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February 22, 2013 1:41 PM

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Elisa Lam Case: Autopsy fails to find a cause of death for woman found in Los Angeles water tank

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Elisa Lam

/ AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department, File

(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - An autopsy on Canadian tourist Elisa Lam's body failed to determine whether she was killed or died accidentally in a giant water cistern on top of a downtown Los Angeles hotel roof.

PICTURES: Cops: Woman's body found in LA hotel water tank

The results were inconclusive, so coroner's officials said Thursday they will have to wait for toxicological tests to determine a cause of death for 21-year-old Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Police have called her death suspicious.

Lam's body was found Tuesday in one of several water cisterns on top of the 600-room hotel near Skid Row.

The hotel has retained a consultant who submitted a plan to sanitize the water lines that will be retested before they are put back into operation, said Angelo Bellomo, the county's director of environmental health.

Only water for toilets is flowing for hotel guests who chose to stay at the hotel. Most have made other arrangements.

Guest complaints about low water pressure prompted a maintenance worker to make the gruesome discovery.

Before she died, hotel surveillance footage showed her inside an elevator pushing buttons and sticking her head out the doors, looking in both directions.

Water tested from the hotel didn't contain any live bacteria that would cause illness.

County health officials issued a do-not-drink order, but results that came back Thursday indicated the water was safe from a "microbiological standpoint," Bellomo said.

"We can't say what the quality of the water was prior to the samples" taken Tuesday, Bellomo said. "We can only say that the water met the standard at the time it was sampled."

Chlorine in the water probably killed any bacteria in the tank where Lam's body was found, Bellomo said. Two standard water tests were performed and samples were taken from throughout the hotel.

Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled alone to Los Angeles on Jan. 26 and was last seen five days later by hotel workers. She intended to travel to Santa Cruz, about 350 miles north of Los Angeles.

High school classmate Alex Ristea, of Vancouver, called Lam's death shocking and said she was one of the friendliest people he knew.

"This is the last person I expect out of all my friends to have something like this happen to her," Ristea said.

University of British Columbia spokesman Randy Schmidt confirmed that Lam had attended summer school at the university, but she was not registered for the current session.

Ristea said he believes Lam had just gone to California for a holiday, saying she had posted pictures on Facebook from tourist locations such as the San Diego Zoo.

Complete coverage Elisa Lam on Crimesider

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Cops: Woman's body found in LA hotel water tank

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by delaineyrae February 24, 2013 8:11 PM EST: This reminds me of a case in New Zealand where a Japanese tourist was killed and placed in a little known closet in a stairwell between 2 buildings that both had cameras and security systems that used key cards and access codes. Of course, in both of those buildings, the surveillance for the time of the crime or body dump were missing. Sad. There was a show that featured this New Zealand case, and I found it on youtube. The Investigator, who killed kayo. it is in 3 parts. Worth a watch, wish it was more easily available in the USA.; Reply to this comment


by 1pheasant1 February 23, 2013 11:15 AM EST: When I lived in Los Angeles, virtually nobody drank the tap water, much less water from a cistern. After leaving L.A. and living in Montana, we did drink from a cistern, only to find a dead elk at the intake. Now I live in Michigan on a farm, but I don't drink the well-water.; Reply to this comment


by Swingmanic February 23, 2013 3:57 AM EST: Poor girl, that's all I can say!...Maybe someone spiked her drink!...These tiny little Asian sheila's don't stand much of a chance when it comes to defending themselves!!! R.I.P Elisa; Reply to this comment


by sweetcakesmaria February 22, 2013 5:11 PM EST: The article points out that this hotel is near skid row in downtown Los Angeles. Probably the worse of the worst from the nearby skid row area inhabits this type of cheap rooms two star hotel but you can't blame the hotel for renting rooms to anyone who has the ability to pay. When traveling to foreign countries, don't be fooled by the modern looking pictures of the hotel. If you don't have personal knowledge of the hotel or the area surrounding the hotel, do not book rooms there just because the rooms are cheap. You get what you pay for so always look to book rooms at least in a four star or above hotel.; Reply to this comment

by wolfmagic2012 February 22, 2013 3:40 PM EST

She sure didn't climb into that water tank by herelf. This is a murder. Now go get 'em.

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by routan1 February 22, 2013 4:46 PM EST: Maybe she did, it's not easy to carry a body up a ladder.

by Schwaz February 22, 2013 3:00 PM EST

Most likely an inside job.
This would explained most of the questions here. The first crime scene most likely is in her room, same day after she last seemed in the elevator surveillance camera.
she may accidentally ran into a scene when some illegal activity which involved 1 or more of the hotel employees, so she got scared and went back to the elevator and pressed the buttons 7 times or all the buttons in the middle column (from top to bottom it shows 14, 10, 7, 4-the floor she stayed?, M, B and HoldDoor, the HoldDoor button needs key to activate) the 14 didn't light up because she was on the 14th floor.
At first she was trying to be claimed and pretending nothing happened, but the elevator didn't move then she stick her head out to look both direction see if there is anyone holding the button outside. Then found no one, so she get back inside and hide in the right corner while looking out. The second time she stepped out and did saw someone and feel shocked, which explains why her reaction look so awkward. Then she probably been told to take the stair and went back to her room.
The suspect has her room's key and knew she is alone in the room, he went in there to kill her and put her into the bathtub then fill up the water..........
who else knows the hotel so well and has access to all the door/facilities, also has enough time to clean up the scene

..............
Bernard Diaz, 89, a tenant of the Cecil's third floor for 32 years, told the Los Angeles Times he'd heard a "tremendous" racket from the floor above on the night Lam disappeared.

Longtime hotel resident Bernard Diaz reported flooding on the fourth floor at about the time Lam disappeared, saying he heard a thump so loud one night he "fell out of bed."

Police said the only routes to the roof where her body was found were via a fire escape, or a locked, alarmed door accessible only to hotel staff.

4 foot x 8 foot (4.5 x 10?) water tower tank; Since the water tanks are on a platform at least 10 feet above the surface of the roof, a person would have to go to the top floor of the hotel, take the staircase to get to the roof, pass through the roof's locked door without setting off the emergency alarm, use a ladder to get up to the 10-foot-high platform on which the water tanks are located, and then again use the ladder to climb up the side of the 10-foot-high water tank

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by ClaudiaThyssen February 22, 2013 4:18 PM EST: I believe there is more than one person outside the elevator and someone is definitely keeping the door from closing. It does move slightly after she pushes the buttons but then remains open. I read a comment under a similar article from someone who observed "pauses" on the surveillance video, suggesting edits. I am sure the LAPD is looking closely at hotel employees and regular guests. This young woman was murdered in the hotel.

by caljack430 February 22, 2013 2:15 PM EST

I really totally and truley don't understand people who go on vacation alone. She obviously had family at least sort-of friends... why would you travel several thousand miles away without a companion? I understand that some people just prefer being alone sometimes, but its also so much more dangerous to not have anyone with you, someone who would quickly notice something wrong with you!!

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by maeappel February 22, 2013 6:04 PM EST: Solo travel is extremely fun. This sort of thing could happen whether you're travelling or not. You really just have to have your wits about you and do your research on the area, like another person said. Sometimes it's simply "wrong place at the wrong time" however. This is heartbreaking and I hope her friends and family find justice. RIP Ms. Lam.


by donnanell0 February 22, 2013 7:38 PM EST: Going on vacation alone usually isn't the problem. A lot of us do business travel alone, so going someplace for fun alone is no different. Plus, being with someone doesn't make you any safer - lots of cases of people on vacation with friends or family who run into "the wrong person". I'd say the problem here is this girl picked a hotel in a pretty bad area and from the videos, may have been wandering around under the influence. Plus if she was so friendly, there's unfortunately a chance she was friendly with the wrong person.

You can't live your entire life being dependent on other people to do things with you when you want to go have fun, nor do you have to live it being all scared to do anything on your own. You do have to use common sense and realize that at minimum, staying on the edge of Skid Row in LA is a bad idea.

by VA_Jill February 22, 2013 2:02 PM EST

If she drowned, they would be able to tell it by water in her lungs, so obviously she didn't drown, which likely means she was dead when she was put in the tank. Maybe the reason she was looking both ways from the elevator is that someone was following her.

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by Jonseen February 22, 2013 3:14 PM EST: They said she might have been in the tank (dead) for as long as 2 weeks. So there may have been so much decomposition by this time that they could determine whether she was drowned or not.

Her behavior on the elevator is certainly strange. As if she's on something maybe.


by No_Absolutes February 22, 2013 3:15 PM EST: Very strange video. Initially she seems fine but as it continues she seems to be acting a bit odd. Maybe she was drunk/high or having a bad reaction to a medication. I would think in a hotel with 600 rooms there were more cameras that may have filmed her. Whatever happened, I hope they figure it out so that her family gets some answers.


by maeappel February 22, 2013 6:09 PM EST: I also thought she seemed like she was on something, talking to herself a bit. It was as if she was counting at one point. An article said that she was on anti-depressant meds, but maybe she was bipolar? In extreme cases, you can become schizophrenic when off medication. Maybe she met some people she thought were cool and they turned on her. The residents of the hotel heard odd noises so that's significant. I hope her family gets answers and find peace soon. Poor girl.