Death of Elisa Lam

Death of Elisa Lam is not an unheard story. All of us came through her name at least once in newspapers, movies or true crime shows. No wonder why - she was brilliant young Canadian girl, whose aspiration in life was to become writer and, which is far more important, be happy. However, on February 19 2013 Elisa left this world, leaving mystery of her death behind.

Personally, I first heard about this story from YouTube “top 10 unsolved deaths” video; later I saw it on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Elisa Lam’s body was found naked in the Water tank on the roof of Cecil’s hotel and the lid of that tank, which was absolutely impossible to moved from within, was closed. According to the surveillance footage of the hotel’s elevator, miss Lam was behaving strangely, as if she was followed by someone or if she was under influence of certain substances.

All of us, who at least once thought of becoming a detective, tried to come up with own ideas and theories about Elisa, like her being mudered, her body being used as the biological weapon (I know, that sounds crazy), her death being a copycat murder from the Japanese movie “Dark waters” or all of it being poor soul‘s suicide. Before I saw a documentary “Crime scene: The Vanishing at Cecil’s hotel”, my heard was closer to the murder theory. However, Netflix did really great job explaining the truth of what really happened.

Elisa Lam was 21 years old student from Vancouver. She was extremely good at writing and actively advanced her Twitter account, where she would share her experiences, hobbies and feelings. She was smart and outgoing girl, who could have achieved lots in her life, if not for this misfortunate night. As it was revealed later Elisa was suffering from depression and Bi-polar disorder, for which she was taking certain medications. The show revealed some of her quotes on social media platforms related to the struggle with above mentioned conditions:

“If someone tells you, they have a depression, don’t ask why. There is no why. Just tell them you love them and remind them every day it will get better”.

“You will always be haunted by the idea that you’re wasting your life”. This one Elisa Lam took from Fight club by Chuck Palanik.

There is something everyone should always remember. Mental issues don’t make you less of a person. But sometimes they make your average daily challenges feel unbearable, that is why it is important to have your nearest people around. During that period of time Elisa was travelling by herself in Los Angeles, California, where the fatal Cecil Hotel is located. Shortly before her disappearance, she visited book store owned by Katie Orphan. During investigation ms. Orphan told policemen that Elisa was buying numerous presents and books for her family, so she must have been excited on reuniting with them. According to bookstore owner young lady was polite, friendly and had a smile on her face.

So what happened then? If a woman this happy suddenly disappears, it must be murder. Not to mention, hotel was not far from Skid row, dangerous neighborhood in downtown LA where street crime and homelessness were ordinary things. Hotel Cecil itself was know for its long and dark crime history: many man and women were killed and assaulted on its premises, and one time it was home to serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger.

After the vanishing police started to look everywhere. Elisa was nowhere to be found inside of the hotel, although, investigation came across very curious footage. The woman was last seen in the elevator, where she behaved in the most peculiar way. She was coming in and out, pressing all the buttons altogether and acted like she was hiding from someone. That is what caused theories about Canadian student being followed, kidnapped and murdered. But according to hotel guards, they didn’t see anybody suspicious coming in the hotel, neither they saw anybody leaving with Elisa. Nobody could explain, why she was behaving that way in the footage, but it was clear: Elisa Lam was still in the hotel.

In sometime after the disappearance, maybe in a week or so, hotel residents started to complain about the tap water. It had weird taste, odour, wasn’t clear as the water should be and had low pressure. That’s when they called hotel maintenance worker Santiago Lopez to double check the water tank, where her later discovered the body. For many followers of the story it was strange how the girl ended up in the tank under the closed lid. “It is not possible to close it from the inside, so it must have been pushed” - many of us thought, me included. However, later I learned from Netflix documentary, mr. Lopez was the one who accidentally closed the lid before the investigation came, therefore, it is possible that Elisa simply opened it from outside, jumped into the water and drowned.

We don’t know if the darkness around this place effected miss Lam in any way. All I am sure of is no matter how lively and outgoing she seemed to be, no one could actually know how she felt. With all facts known it looks like Elisa decided to take her own life. However, during autopsy it was discovered that the level of medicine, that Elisa Lam was taking for her conditions, was extremely low, which might have been the cause of psychotic episode. For me it is absolutely heartbreaking of how big was the struggle Elisa Lam was facing. I still question the fate, why she out all the people in this world had to go through this.

Although, this case got me thinking. At least Elisa had her prescription. In many countries around the world mental health care is not that advanced and millions of people are struggling to find peace. I believe it is very important to treat mental conditions same way we do physical ones, and only then world would be much happier and safer place.

Rest in peace, Elisa.