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CASE STUDIES

THE MISSING CASE OF ELISA LAM

Ms. Neha Elsa John

Ms. Akshara B

Elisa Lam (21), also known as Lam Ho Yi, was a Ca-

nadian student in British Columbia in Vancouver. She
was last seen on 31st January 2013, in Cecil Hotel,

Los Angeles, California where she had checked in a
few days before she went missing. Elisa started her

journey from San Diego in California to Los Angeles.
She had planned to check out on the 31st of January

and travel to Santa Cruz. She always wanted to travel
around the US, and she had been constantly contact-

ing her parents, telling them about her adventures.
After the 31st of January, the relatives reported her

missing to the police since they did not get any infor-
mation about her.

On 19th February 2013, as per complaints of Cecil’s guests about the water

tasting weird and having dark colour, a maintenance guy checked the water
tanks on the rooftop of the hotel. Elisa Lam was found dead in one of the

tanks, where she was found floating naked. She had been lying there for at
least 2 weeks. In June 2013, Los Angeles County Coroner’s office ruled the

death accidental due to drowning, and the autopsy result confirmed that
there was no trace of drugs in her system.

The footage released by the security camera placed on the Cecil hotel’s el-

evator shows the last minutes of Elisa before facing her death. Her behav-
iour was the subject of numerous speculations and analysis. Body language

experts confirmed that she manifested anxiety and stress and even looked
playful and excited at some point.

In her blog, she mentioned that she was on medication. Her prescription

suggested that she suffered from bipolar disorder, which was later con-
firmed by the LAPD and autopsy report. One thing to be noticed in the

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