What Happened To Elisa Lam? Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel Questions Answered

15 February 2021, 18:06 | Updated: 19 February 2021, 16:09

By Capital FM

@CapitalOfficial

The death of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in LA, has sparked all kinds of questions about the way in which she died.

The latest true crime documentary on Netflix to send viewers frantically searching for answers online is The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, about what may have happened to Elisa Lam after she went missing.

Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old Canadian student who disappeared during her travels in LA while staying at the Cecil Hotel in 2013.

What Happened To The Cecil Hotel, Is It Still Open & Can You Stay In It In 2021?

A mystery that’s surrounded by conspiracy theories, after the video police released of Elisa acting strangely in the hotel elevator before she vanished went viral, true-crime enthusiasts are hooked by the documentary.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the biggest talking points to emerge since The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel aired…

What happened to Elisa Lam?

Elisa Lam was missing for 19 days before her body was found in the water tank on the roof of Cecil Hotel after guests complained about the water quality coming from the taps.

Her death was ruled an accident, with LAPD detective Wallace Tennelle saying via CBC he believes she fell off her medication, which included anti-depressants and mood stabilisers.

"My opinion is that she fell off her medication, and in her state, she happened to find her way onto the roof, got into the tank of water,” Tennelle said.

“At the time, I think that water tank was maybe full. But as people used the tank, used water, unknown to her, the level was dropping to a point where she could no longer reach out and escape, and she died that way."

Cecil Hotel saw 80 people die there between 2007 and 2017, leaving many believing something more sinister may have been behind Elisa’s disappearance.

Was Elisa Lam killed?

The coroner concluded there was no evidence of foul play in Elisa’s death, but there are numerous theories by true crime enthusiasts that think otherwise.

Her bizarre behaviour in the hotel’s elevator, like she was hiding or communicating with someone out of sight, is the main factor behind theories she was killed.

Did Elisa Lam have tuberculosis?

One conspiracy theory, which may we add is quite out there, suggests Elisa was involved in a tuberculosis test. After her death there was a tuberculosis outbreak in LA, mostly among the homeless community in Skid Row which is on Hotel Cecil’s doorstep.

The test for the type of tuberculosis was called the LAM-ELISA (Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) in a crazy coincidence, and at-home crime investigators claimed she may have been used as a biological weapon of some sort after discovering she was a student from British Columbia, which has a tuberculosis research centre.

However, autopsy reports showed she didn’t have tuberculosis.

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