100 Murder Cases

The Disturbing Death of Elisa Lam

On January 26, 2013, 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. When she never checked out on February 1 nor had any contact with her parents, the Los Angeles Police Department was contacted. On February 19, eighteen days from the last time she was seen, Elisa Lam's body was found floating and naked in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel. Her body was found due to hotel guests complaining about the hotel's water pressure. One couple even reported that the water was coming out black and had a bad taste.

According to the hotel's manager, when Elisa Lam had originally checked in, she was staying at a hostel-style room with other travelers. But later was moved to her own private room due to complaints from her roommates about odd behavior. The last time she was seen was on surveillance footage on the hotel's elevator. The footage showed Lam acting strange and peculiar, almost like she was hiding. She also moved her hands in weird and inhumane ways and it looked like she was talking to someone who was out of the security camera's view.

After her body and the surveillance footage were found, it was suggested she was on some sort of hallucinogenic drug. Even though Lam took four different medications for her bipolar disorder, toxicology studies reported that there were no traces of any drugs or alcohol that could have contributed to her death. There was also a theory that she was murdered and died as a result of drowning but the autopsy report showed no evidence of trauma. To this day, no one knows how she was able to access the roof or climb into the water tank and shut the 20-pound lid by herself.