CA/Canada - Elisa Lam - 21 years old - Los Angeles/Vancouver - 31-Jan-2013 - #3

[anansie]

I think this must be a shared tumblr as it was reblogged. Could the "/" in the username indicate a collaboration? I don't really understand the tumblrverse anyway though =/

I have a Tumblr account myself and I can confirm you can reblog a post instantly or "Add to queue" so it gets posted at a later date.

From my Tumblr options, I've cut and pasted for you what can be seen on my Queue control panel (I've substituted the drop-down bar options for "x") :

"The queue lets you stagger posts over a period of hours or days. It's an easy way to keep your blog active and consistent.

Automatically publish a queued post x times a day between x am/pm and x am/pm.

Timezone: *advertiser censored* (change)"

To be fair, I'm not a hardcore Tumblr user. I use it as a way to update on stuff in my life sporadically and sometimes I use it a little bit as a journal (though really, my "real" journal is a diary I keep that is private to me). I've never properly learnt about this Queue function on Tumblr until today when I decided to Google it.

For more information about the Queue function in Tumblr, check this page :
http://tumblring.net/adding-posts-to-the-queue-in-tumblr/

 

[kunibob]

But wouldn't her family and friends know it if the person in the video wasn't her? They would have watched her grow up, very familiar with her facial features. Would they allow the LAPD to release a video that is not of the real Elisa, in order to search for missing Elisa?

To presume that they would, would reek of loads of conspiracy theories behind that. And I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories in solving crimes and murders unless there are many clear indicators to it, although some of them are rather interesting

And maybe it's just me but since I am of Chinese descent, having grown up in Asia with Chinese friends and relatives, the woman in the video, to me at least, does bear resemblance to Elisa Lam. I certainly don't go round thinking every Chinese girl looks like every other. (haha, hey, where does that leave me then? Wouldn't I look just like Lucy Liu, Gong Li, or Maggie Cheung? LOL)

The CCTV footage is very poor quality, pixellated, so its understandable it has obscured some of Elisa's features, but overall, it looks more or less like her to me.

In fact, looking at the picture posted above (http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=30229) where someone circled out who they thought was her in those pics, I question the accuracy of the person doing the circling.. In most of the pics circled, yes I believe the girl circled in the picture is her. But in 2 of the pics, I question whether it is Elisa that is being circled.

For example, the picture of a girl kissing the head of another girl as seen here (http://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=30229). The person circling the pic thinks it is Elisa kissing the top of another girl's head. Me personally, I saw that pic earlier yesterday and I've always thought Elisa was the girl at the bottom with glasses, i.e. the girl being kissed, not the girl doing the kissing! Because the shape of her nose in that other picture of her matches the nose of the girl being kissed. And her eyes are quite stereotypically "Chinese" and "slitty" (sorry, don't know the PC way to say this, but as a Chinese person growing up in Asia, that wouldn't be racist for me or my friends to describe it as that in English) but the girl doing the kissing has larger, rounder shaped eyes.

This photo was originally posted on Instagram by Elisa's friend l_keiko (or Kristin Leigh) by the way. The original photo post is here : http://statigr.am/p/396452058135008129_246961795

Now look at l_keiko's profile pic here :
http://statigr.am/l_keiko

To me, l_keiko (or Kristin Leigh as the profile name says) looks more like the girl who is kissing the other girl in the photo, and the girl being kissed and wearing glasses, is Elisa. l_keiko looks a bit like a mixed race girl - perhaps mixed white and Asian. She has larger eyes, sharper more well-defined nose, and more angular features on her face.

Also, in that other picture of 2 girls as seen here (http://statigr.am/p/396452058135008129_246961795) - one in the foreground looking downwards wearing a hoodie sweat top, and another girl in the background wearing a black tracksuit. I see the person who circled the picture thought the girl in the foreground with the hoodie top is Elisa. But bear in mind this picture was originally posted by l_keiko, Elisa's friend, who actually looks more like the girl in the hoodie top in the foreground of the picture, than Elisa does. So my personal opinion is that l_keiko is the girl in the hoodie top in the foreground - and Elisa was the girl standing in the background wearing the black tracksuit, with her back facing the camera.

She has this quite large nose with a high bridge (for a Chinese female) and the nose tip is bulbous and kind of sticks downwards at the bottom. You see this in several pictures of her.
http://statigr.am/p/399799830535073788_15414986
http://statigr.am/p/396281586210917324_178762129
etc.

Have any of Elisa's friends or relatives verified that the girl being circled in those pics are all truly Elisa's head? Or is the circling done by a reporter?

I missed those photos earlier. 100% agreed that Elisa is the one being kissed, and the one to the right in the track suit isn't her -- it doesn't look anything like her, in fact.

I would have guessed that Elisa was the far left of the top left pic as well, but it's not very detailed and my eyes aren't so good.

EDITED to add: I think it looks like her in the video. The cheekbones are very distinctive.

 

[anansie]

As far as the conspiracy stuff goes - did Elisa's family not identify the girl in the video as her? Call me overly sensitive, but isn't it a little disrespectful to suggest they were somehow involved in a conspiracy that killed their own daughter/sister?

I think it's important look at this whole thing realistically...the video quality was terrible, which I don't find suspicious of a hotel with the reputation of the Cecil. If they had top of the line security sysytems, they wouldn't have half the problems they do.

My views exactly... I find it hard to believe her family and friends wouldn't be able to identify her properly or were somehow induced to believe it was her when it really wasn't (by what? psychological manipulation from the police? hypnotising them? or other such stuff that comes out of novels and movie plots?)

I'm not saying the police are infallible. That's why I am trying to keep track on all these forums surrounding Elisa's death hoping to find out more info that the police either know about (and are not disclosing) or don't know about.

If the police just decides to close the case with a verdict of "suicide" after what I feel is an inadequate investigation, I would never believe the police's verdict. But its a real stretch for me to believe that Elisa's family and friends would somehow erroneously identify her in the video when its not really her. It must be her.

 

[kunibob]

I have a Tumblr account myself and I can confirm you can reblog a post instantly or "Add to queue" so it gets posted at a later date.

From my Tumblr options, I've cut and paste for you what can be seen on my Queue control panel (I've substituted the drop-down bar options for "x") :

"The queue lets you stagger posts over a period of hours or days. It's an easy way to keep your blog active and consistent.

Automatically publish a queued post x times a day between x am/pm and x am/pm.

Timezone: *advertiser censored* (change)"

To be fair, I'm not a hardcore Tumblr user. I use it as a way to update on stuff in my life sporadically and sometimes I use it a little bit as a journal (though really, my "real" journal is a diary I keep that is private to me). I've never properly learned about this Queue function on Tumblr until today when I decided to Google it.

For more information about the Queue function in Tumblr, check this page :
http://tumblring.net/adding-posts-to-the-queue-in-tumblr/

To respectfully build on anansie's post: you can also schedule individual entries to post on specific dates. For example, on my blog, I do a weekly song post, so I have several queued up to post at midnight PST on Fridays.

The last two posts from Elisa seem to be specifically scheduled, while most of the other ones before that match the pattern of a queue (multiple posts per day at regular intervals.)

 

[noodled1]

But I said btw 50-60, (as an example)

I don't know btw day in night in LA what the average temp is. So I went with guessing it was likely closer on average to btw 50-60 at night in LA in FEb. and thus gave the approximate survival times for that temp range.

We had an exceptionally chilly 2013 here in SoCal. Until a week before they found the body we had day time highs in the 50's to low 60's and overnight lows in the 40's, even high 30's.

 

[Halifirien]

See that "black" about the opening? That's the black tarp behind the fireman in your pic.

Hmm, yeah I noticed the tarp. I doubt the tarp is responsible for the marks (unless that's a filthy tarp the investigators are using), but the marks could have been caused by the wooden plank that's holding the tarp down in your photo. In fact, if that plank was originally stored near the tanks, then it might have become dirty/greasy/wet from contact with the ground (and later made those conspicuous stains through friction with the cistern). I'd say that's a good explanation, and will leave it at that for now. Other thoughts are, of course, welcome.

 

[Joe Friday]

Two guests at hotel where body was found in water tank file suit

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...-where-body-was-found-in-water-tank-file-suit

 

[ThinkHard]

We had an exceptionally chilly 2013 here in SoCal. Until a week before they found the body we had day time highs in the 50's to low 60's and overnight lows in the 40's, even high 30's.

I actually looked up the exact temps hourly in the time frame she would have disappeared and posted that info. It's in a separate post.

But on the night she disappeared in was 53 at midnight, 54 after that, and only reached into the 60's after 9 am.

 

[meteen]

To respectfully build on anansie's post: you can also schedule individual entries to post on specific dates. For example, on my blog, I do a weekly song post, so I have several queued up to post at midnight PST on Fridays.

The last two posts from Elisa seem to be specifically scheduled, while most of the other ones before that match the pattern of a queue (multiple posts per day at regular intervals.)

Yup, you can queue posts in advance on Tumblr. The Hermit card is a reblog of a post made in October 2012 (I followed the thread of reblogs). So a likely explanation is that she queued up several posts/reblogs in advance.

I think we can rule out that this is a shared Tumblr account. The bio/etc. page is written in first person and makes no mention of another person attached to the account.

From what I've gleaned looking back at her older entries, Tumblr was an important part of her life, so I guess I can understand her wanting to have posts queued up in advance, especially if she knew she'd be traveling afk. Still, it's kind of bizarre to see these posts popping up now.

 

[four_seasons]

Another idea that just came across my mind:

What if she was murdered in the hotel (for whatever reason, maybe she has witnesses something, she shouldn't have) , but as it was too risky to hide her inside the hotel (the police could have very well checked every room), the killer(s) decided to temporary hide here somewhere else (maybe in a car or even at home).

I don't think it is that difficult, to pack a body into a big enough suitcase, also it doesn't attract unneeded attention (who would suspect it in a hotel, as it is totally common?). This would also explain why the search dogs didn't find a track, if she was brought there when the police was already done with the roof.

I'm still not sure whether there are two killers (maybe one of the hotel's employees, as it was necessary to turn off the alarm, the roof was secured with) or only one (the more I think about it, the less likely it gets), it's hard to imagine one person alone being able to carry her body up to the cistern.

Does anyone know whether there is a security camera inside the lobby?

according to the people that went into the hotel to investigate themselves, there are 2 big/main cameras and several smaller cameras in the main lobby..

 

[seamaster]

My views exactly... I find it hard to believe her family and friends wouldn't be able to identify her properly or were somehow induced to believe it was her when it really wasn't (by what? psychological manipulation from the police? hypnotising them? or other such stuff that comes out of novels and movie plots?)

I'm not saying the police are infallible. That's why I am trying to keep track on all these forums surrounding Elisa's death hoping to find out more info that the police either know about (and are not disclosing) or don't know about.

If the police just decides to close the case with a verdict of "suicide" after what I feel is an inadequate investigation, I would never believe the police's verdict. But its a real stretch for me to believe that Elisa's family and friends would somehow erroneously identify her in the video when its not really her. It must be her.

Not sure if this was asked and answered before, why did the LAPD published a video? Is it a general practice? Is it adequate just to published Elisa's photo since the quality of the video is so bad?

 

[broccoli]

Black marks on tank = fingerprinting dust, I think

Also, that pic of the friend in a track jacket. The "girl" behind her is her - it's a mirror image. She posts that she's wearing her jacket in memory of Elisa.

 

[anansie]

To respectfully build on anansie's post: you can also schedule individual entries to post on specific dates. For example, on my blog, I do a weekly song post, so I have several queued up to post at midnight PST on Fridays.

The last two posts from Elisa seem to be specifically scheduled, while most of the other ones before that match the pattern of a queue (multiple posts per day at regular intervals.)

Yeah, haha... I forgot to mention that aspect as well.
I have used that function to change the date stamp on some of my Tumblr posts on a few occasions.

 

[mollymae]

Not sure if this was asked and answered before, why did the LAPD published a video? Is it a general practice? Is it adequate just to published Elisa's photo since the quality of the video is so bad?

I would assume LE was hoping someone might have seen Elisa just before/after the elevator footage, since she was missing at the time. I don't find it to be an uncommon pratice for LE to release a video of a missing person in the last place they were seen. They might have also been hoping someone who knew Elisa could explain her behaviour.

 

[anansie]

according to the people that went into the hotel to investigate themselves, there are 2 big/main cameras and several smaller cameras in the main lobby..

Yup there seems to be cameras in main areas... but some of those who went there said no cameras whatsoever in those narrow corridors where the rooms were..

 

[four_seasons]

Okay you got to post the links up for me. I'm not sure which link you are referring to or which poster. I'll give it a shot

In fact, just in case I miss a message directed at me, you can also PM me with the links to be sure I read it, and I'll try my best to translate it (but can't guarantee I can get it done as quickly as people may wish, as I am very busy normally, but I will try to get it done ASAP).

those are the links i posted.
http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-free-3077181-96.shtml#ty_vip_look[VB%E8%B0%83%E6%9F%A5]

if you go from page 96 onward and looking only at the main poster (sorry, they don't have post #s) and they stopped at page 101.

they have more pictures and said they will post more in the coming days. i will keep an eye on that thread.

 

[seamaster]

I would assume LE was hoping someone might have seen Elisa just before/after the elevator footage, since she was missing at the time. I don't find it to be an uncommon pratice for LE to release a video of a missing person in the last place they were seen. They might have also been hoping someone who knew Elisa could explain her behaviour.

If they wanted someone to provide information before/after the elevator footage, why did they hide/edit the time information? To me, the motive of releasing such video is quite unclear. It already leaded so many unnecessary bad mouthing such as OD, drinking, supernatural possessing.......... Which is unfair to Elisa and her family.

 

[jash]

Some netizen was making fun of the OP (ID: VB调&#26597 of that thread, claiming the OP was actually the murderer. The pics showing the laptop and stuff were taken by the OP before they started their "investigation".

The girl in the black outerwear is said to be EL, the pic is assumed to be a self-portrait of EL in one of the hotels she stayed, and I remember vaguely it's mentioned somewhere the pic was obtained from one of her social media accounts but I don't remember which ... tumblr? FB?or....?

Hi Fei,

The quote above was your response to someone who had posted a link to this site http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-free-3077181-100.shtml with the following photo:

.

I'm a bit confused -- does the green circle and arrow drawn around the watch mean to imply that the "OP"/investigator is wearing EL's watch? Thanks for your help!

 

[Binoculars]

Hi. I was a friend of Elisa. I haven't seen or heard from her in over a year, but we use to hang out and talk quite a bit online before I moved to Montreal. In my opinion the lady in the elevator isn't her, not only because the woman doesn't look like Elisa in the face, but it also appears the person in the elevator is wearing heels with straps. I've never seen or known Elisa to wear shoes that look like that. Also climbing up a steep ladder to a roof with heels on seems quite impossible in my mind. Elisa also had contact lenses she wore, she didn't always wear glasses. She was near-sighted.

The shoes the woman has on in the elevator sort of looks like they would be in this style:

I've never seen or have known Elisa to wear shoes like that. I've never known Elisa to wear heels at all... In my mind I could overhear me and her laughing at girls wearing those "prostitute heels". She was full of funnies and was quite blunt at times. I really don't think she would be caught dead in shoes like that!

<modsnip>
I really don't feel it's her in the elevator.

 

[delal]

Not sure if anyone posted this, but it gives some background information about the hotel and photos inside a long term resident's room.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/l...9937.photogallery?index=la-me-cecil6_jv4lr3nc