CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013 - #1

[The Cheese]

After about 2:26 you don't see Elisa any more. She's already stepped out of the elevator and to the left where we can no longer see her.

Then the door starts opening and closing a few seconds after that. Look at the wall each time the door opens. The color changes. Look for it to change to bright orange.

The reason the door is opening and closing is because it's going from floor to floor because of her having pushed all the buttons.

 

[The Cheese]

The reason the door doesn't shut when she's in the elevator I think is because she doesn't give it time to shut. She keeps stepping out and putting her head out. There's a sensor that won't allow the door to close if something is sensed in the doorway.

The reason the door starts to close at about 12 seconds and then opens again I think is because she pushed the 'Open Door' button along with all the other buttons. It started to close when the signal was sent was the next floor button, then opened again because it got a signal from the 'Open Door' button.

I don't think there's anything mentally wrong with this girl. I can't find anything saying there is. I can't find anything saying she takes medication or mental problems. I found one press release from the police dept at the beginning saying she may possibly have mild depression.

I would like to know if she was ever seen again or ever entered her room again after she left the elevator.

 

[ktgirl]

That is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

Definitely the weirdest video related to a missing person that I've ever seen on WS (or anywhere).

I think she's either having a mental break or she's high on something that gives you strong hallucinations.

 

[amberdawn723]

Cecil Hotel photos: http://www.agoda.com/north_america/united_states/los_angeles_ca/cecil_hotel/reviews-page-4.html

Elevator(s):

[note - fwiw: looks like it's double elevators, location of button in between, and mirror on wall across from...]

ETA: HEY, go to top link and look at the pic before this one i posted, look for THAT MIRROR - - - doesn't it look like there is a CORNER right by the elevators, seems someone could have been hiding around THAT corner !!!! shux, looking at both pics it seems there is a FLIPPING CORNER ON EITHER SIDE OF THE ELEVATORS!!!!

Great Sleuthing! Those are some really good photos....and VERY creepy looking hotel hallways IMO. Seeing those photos makes more sense why she stepped so far out to look each way down the halls. lease: Praying she is safe and found very soon!

 

[tarabull]

After Elisa disappears from the elevator and the door finally shuts and it proceeds to the next floor, the door opens and closes after 5 seconds...(count it out)

Now prior to that, and from the beginning she stayed away from the door and the button long enough for that dayum door to shut, why didn't it???

I think there is someone around that corner to the left side of the elevator door.

I think she may have finally been speaking to them when she is making those strange hand gestures actually what looks like counting on her fingers...

Sadly she was going somewhere when she stepped on the elevator and it seems she instead got off...where did Elisa go??

Also, i think those are the black basketball shorts...there's a point when she steps off and to the left where they do look to me like they are shorts.
(shorts cued up here: http://youtu.be/3TjVBpyTeZM?t=1m )

ETA: i'm thinking they only have camera's in the elevators and the perp dayum well knew that!!!

 

[tarabull]

Great Sleuthing! Those are some really good photos....and VERY creepy looking hotel hallways IMO. Seeing those photos makes more sense why she stepped so far out to look each way down the halls. lease: Praying she is safe and found very soon!

YOU KNOW what's also creepy!?!? look IN THE MIRROR, look how far down the hall you can see - right to what looks like an EXIT sign no ???)

Wonder if from where the perp would have stood if he could see right into the elevator using the mirror and THATs why she stepped back around the corner of the elevator in hiding...???

 

[tarabull]

BBM makes the video even more worrying.

Ok, is there anywhere she may have gone into the water, or fallen off something?

16 miles to the ocean: http://goo.gl/maps/fp9rI

Emergency Exit:

(found here: http://www.tripadvisor.fr/LocationP...-Cecil_Hotel-Los_Angeles_California.html#last )

:waitasec:

 

[radiator]

wow, that was a really unsettling video. I wonder if those strange hand gestures could have been tai chi or qi gong moves--at one point she seems to crouch a little as she does them. I sure wish there was sound.

 

[Snoopster]

A couple of other possibilities are that someone can control the elevator remotely, and can observe the interior of the elevator live through the security camera.

Or it's Elisa pushing the button from the outside to open and close the door several times at the end of the video. Like you would if the elevator door hadn't closed the first time.

I wonder on which side of the camera the hall elevator button is located.

If it's on the left, it could be Elisa, because thats the way she came and left.

If it's on the right, it's not her doing, it's someone else's doing.

And she was gesturing to the right, although she was looking both right and left down the hall.

Based on the photos of the hall, it appears that the elevator button is on the left (looking out of the elevator), the side of the elevator that Elisa enters from and stands on when she exits. When you look out of the elevator you can see the horizontal "beam" on the opposite wall. This runs under the wall mirror. To the right on that same wall you can see the vertical white beam. this is what makes me think that this is the right-side elevator (again, looking out).

I have no idea why the elevator door doesn't close while she is standing inside the elevator. That is strange.

Regarding the door opening and closing in the last part of the video, I believe that the elevator is now moving down to different floors. Watch the lighted buttons on the panel. After each time the door closes, one of the buttons goes out. The final time the door opens the wall outside is orange, not brown, so it is clearly another floor.

So, it appears that Elisa couldn't get the elevator to work while she was on it. It was still strange that she immediately pushed so many buttons and that she hid in corner. Is it possible that she had been on the elevator just earlier and the elevator wouldn't work so she got on again and thought to press a bunch of buttons? Perhaps someone else's suggestion that the elevator could be controlled remotely (i.e. by building staff watching on camera?) is true.

All in all I still find her behavior strange. She is at the age the schizophrenia develops (or it could be another problem). Elisa is 21 and had been in first year university. This is a bit later than most young adults would start. Perhaps health problems kept her from entering university and then when she finally did the stress caused mental health problems to flare up. All pure speculation on my part!

Regarding the shorts/skirt....I see black basketball shorts rather than a skirt. When she steps out of the elevator you can see the gap between the legs.

Even if Elisa is experiencing mental health issues, surely someone would have seen her and reported it?? Or are there too many people with 'challenges' in the area, such that people have learned just to ignore it as it's not uncommon?

I hope Elisa is safe and she has not come in harms way!

 

[jetsetsam]

Maybe the exaggerated arm movement at the beginning of the film is just a scared young woman trying to pretend that there is nothing to be afraid of, even though she knows there is.

The splayed fingers/hand jestures could be a physical display of being scared shitless, and the rest of the gestures and body movements could be pleading. Clenching her hands together and bending her knees.

It is not tai chi.

I don't think she is mentally disturbed, or drugged.

I think it's a frightened young woman, all alone, trying to master her fears, and then losing to her fears when she is confronted by someone.

 

[jetsetsam]

LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman says this video shows exactly what she looks like and what she was last seen wearing.

 

[The Cheese]

Maybe the exaggerated arm movement at the beginning of the film is just a scared young woman trying to pretend that there is nothing to be afraid of, even though she knows there is.

The splayed fingers/hand jestures could be a physical display of being scared shitless, and the rest of the gestures and body movements could be pleading. Clenching her hands together and bending her knees.

It is not tai chi.

I don't think she is mentally disturbed, or drugged.

I think it's a frightened young woman, all alone, trying to master her fears, and then losing to her fears when she is confronted by someone.

I've watched that video so many times now I'm cross-eyed. And yes, I agree - this is a frightened girl. I have a much different impression than I did at first.

With the hand gesturing, I think she is just expressive. I think she's talking to someone. At one point, she seems to be counting to three, counting off on the fingers of her left hand, slowly one, two, three. And with each she seems to get more upset. Look how she bends her knees with the second, then bends them even more as she counts three. She is upset. Maybe telling someone things he's done that have upset her?

I was Googling around and this video is from Jan 31st, the same day she was supposed to check out of the hotel but didn't. She was last seen by hotel staff.

Since it's the day she's supposed to check out, then this would be in the morning. Most hotels you have to check out by about 11am.

She has a jacket on. I wonder if she had gone out, maybe for breakfast, and someone followed her back.

I also read reviews of this hostel. It doesn't sound good at all as far as safety.

 

[Kaliste]

I just now had a moment to watch the video. The very, very odd video. It's so disconcerting! Watching it really gave me an uneasy feeling. I'm going to watch it a few more times before I feel I can comment on what, exactly, is happening.

 

[MissSunshine]

I know it was mentioned that Elisa did not have her glasses....Can she see without her glasses on?

I thought, maybe, when she first got in the elevator she bent down closely to the buttons because she had trouble seeing what they were and maybe that's why she pushed them all?

The video is quite odd. I am not completely sure what I make of it yet.

 

[The Cheese]

I'm just reposting the raw video again to make it easier to find -

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjVBpyTeZM"]Elisa Lam Video - YouTube[/ame]

 

[jetsetsam]

There's probably a stairway around the corner from the elevators, even with the emergency stairway on the outside of the building.

And if she is really talking with someone, they seem to know there is a security camera in the elevator. If they didn't know about the camera, they would probably have moved towards her and into the camera before the door closed. Maybe they are aware of the building security cameras, meaning they have been in the building more than once. Did they use the stairway instead?

 

[Catchy kitty]

wow! i stumbled on this video on fb,
so i watched
then i read

the history of this hotel combined with the video
make me wish soulscape, tuba and house mouse
were still working those astrology charts

in my opinion i think it is very probable she got herself
stuck somewhere while hiding,
i really hope they have searched every mouse hole in that ***** hole

needless to say this is a very intriguing case
where on earth is she?
somethings so not right here.....
wish we could see all surveillance videos from her stay

 

[jetsetsam]

And something else.

In the photos provided by the family, Elisa is quite the snappy dresser.

But in the video, she is dressed like a slob; what she would wear around the house when no one could see her.

And yet it is reported that she was last seen in the lobby in the morning wearing exactly what she is wearing in the video. Including flip flops?!

I would have thought she would get dressed up to even go to the lobby, and definitely to go out of the hotel.

 

[The Cheese]

There's probably a stairway around the corner from the elevators, even with the emergency stairway on the outside of the building.

And if she is really talking with someone, they seem to know there is a security camera in the elevator. If they didn't know about the camera, they would probably have moved towards her and into the camera before the door closed. Maybe they are aware of the building security cameras, meaning they have been in the building more than once. Did they use the stairway instead?

Yep they don't step into camera view when she's talking, and then she turns away, and they don't follow her - perhaps waiting until the elevator door closes because they know there's a camera in there?

 

[Kaliste]

If this video had zero context I'd honestly assume is was a child playing, It's very "hide-and-seek". To me it comes off as playful and childlike. For an adult this behavior could only mean a few things:
-Mental/Medical issue
-Drug use

I'm not convinced she was being followed/threatened by someone unseen on the video. She might have been frightened of someone but I think there's a strong chance that person is not real.