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

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  • #901
Hi all,

I'm new to this case. I've been searching the web trying to determine what time of day/night the surveillance video was taken but I haven't found any information on it. I can't make out the time stamp at the bottom of the video. Has anybody here been able to determine what time the video was taken? Also what time did the other guest report hearing the noise from the area of her room? Thanks very much! :seeya:
 
  • #902
Still reading through everyone's theories, so bare with me.

But this video seems so odd...for starters she does not seem at all scared when she first enters the elevator. She seems to casually enter it, push buttons, and step back and wait. Nothing about these actions or her bdy language suggests to me at this point in the video, that she believes anyone else is nearby. (Though it is odd she pressed 3-4 buttons).

As she's standing there its almost like she heard a noise or something from outside the elevator, perhaps someone pushing the outside elevator button to keep it open, it appears that whatever she hears causes her to have a need to peer around the corner, it seems then she catches a glimpse of something that makes her nervous, resulting in tucking herself in a corner of the elevator.

It seems she must have felt the danger is gone because when she steps out in the hall again her body language appears relaxed not stiff. Then she does the back and fourth a few times and starts pressing all the buttons. This is about when her behavior seems most alarming to me.

When she steps out in the hall and appears to be communicating with someone her hand gestures seem so odd. At one point she seems to be spread her hands flat facing the floor and moving them apart, this seems like a hand gesture you would use to indicate something being long and flat, or wide. Then she does these rolling gestures with her hands that are more like gestures someone would use to indicate rolling water, like waves.

I'm not sure why she would need to communicate any such thing to someone, seems odd.
I wonder if the person she was speaking to was not fluent in English?

Also something that struck me about her movements and behaviors was that it reminded me of someone on ambien. There are so many cases of people sleep walking even driving cars on ambien. Some of the oddities in her behavior remind me of a person who has been taking ambien and is still under its effects. When one is under ambien they at least at the time seem sort if normal but a little bit off, they can have conversation etc. and could even wake up with a need to go do something. However they won't remember these actions or conversations in the morning. This is a well document, a simple google search will give you tons of info on this. But it could explain some of her strange behavior (multiple button pushing, animated hand gestures). This could also explain why she wasnt wearing her glasses.I wonder what time of day this footage was from.
Was it the middle if he night? Like 1am - 4am? I wonder if her slight loop ines could have made her seem like an easier target for a perp.

Lastly I just wanted to include this review I had seen its from:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/stay-on-main-los-angeles


No visitors allowed... at all! just the lobby. (which was never mentioned anywhere) This is the only "hotel" I know (and I'm using "hotel" very loosely because it really isn't and they shouldn't label this place as a hotel! very misleading) where I couldn't bring anyone to my room. I had a few friends visiting me and just wanted to hang out for a couple of minutes before heading out but they couldn't come up. One of my friends got into an argument with the front desk man about this ridiculous policy, and they were escorted out by the security! and told them if they entered the hotel again, they will call police for trespassing. what an *******. they were polite and never rude. very strict policy. seriously, it's cheap for a reason. rude service and no class. AVOID!


Makes me think with a high amount of certainty that the perp must have been a hotel guest or a hotel employee.

Unless she slept walk on ambien all the way to that water towe herself ... Which I don't believe.
 
  • #903
An alrmed locked roof top hatch, yet graffitti on the tank, doesnt appear to old in this pic. any chance of alternate access to the roof top and there is a higher portion to the roof which looks like one could either jump down or lower another to the top of the tanks. Interestingly nothing conclusive as to cause of death in the autopsy indicates a chemically related death.
I'm thinking if lithium levels can be tested post mortem they will definetly conclude that she was suffering from schizophrenia, paranoid dillusion as seen in the elevator, along with the history of depression this makes for a very dangerous combination making her very vulnerable to acting upon hallucination in extremely erratic unpredictable ways and quite possibly easily manipulated. With the latch of the tank closed though I don't beleive she took it upon herself to hide in the tank but the possibility of someone suggesting this is plausible. I feel hotel staff likely had sufficient time to watch her mental state decline and a member may have well seen it as an opportunity to abuse the situation.


Locks on these door dont mean sheet.
I used to work in A Casino and there were alot of restricted areas but the doors were always Propped open or a piece of cardboard slid in because ppl would go and smoke in the halls or use these areas as a short cut to get somewhere else.

The roof im sure was used for pot smoking and a roof top view of the city
Id guess it was used alot by visitors and employee's.

I do not feel she put herself in that tank.
I dont think she was mentally ustable.
Someone Killed her JMO

I think we are seeing someone do something to this girl on that video what we dont know but someone is there and knows not to walk in front of that elevator!
 
  • #904
Can anyone tell me if an autopsy would determine if EL had died from drowning alone? Or would they assume any water in her lungs could've happened post-moterm and automatically send for additional tests?

Just wondering if EL could've been put into the tank alive (maybe alive and drugged) and drown because she couldn't reach to get the hatch open. Again, I really wish LE would say whether or not the hatch was closed when the hotel employee went up to the roof to investigate.

You cant get water in your lungs after your dead!
If no water she was dead when she went in!
 
  • #905
Whether or not the posts after Feb. 1 were made by a live person, the nouvelle-nouveau Tumblr definitely and unquestionably belonged to Elisa. Below, the blogger to whom Elisa (lambetes) left comments as "L.L." (and linked to the nouvelle-nouveau Tumblr page) discusses meeting her in December and learning of the case by seeing a track-back to this site (probably my post yesterday linking to the specific comment where Elisa linked to nouvelle-nouveau, later deleted by mod.)

https://twitter.com/search?q=lambetes&src=typd

Also interesting is that after Elisa reached out to the blogger in December, the blogger responded by suggesting they make time to meet. There is no further record of communication between the two, even though we now know that they did end up meeting. This indicates Elisa was not hesitant about communicating via e-mail or perhaps phone with people she met online, though I suppose it's possible they continued via DM.

<modsnip>
 
  • #906
How could it be an accident?

Locked doors or no locked doors she would have to climb ladders and craw over the top of these water towers it makes nO sense at all.

Could be she was trying to get away from someone that had her on the roof, she climbed up that ladder on the side of that building next to the water towers
she then jumps down on the top of the tower and craws over no where left to go she goes in the tank the perp seals her in!

Just a thought!
 
  • #907
You cant get water in your lungs after your dead!
If no water she was dead when she went in!

Thanks. I didn't know if it was possible for water to leak in or something...not a topic i think about often, lol.

So it's safe to assume then that if the autopsy came back inconclusive, she didn't die from drowning? Sorry if I'm being redundant, just trying to make sense of this in my head.
 
  • #908
Thanks. I didn't know if it was possible for water to leak in or something...not a topic i think about often, lol.

So it's safe to assume then that if the autopsy came back inconclusive, she didn't die from drowning? Sorry if I'm being redundant, just trying to make sense of this in my head.

Not really she could have drowned but someone could have put her in there.
so it would look like an accident but would really be murder.
 
  • #909
I have a question for the experienced sleuths, or anyone in the know. If she was indeed speaking to someone in the video, and if that person was not the perp, is this something we would know through LE/MSM? If someone came forward and said they were the one she was speaking to (and presumably, this would probably be one of the last people to see her) - is that something LE would hold back due to the investigation, or do you think it would be released to the public?
 
  • #910
I mean really how does someone accidently end up in THOSE water towers!
 
  • #911
I have a question for the experienced sleuths, or anyone in the know. If she was indeed speaking to someone in the video, and if that person was not the perp, is this something we would know through LE/MSM? If someone came forward and said they were the one she was speaking to (and presumably, this would probably be one of the last people to see her) - is that something LE would hold back due to the investigation, or do you think it would be released to the public?

they say something was cut out of that video there is some time missing its very possible they caught someone on it and edited.

Id think if this person was not responsible and went to LE about what he or she saw we would not be viewing this video now! JMO
 
  • #912
Im curious if ppl stay on that 15th floor wouldnt they have heard something?
Esp an elevator dinging. that elevator had to be making noise!

PPL talking!
 
  • #913
they say something was cut out of that video there is some time missing its very possible they caught someone on it and edited.

Id think if this person was not responsible and went to LE about what he or she saw we would not be viewing this video now! JMO

That's what I mean. If she really is talking to someone and that person is innocent of any crime, then surely he/she would have come forward already and said "Hey - that was me she was talking to!" I certainly would come forward if that was me. I think the fact that nobody has come forward (as far as we know) would lead me to believe it was the perp she was talking to. Sorry if this is reiterating what has already been said - I think it's just still being debated who she was talking with, if anyone at all.
 
  • #914
I believe the only reason police released that video was to give an "in action" view of Elisa, something more tangible than a "missing" poster. Given her strange behavior, I think LE was hoping the peculiarities might spark a memory in someone who had encountered her, or might encounter her in the future. And remember, at the time the video was released, LE believed she was likely somewhere in the area, not shut into a water tank on top of the hotel. I am willing to bet that if Elisa had been found the day after her disappearance and the case was purely a death investigation from the start, this video would never have seen the light of day.

I seriously doubt they were asking for the public's help in deciphering the way she punched the elevator buttons, or figuring out if her hand motions meant anything. I'm pretty sure they went over every possibility with a fine-toothed comb before releasing the video to the public, and what's there is there. To suggest there is someone off-camera who "knew a camera was there" is a bit of a reach in my opinion. Sure, it's possible she was engaged in a game with someone in another room or down the hall, but I think it is most likely the only person Elisa was engaged with in the video is herself. Unless you're in the camp that believes in ghosts and fairies and supernatural beings, looking for clues in that video (aside from assessing her psychological state) is an exercise in futility.

The video was released with the intention of helping people recognize a living Elisa, not figure out what happened to the murdered Elisa.
 
  • #915
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27297223/ns/travel-seasonal_travel/t/want-creepy-kick-check-deadly-hotel/

4. Cecil Hotel, Los Angeles

And Unterweger, a writer and prostitute-killer released by Austrian authorities for good behavior and then sent to America on a high-profile journalistic junket, also used the hotel as a base to pick up at least three prostitutes who were later found murdered. The two may have been feeling the vibes from Pauline Otten, who jumped out a window in 1962 and killed a pedestrian, as well as herself, in her fall; or from the still unsolved murder of Goldie Osgood, the "pigeon lady" of Pershing Square, who was found strangled in her Cecil room in 1964. But you have to give the new management some respect: At least they haven't named a drink after Ramirez or done up Unterweger's room in period decor
 
  • #916
That's what I mean. If she really is talking to someone and that person is innocent of any crime, then surely he/she would have come forward already and said "Hey - that was me she was talking to!" I certainly would come forward if that was me. I think the fact that nobody has come forward (as far as we know) would lead me to believe it was the perp she was talking to. Sorry if this is reiterating what has already been said - I think it's just still being debated who she was talking with, if anyone at all.

Oh I definitely agree!
 
  • #917
hey check this out I think I found a pic of the 15th floor right across from the elevator

this place does not look so bad by its photos!

go to the gallery on top and look at the pics It has the 15th floor and I think this is where she was in that elevator

http://thececilhotel.com/
 
  • #918
That's what I mean. If she really is talking to someone and that person is innocent of any crime, then surely he/she would have come forward already and said "Hey - that was me she was talking to!" I certainly would come forward if that was me. I think the fact that nobody has come forward (as far as we know) would lead me to believe it was the perp she was talking to. Sorry if this is reiterating what has already been said - I think it's just still being debated who she was talking with, if anyone at all.

Exactly. There is no clear-cut evidence in the video that she is talking at all, let alone to someone else. What we see in the video is all that's there: a young woman by herself acting weird on an elevator, recorded on a sketchy surveillance system that couldn't even get the time right. The video's release was simply a "Hail Mary" by police that the goofy behavior might be consistent and someone would recognize her.
 
  • #919
I wish I knew how to do a screen shot
 
  • #920
Exactly. There is no clear-cut evidence in the video that she is talking at all, let alone to someone else. What we see in the video is all that's there: a young woman by herself acting weird on an elevator, recorded on a sketchy surveillance system that couldn't even get the time right. The video's release was simply a "Haily Mary" by police that the goofy behavior might be consistent and someone would recognize her.

Not necessarily. We have precedent in the form of the Jill Meagher case from 2012 where it was used to trigger memories regarding the circumstances and people other than the 'missing woman'. At the time it was pretty controversial to do so and extend the 'sleuthing' to the general public but it worked: people came forwards to say they remembered the situation, even though it didn't help out with actually finding her. Perhaps the LAPD are leaning towards a more conservative version of what the Victorian police did - we still don't know who 'edited' the video, or if anyone did at all. They quite possibly could be withholding vital information regarding a suspect and that's why we don't see anyone in the video. Every approach to this is a 'maybe', though.
 
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