychosis, but could also be received in a completely humorous way by home-made (ish) video loving youth.Thinking of the utube " Harlem Shake" phenomenon...

 

[jetsetsam]

More thoughts since reading posts and comments from LAPD.

I've changed my mind.

I don't think she is drugged or unbalanced.

She looks like she is in a positive, clear-headed, kind of playful frame of mind when she gets into the elevator. And she doesn't seem spooked when she moves in and out of the elevator. Again, kind of playful.

And it looks like she moved out of the elevator to talk with someone she is obviously comfortable with. She is clearly laughing and smiling.

Guessing at her language; "I looked all around the ground floor for you (splayed hand movements), and I looked for you on the first floor, second floor and third floor". That could explain her sighting on the ground floor, without glasses and the same clothes, which the LAPD said was about the same time as the elevator video.

I admit that her looking for someone in the hotel without glasses is a bit of a stretch.

But if you accept all this, doesn't it look like her exaggerated movements and body language in general are kind of flirty?

As if she is talking with a guy she likes?

To me it is really, really strange that whoever she was talking to didn't move into the camera after she moved away to the left. Either the other person went on with whatever they were doing, or they knew there was a camera in the elevator and waited a long time for the door to close.

But at the end of the video, it appears as if the other person said something to her, and she turned away to the left to do something.

So getting back to why she was in the hotel.

She was on the way to Santa Cruz to work on a farm.

Elisa went to University Hill High School, which means her family has to be well-off to live in that neighbourhood.

As someone else posted, it is very unlikely that a young woman from an affluent family, without a work permit, is going to work at plucking pluck cabbages with illiterate immigrant farm workers on a farm in another country.

So it could possibly be more like a retreat or meditation centre, or a cult farm, that grows their own food.

Where you leave all your earthly possessions behind, especially things like phones and computers.

And there seem to be a lot of retreats and cults around Santa Cruz.

For example, one of the farms near Santa Cruz grows organic vegetables for a nearby Buddhist temple and is a retreat that accepts guests.

And how was she going to get to a place out in the hills around Santa Cruz?

By bus, or was someone coming to meet her in LA, at the Cecil Hotel?

“Come on Elisa, it’s time to go”.

One report said that she left everything in her hotel room, including her computer and phone (and glasses).

How would she find a farm near Santa Cruz?

On the internet or by talking with someone.

On her computer, and on her phone.

That’s why the police don’t want to talk about her phone.

 

[ttcRider]

Do we know if any of her family or friends have gone down there to help search?

 

[AnonymousD]

So LE has said they were looking to see if there were any bank transactions related to Elisa since her disappearance. I wonder why they haven't said anything further? I get the feeling LE has more information, but they're holding their cards close to their chest for whatever reason. The fact that the homicide squad is investigating cements this even further in my mind. I wonder if LE has reason to believe Elisa had met someone and they released the video in the hopes of getting a tip of who it was?

I don't think Elisa is playing a game in the video. If she'd met people her own age and went to play games with them, why wouldn't she wear her glasses? I also don't think it's normal for people that age to be playing hide and seek or elevator tag. I mean, it's possible - but not that common. *remainder of quote snipped by me*

BBM

I completely agree.

 

[tarabull]

Do we know if any of her family or friends have gone down there to help search?

Not sure if Elisa's parents & sister are still there as the snip below is from the 14th, but they were (also) present the day of the presser held infront of The Cecil:

snipped...Her final destination was Santa Cruz. Lam’s family doesn’t know why she stopped in Los Angeles.

Fadel says her parents are now in Los Angeles aiding in the investigation but declined to make a public comment. Fadel asks Martinez if Lam could be running away from something or someone. “No, the unusual part is she was in contact with her parents every day. That’s the only strange thing the LAPD sees. The contact just stopped.”

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/02/13/lapd-hoping-new-video-will-lead-to-missing-canadian-woman/

 

[tarabull]

Rooms for Stay occupy floors four through six of the historic hotel.

http://blogdowntown.com/2008/07/3465-boutique-stay-hotel-softlaunches-in-the-cecil

 

[tarabull]

< snipped >

(i read one review where the person said the room beside theirs was sealed off with coroner's tape!)

I read a Cecil Hotel guest review claiming to have been followed around the hotel by a security guard...

Comforting...???

...PERHAPS NOT!