The vanishing at the Cecil Hotel Elisa Lam

[Tootshoots]

Just out today in Netflix. I am halfway through but plan to be finished by tonight. Thought I'd set up a thread here to discuss. I am so intrigued by this case!

I've watched this just now and think it highlights the problem with the public getting involved, demanding the release of autopsy results/tox screens. These people are nothing to do with the case so god knows why they feel it's anything to do with them aside from attention.
She had a mental issue, bipolar is known for the episodes of mania and depression. As she had stopped her meds it's understandable that if she had an episode she died of misadventure. Very tragic.

It made me cry but there is not much that doesn't do that at the moment...

The only thing that's made me question is the staff member that found her said she was white like a ghost yet the LAPD described her different and the opposite.....

Only watched up to episode 3 so far, but as soon as I saw the aerial view of the roof in ep1 I thought hope they check the water tanks. The police were very definite that they searched the 'roof' after the scent dogs lead them to the fire escape. But he never said they searched the tanks, which if they had, I'm sure they would have been screaming from the rooftops. So clearly they didn't. And that's with 20+ detectives working the case??
Or did I misunderstand?

It wasnt really made clear was it, whether they actually checked the tanks.

No way did that couple drink that water and brush their teeth with it!

I haven't seen the final episode yet, so if they do conclude the most obvious answer after all that 'murder/paranormal activity/government TB' speculation, then that is a bit off tbh. All those 'web sleuths' who went to the hotel (there was one particular woman who was clearly enjoying it all) are grim, and I felt a bit sullied watching it as well.

Poor Elisa.

The detective said 'we definitely checked the roof and she wasn't there'. He said it as if she must have ended up on the roof after the investigation had begun, but they clearly didn't check the tanks, otherwise he would have said that specifically.

After recently watching the Night Stalker and the fuck ups they made with that too, I'm starting to think that the LAPD is just full of clowns!

@TheRogueApostrophe

What I don't understand is why the lift doesn't close when she's inside. Was there someone outside keeping it open? Or was it just a weird glitch?

They explained why, as well as loads of other things.

But, the conspiracy theories about the case are weird! There are a few that do make you wonder, but I think they explain and put those to bed, and tie it all up.

I felt so sorry for that poor girl, whatever you believe happened, she must've been in a bad way, and all alone too.

The thing with web sleuths or people really into a true crime case is that they can keep a cold case in the public eye and occasionally they really do find or interpret information in such a way that leads to a credible tip. I need to find the source but I have heard at least one case where the missing car of a murder victim was found by a amateur and the police had not been able to find it.

The other side to it though is some are clearly obsessed in an unhealthy way (like that guy on the show) and many are willing to harass those they see as suspects of persons of interest, which is surely the exact opposite of what should be done if you are hoping they are guilty, and obviously the exact opposite of what you'd want to do to an innocent person.

That poor death metal guy, if only people realised how typical he was of people on that scene

Yes it could all have been avoided if they'd found her in the tank, the footage wouldn't habe been released. I did feel like the couple were just jumping on the bandwagon.

From what I've read here, I won't be watching this documentary.

Elisa was experiencing a psychotic illness. I've seen the footage. It's very obvious. Poor woman. Let her rest in peace.

Some of the ‘web sleuths’ (I’d be embarrassed to apply any title with the word sleuth in it to myself!) showed themselves for who they are with their OMG! OMG!-type behaviour at the hotel. Going on about how creepy it was to go on the roof in a way that made it all about them. No attempt to hide that going there was all about cheap thrills.

I think the real story here is about how it is possible anyone could die in a hotel and not be found for over a fortnight. Comments on this in the programme were fleeting, but surely there is more to say about how the LAPD could have done more and whether they have learnt anything from this. Ditto the dreadful practices at the hotel. I realise they had inherited a certain clientele, but management seemed happy enough to let them get on with whatever they were doing and allow other guests to be exposed to it to the point a young woman acting in a clearly disturbed manner was shrugged off and stuck in a room on her own. This sequence of failures really deserved to be highlighted, rather than giving a platform to obsessive YouTubers. The focus of the documentary also allowed the hotel in particular to hide behind the Cecil myth.

I found the history of the hotel very interesting and would have loved to hear more about how it was intended to be used and its very early history.

@MHEP that was made clear towards the end, although I think it was said that the family hadn't really said too much about it. It seems that when she was having an episode, she became paranoid and would run and hide away. Awful for her, and her family.

The other thing was that so much turned on whether the water tank lid was open or closed when the maintenance man found her. It was very ambiguous, but apparently when he initially found her the hatch was open, which makes it clear that she climbed in herself and makes the other theories null and void.

The police could have made that so much clearer both at the time and now, it's as if they want all the crazy theories or something

The lift footage doesn't even look like she is trying to get away from someone else, it looks like exactly what it is, a young woman having a psychotic episode.

Also, the other 'theory' was about the parallels with the film Dark Water, that someone was doing a copycat murder - what, so they made her wear a red jacket so that it would be 'the same'? It's far more plausible that she had seen the film and it was manifesting in her psychosis.

In the final episode do they say what the 'strange behaviour' is, that Elisa was exhibiting to get her moved rooms?

The LAM ELISA test thing was a bit weird, but I imagine that the TB theory originated from that iyswim?

@BarbaraofKent She sometimes wouldn't let the people sharing a room with her into the room and was leaving notes on their beds telling them to leave and go away.

Watched this over the weekend and thought there was a lot of padding for what actually turned out to be quite a straightforward, incredibly sad, case. If anything I would have liked for it to be more about the dangers of internet sleuths. They have far less evidence than the police have but feel they can use what they do have to basically destroy an innocent person's life. Poor Morbid.

I didn't know this case , when I watched this it made me sad as right from the beginning when I saw the lift video I knew she was mentally ill and hallucinating as I've seen a sibling do this on many occasions over the years.

I think what made me especially sad about this is that the situation hasn't changed at all. If someone was very disturbed in a public place, they would have to be a danger to themselves or someone else before anyone official would check to see if they were ok.

The manager said that the police wouldn't have come and that is entirely true.

I don't think the world has changed a great deal from the time the events occurred and there are plenty of hotel like the Cecil Hotel: it didn't stand alone as an uncaring and ungoverned
location.

The thing with the TB and graveyard zip code were just coincidence.

The web sleuths were that obsessed that the found any connection, no matter how tedious and went with it.

Why tf were they even looking up the bookstore company legals and googling info in the results, it's obsessive and the world is full of random coincidence.

I'm watching just now. All the coincidences are really far fetched in my opinion.

Agree @HerGrapeness it was like an episode of Black Mirror.

I thought the Night Stalker doc was very good & the Cecil hotel has an interesting past but I thought the doc was pretty rubbish.

but there is so much nonsense-overly-dramatised-padding just to drag out as many episodes as they can....

Yes

The whole mystery basically hinged on the lid of the water tank being reported as closed, as it did not seem plausible that she could have closed it herself.

As soon as they clarified that the lid was open when she was found, then there were no questions left. This surely will also be corroborated as I'm sure in a city/area like that, that there must be some incidental police or TV news helicopter footage that captured the lid being off prior to her being found.

Just finished this. I thought the lift footage was clearly her either having a psychotic episode or drugs. All the other coincidences just seemed utterly bizarre. The person who got someone to visit the grave for closure seemed fairly unwell tbh.
Poor young woman. I feel a bit grubby for having watched it.