The Unexplained Death of Elisa Lam: 3 Interesting Theories

If you’ve been wondering about the unexplained Death of Elisa Lam, you’ve come to the right place. The 21-year-old was said to have died mysteriously after a security video footage of her in an elevator surfaced on the internet.

Let’s briefly look at her background, occupation, and what led to her sudden death.

1. Who was Elisa Lam?

The Canadian tourist was born on the 30th of April, 1991 in Columbia. Although she was born in Columbia, she was originally from Hong Kong and attended the University of British Columbia.

Lam Ho-yi started a blog known as Ether Fields in 2010 where she consistently posted pictures of herself and models. She also blogged about her struggles with mental illness.

In early 2012, she made an unusual post about how she was compelled to drop some classes from school which left her feeling lost and directionless. She was of the opinion that the situation would give her transcript a suspicious look which would lead to her inability to continue school and even attend graduate school.

A few years after her blogging journey, she made an announcement saying she would abandon her blog for a different one she had begun on Tumblr called, Nouvelle-Nouveau. The content of this blog was basically some Lam quotes and fashion photos.

Before now, Lam was said to have been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. She was under different medications for the illness. Her family however kept her mental health issues private and claimed she had never had any form of suicidal attempts.

Elisa Lam was said to have always refused to take her bipolar medications. This made her suffer from hallucinations that made her behave strangely. She was even hospitalized because of the odd behavior.

2. The Unexplained Death of Elisa Lam

Elisa Lam decided to go on a solo trip to California where she also visited the San Diego Zoo, took photos, and posted them on social media. She arrived in Los Angeles on January 26, 2013, and checked into the Cecil Hotel after about two days after her arrival.

Initially, a shared room was allocated to her but her roommates raised complaints about Lam’s odd behavior so she was moved to a separate room after two days.

It was also said by the Cecil Hotel manager that Lam left notes that read “go away” and “go home” for her roommates. She would even go to the extent of locking the door to the room and asking for a password for entry.

You should know that a few days before Lam went missing, she was said to have attended an event where she was later accompanied out of the premises due to her weird behavior.

3. Elisa Lam Disappears

Lam kept in touch with her parents every day till the day she went missing. The day her parents heard nothing from her was on January 31, 2001. She was scheduled to leave the Cecil Hotel that day for Santa Cruz.

Her parents got worried and quickly reached out to the Los Angeles Police to help look for their daughter. They even flew all the way to assist with the search.

The manager of a bookstore was the only person who saw her that day and testified that Lam was a very friendly and easy-going girl. The search for Lam began and the police did all they could to find her.

They searched her room and used dogs in their search with the hope that the dog would find her scent but all to no avail.

A few days after Lam’s mysterious disappearance, the police decided to print flyers with her image and posted them online and in the neighborhood. This made her case go viral as everybody became interested in the missing Canadian student.

4. Evidence of Lam’s Last Seen

Two weeks after her disappearance, her whereabouts were still unknown. This made the police release a video of her in the Hotel’s elevator. It was seen in the footage that she was behaving in an unusual manner.

Her odd behavior in the video caught the eyes of the public. Everybody wanted to know why she behaved how she behaved and what led to her disappearance.

It was posted and reposted on social media platforms and got over three million views when posted on Youku, a Chinese platform.

There were so many theories gotten from the video as some people wondered if she was under the influence of drugs, being pursued by someone, or even having a psychotic episode.

5. Lam’s Body Discovered

Lam had been declared missing for over two weeks when guests in the hotel began to complain about murky water and low water pressure from the tap.

One of the hotel’s staff decided to check the water tank in a bid to solve the water issue when he discovered Lam’s body lying face-up in the water tank.

The tank was later cut open to remove Lam’s body. Lam’s history of bipolar disorder was said to be one of the major factors surrounding her death. She was said to be found naked with her clothes floating on the water. Her room keys and watch were also found with her.

There was however no proof that she committed suicide, no evidence of sexual abuse and physical assault.

Tests carried out showed that she had a small quantity of alcohol with no form of hard drugs in her. It was also noted that she wasn’t taking her medications regularly as there were low traces of the medicine in her system.

6. Theories Surrounding Lam’s Death

There were different theories and speculations surrounding Lam’s death. Some of them are listed below:

6.1. Lam was Killed

They made a true crime Netflix documentary about Lam’s mysterious death which showed that there wasn’t any form of felony surrounding her death. This made little or no sense to some people that were of the opinion that Lam was murdered.

They pointed out her odd behavior in the elevator video as well s the fact that she was naked when found.

There were even speculations about a metal rocker known as Pablo Vergara who posted a video of himself in the hotel a few days after Lam’s body was discovered. These speculations were based on the fact that he releases a music video titled “Died in Pain” around that time.

He later debunked all the rumors saying that he had been in Mexico for his album when Elisa Lam was declared missing.

6.2. Lam Abused Drugs

Although there weren’t any strange of strange substances in her system, most people are of the opinion that Lam abused drugs. They pointed out her unusual behavior at the elevator as evidence.

6.3. Lam Committed Suicide

The fact that Lam had a blog where she sometimes posted depressing thoughts and quotes made people conclude that she killed herself.

Although her last Tumblr post didn’t in any way suggest that she was going to kill herself, most people think that the Elisa Lam case was pure suicide.

7. The Elisa Lam Movie

In 2018, an American horror movie had Lam’s case as the story plot. In 2021, they released a crime scene movie based on the Death of Elisa Lam. This was produced due to the information gathered from interviews with law enforcement, staff, and guest of the hotel she died.

The Elisa Lam documentary focused on the mysterious death of the 21-year-old lady. The video footage sparked a lot of curiosity as people were eager to know what happened to her.

The documentary presented the first-hand testimonies of the investigators and staff and guests of the hotel.

8. In the End

About four months after Lam’s death, the authorities ruled accidental drowning as the cause of her death. It was also stated that her bipolar disorder also contributed to her death.

It still remains a mystery how Lam ended up in the water tank all by herself. In 2014, the building where this incident happened was sold to Richard Born.

We hope we’ve been able to satisfy your curiosity about the unexplained death of Elisa lam. Kindly share this information and leave a comment below.

Last Updated on February 8, 2024 by NamitaSoren