My translation of Chinese forum
http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-free-3077181-101.shtml#ty_vip_look[VB调查]
Okay me and Brandon finally reached the roof.
Before we did this, we looked at the floor plan and saw that there are 3 fire escape stairs in this hotel. But I thought that the fire escape stairs on the front of the building as well as the middle of the building are not that worth trying, so me and Brandon decided to take the fire escape stairs at the back of the hotel (on the part of the hotel building marked C on the floorplan shown below in the photo)
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134568477.jpg
This is the reason why I chose the fire escape stairs on part C of the hotel.
On part A of the hotel, the fire escape stairs face the main street and opposite the hotel, there are several skyscrapers. On part B of the hotel, the fire escape stairs are directly facing the guest/residential rooms on part C of the hotel. Therefore it is more likely that the perpetrator and Elisa used the fire escape stairs on part C of the hotel - for privacy.
Facing the fire escape stairs on part C of the hotel is a car park and some lower buildings. No other high rise buildings facing these stairs for another good 1000 metres or so. Therefore for any crime to take place on these fire escape stairs at night, the likelihood of being seen by someone is very minimal.
This is a video we took when we were up on the roof :
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As can be seen on our video :
1. Going up to the roof is not a difficult accomplishment. You just need the guts to do it. Because the ladder that leads to the roof from the fire escape stairs is completely vertical, those who are afraid of heights or are timid would probably not dare to attempt climbing it.
2.
In regards to the graffiti, we can see several areas on the roof which have graffiti on them. We can thus surmise that quite a few people have climbed up to the roof. As regards to the rumours surfaced on the internet about claims that Elisa's death was some cult/satanic murder, we think the likelihood is quite low. Reason being that if it was indeed cult/satanic related, then there should only be a few graffiti marks up here confined to one or two areas that all relate distinctively to this cult/satanic practice. Yet we saw a variety of different graffiti made in several different spots on the roof, which thus leads us to conclude that these graffiti were more likely the works of hotel staff, guests or residents in this hotel.
3. The loft/attic up on the roof is for elevator equipment and storage. It has 2 levels within it - upper and lower level. The upper level of this room is locked - the sound of machine humming can be heard coming from it. This is for the machinery. The lower level of the loft/attic is not locked - very dark inside with no light - there is a large ventilation pipe inside. On the floor is some black plastic bag, and some trash.
According to the video, we can glean the following information and conclusions :
1) If Elisa and the perp willingly went up to the roof in the first place, it wouldn't be difficult to dispose of her body in the tank.
2) If the perp had moved her body to the roof from downstairs, by carrying her on his back for example, it is difficult, but not impossible. After considering the possible risk of accident/mishap from carrying me on his back and attempting to transport me up to the roof from below, me and Brandon decided to abandon our initial plan to test-drive the theory that Elisa's body could have been carried up to the rooftop by the perp (wanting to dispose of her body)
3) There was really a lot of different graffiti on the rooftop, which lowers the possibility that this was in any way Satanic/cult related.
4) There is a loft/attic on the rooftop. Which makes it possible that Elisa could have been imprisoned there for a while before her death.
5) In the picture I posted earlier on :
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134563140.jpg
It can be seen that police and other personnel were standing by the door of the loft/attic. So I believe that the police have already checked round the lower unlocked level of the loft/attic.
Although both upper and lower levels of the loft/attic had their doors shut, I was able to open the door to the lower level.
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134569847.jpg
Inside here, there is a large ventilation pipe and lots of different tools.
I tried opening the door to the upper level of the loft/attic. It was locked.
Here is another video we took while on the hotel roof - its to do with the water tanks.
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From this video, we can glean the following information :
1)
There is a ladder right beside the tank (where Elisa was found). This wooden ladder looks very old. It looks very weather-beaten, therefore it must have been left here permanently. I climbed up this ladder with ease, and upon closer inspection, it seems this ladder has never been moved from this spot. This can explain why Elisa's body was found in this particular tank - because the wooden ladder is always right next to it.
2)
At the BOTTOM portion of this water tank, there is an outlet where the water flows OUT into the rest of the hotel. This water outlet does not measure any larger than one palm-width across - the diameter not more than 10 centimetres across. Police say that the likelihood of Elisa's clothing being sucked into this outlet is very minimal. If her clothes did get sucked out through this outlet, it would result in pipe blockage.
At the TOP of the water tank, there is a piped outlet where water flows INTO the tank.
As per our web friends have suggested, another way of getting to the top of this water tank is via the red ladder on the side of the loft/attic. I climbed up this ladder rather easily. It is nearly 90 degrees vertical, but with a slight incline.
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134571020.jpg
But if one tried to carry the corpse on one's back and climb this red ladder, it is more difficult. More difficult than climbing up the wooden ladder on the side of the water tank.
After coming up to the roof of the attic/loft, I noticed that the television receiver and the chimney all had some graffiti written on them.
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134571586.jpg
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134571607.jpg
After walking to the side of roof of the attic/loft, I can see the top of the water tank.
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134571624.jpg
This tank is located the closest from the side of the roof of the attic/loft.
There is a drop from here to the water tank of a maximum of 2 metres.
Its not hard to go down to the tank from here.
Also, as Brandon said to me, it would be possible to lower the body down into the water tank from the rooftop edge of the attic/loft. Because this water tank is the closest to the loft/attic. The other tanks are further away. Regardless of the fact, it is still considerably difficult to attempt such a feat.
However, one could also first climb down from the attic/loft rooftop edge onto the water tank first, before disposing of the body in the tank.
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134571648.jpg
This is the water tank next to the one Elisa was found in. It has a lid on, but the lid is not locked.
From my observation, the lids on the outer water tanks appeared to be slightly smaller in size compared to the lids on the tanks closer to the attic/loft building.
We also discovered 2 more things whilst standing on the roof of the attic/loft :
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134572602.jpg
http://img3.laibafile.cn/p/m/134572650.jpg
Yes. We found empty beer bottles on the roof of the attic/loft building. One under the chimney. The other under the dish.
My first thought : Someone had been drinking at this spot.
My second thought : Could Elisa have been to this very spot to drink too?
My third thought : Such crucial evidence might have Elisa's fingerprints on them. Why didn't the LAPD take them back for further investigation?
My fourth thought : No matter whether the police had taken all evidence back, or whether the police failed to find these 2 pieces of evidence - Why would there still be people coming up to the rooftop of the attic/loft to drink after the discovery of Elisa's body here?
My fifth thought : After such a grim discovery at the hotel, who would still wish to come up here to have a drink? Other than the murderer himself?!
My above thoughts are not comforting and throw up lots of suspicion.
If the police cannot even find such crucial evidence, if the police failed to bring crucial evidence back for further tests/investigations, then what can we say about the competency of the LAPD? Are they doing their jobs properly?
If the police did not find such evidence when they were searching this place, if this evidence wasn't present at the time, then who else would still dare to come up here to have a drink, apart from the murderer himself? Coming back to where the murder had taken place in order to relive or savour the murder scene in his head all over again? If that's the case then how sick is this murderer indeed?
We are almost finished with our field report of the Cecil hotel. I have more pictures that I haven't put up, but if anyone is interested, I will supply these additional pictures to them.
Hopefully the reader would have gotten some useful bits of information from what we have shown here. Before this trip, there were lots of "ifs" and imaginary scenarios offered to us. As our investigation deepens, we will come upon different ideas and follow different leads. This is a good thing.
As for me and Brandon, we have developed our own inferences from our field work today. Let me list them below.
First of all however, let me answer a few questions from our friends online.
1) The question of Elisa's footwear / sandals.
The hotel does not provide sandals/flip flops for guests, so the sandals/flip flops she wears in the video cannot have been given to her by the hotel.
2) The M level of the building is the Mezzanine area. It is right above the Lobby. There is a canteen and a lounge. The B level is the basement. When we reached the B level we could hear sounds of hotel staff chatting and laughing. Before we went it was suggested to us that there might be a room on the 15th floor where Elisa's body was stored. We investigated the 15th floor ourselves and did not find any such suspicious room.
3)
There are reports saying that Elisa's body was found with all four limbs broken. Upon investigation, I've found there were no official reports of Elisa's limbs being broken. There was only official report saying that Elisa's limbs looked abnormal, which may be a result of her body being suspended in water and subject to water currents for an extended period of time.
4)
The opening at the top of the water tank where Elisa was found was not small. Me and Brandon found we could each easily fit through the opening. Perhaps a very obese person may not fit through - but otherwise, any normally-sized person (even one who is slightly plump in appearance) would probably fit through that opening easily. Even if Elisa had been murdered first before her body was disposed in the tank, it would be possible to fit her body through the tank easily.
Now that we have addressed some of our web friends' most pressing questions, we shall go into our own inferences from the field work we accomplished today.
1) How did Elisa's body end up in the tank?
a) She could have wanted to end her own life. Climbed up the wooden ladder on the side of the water tank, open the lid and jumped into the tank.
Point of suspicion :
If she did commit suicide, then its very hard for her body to achieve the kind of position in which she was later found - i.e. head pointing downwards towards the tank base, feet pointing upwards towards the tank top. This is because when one tries to die by drowning, the body's instinct is to struggle to breathe, and thus the resulting body posture of a drowned person is normally head pointing upwards towards the sky, feet pointing downwards.
b) Elisa committed suicide by jumping from the top of the attic/loft roof into the water tank opening. In actuality, this is not as easily done as our web friends might imagine. The thing is, there is a distance of about not more than 2 metres from the attic/loft roof to the water tank. And the top of the water tank is not smooth/straight, and there are gaps and openings in between. For a girl to attempt to do this is extremely difficult - this is my opinion after personally inspecting the place.
c) Elisa's body was disposed of into the water tank by the perpetrator by climbing up the wooden ladder first. This is a more probable scenario. Because it's much easier to do this via going up the wooden ladder, than from the roof of the attic/loft building. It would also be easier to push the body into the tank slowly and surely by doing it this way. One man would be able to do this on his own. If it's a two man job, it'd be very easily done.
d) Elisa's body was lowered into the tank from the rooftop of the attic/loft building. This is considerably difficult. It doesn't matter if the perpetrator tries to do this by first jumping off the attic/loft building rooftop before disposing her body, or by dumping her body straight down into the tank opening from the roof of the attic/loft building. Quite impossible for one man to do this on his own. But may be possible if there were two men involved.
From the above we can surmise that :
1) It's easy to enter the water tank.
2) Even easier to climb up the water tank from the wooden ladder leaning on it.
2) How did Elisa end up on the roof of the hotel?
From our own field work today, we deduce that most people (those who are familiar with the place) would find it easy to go to the rooftop. All they need is guts to do this. Besides, from the things we saw on the roof, we can surmise that quite a number of people have gone up there before. From the graffiti, we can surmise that some people go up there on a very regular basis.
Besides, someone was drinking beer at the rooftop.
Therefore there are a few possibilities as to how Elisa ended up going to the roof :
a) She could have gone up there herself via the fire escape stairs.
b) She could have gone up there with a member of the hotel staff. The hotel staff would have the keys necessary to unlock that locked door at the top of the flight of stairs inside the hotel, and the staff member would know how to disable the alarm.
c) She could have followed someone up to the rooftop. This person she followed could have been a hotel member of staff, or a guest at the hotel (leaning towards a guest who is very familiar with the place).
d) Her dead body could have been carried by a member of the hotel staff up the hotel stairs through the alarmed security door onto the rooftop (one man would be able to do this on his own, and two men would accomplish this very easily).
e) Her dead body could have been carried by someone up the fire escape stairs onto the rooftop (it would be of considerable difficulty for one man, but not impossible. and for two men, it would be doable for sure.)
From the above info, we can surmise :
Any hotel staff or regular guest to the hotel can go up to the rooftop.
One man can commit the crime and dispose of her body on his own.
Two men (or more) can easily do this.
It is more likely for Elisa to have ended up on the rooftop via the fire escape stairs (whether she was dead or alive at the time)
It is far more likely for Elisa and her murderer to have gone up together (alive) to the rooftop via the fire escape stairs.
3) Where could Elisa have been prior to going up to the rooftop?
The CCTV footage is the last we see of Elisa's movements. From the footage we see that she exits the elevator to the left. Thus she might have :
a) Gone back to her own room via the hotel stairs by the elevator. Because the layout of the hotel is such that the stairs are "open plan" and unobscured from the guest rooms, a single girl may feel relatively daring enough to go down those stairs on her own even on a late night.
b) Gone to a room on the 14th floor. (whether she was forced to or willingly did so)
c) Gone to a room on the 15th floor. (whether she was forced to or willingly did so) From our field work today, we know that it takes a maximum of 10 seconds to get to the 15th floor from the 14th via stairs. Thus we cannot eliminate the possibility that she did go to the 15th floor.
d) Why posit a possible 13th floor? Because it isn't logical. We can already confirm she was staying on the 4th floor of the hotel. So if she wanted to go downstairs, or pretended to go downstairs, she wouldn't have gone up one floor and then took the elevator down to go downstairs.
e) She may have been on the 15th floor wanting to get into the lift. Someone on the 15th floor is trying to dissuade her or not allow her to go back to her room. She walks down to the 14th floor to take the lift. After that the person on the 15th floor comes down the stairs to the 14th floor as well to find her. This is a possibility we cannot dismiss either.
f) Since there is a maximum of 10 metres between the elevators and both flights of stairs on either side, and the floor heights are very low, going up and down the floors via stairs is a very convenient and fast method. It is very hard to deduce if the person she was seeing is living in the room on the right or the left side of the elevator on the 14th floor.
I personally measured the time it took for me to go up the stairs from where the 14th floor elevator was situated to the where the 15th floor elevator was, and then went back down to the where the 14th floor elevator was again. This did not take me more than 1 minute to accomplish.
g) Elisa could have returned to her room on the 4th floor, got killed, the murderer then transported her body to the 15th floor. Time taken to do this shouldn't have taken any more than 10 minutes. If the perpetrator is a healthy, fit and strong man, he may take as little as 4 to 5 minutes to do this. And then after that, he disposed of her body into the water tank.
I shall not be discussing Elisa's behaviour in the video here, as there has already been extensive discussion of that prior to this post, and I have already made my opinions clear regarding why she acted the way she did.
I shall end this post here. I will post more if I have any more to say. Do take your time to pore through all this information.
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