6 Brutal Moments In Cecil Hotel's History That Aren't Elisa Lam's window.onload = func; Netflix's 'Crime Scene': The Gruesome History of L.A.'s '&l=' + l : ''; } The Cecil Hotel had a total of 14 floors, and many people have taken their lives by jumping from the top floors or roof of the building. }); As detailed in Netflix'sCrime Scene, the Canadian student is believed to have died in the rooftop water tank in early February of 2013, but wasn't found until February 19, after tenants complained about the water pressure. From podcasts to print, on Reddit and YouTube, there is a vast number of true crime content creators producing anything from long-form investigations to videos that are half stunning makeup tutorial and half murderous deep dive (some of the best examples of multitasking Ive ever seen). .postid-1764461 .panel-signup { He especially likes to write about the hardships of being a parent in the age of memes, Minecraft and Fortnite. eventAction: 'load' In California, she visited the San Diego Zoo and posted photos on social media. 23 hours ago. That is to say, even if she was behaving strangely in the lift, and even if she was just being a bit weird by herself, that doesnt mean she was or was not in contact with someone else before her death. Lam, also known by her Cantonese name, Lam Ho Yi, was the daughter of Hong Kong immigrants and had been staying at the hotel for less than a week by then. The 24 best documentaries to stream on Netflix, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ After being convicted of nine murders, he hung himself in prison. The blog continued to be updatedin March, April, and June 2013, long after Lam's death, though it's mainly fashion-related images with no text. NEXT: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel Reveals The Danger Of Online Sleuths. Here's the Deal, The Hidden Meaning Behind the Hair Colors in "Daisy Jones & The Six", Here's When You'll Be Able to Watch Adonis's Latest Bout in "Creed III" at Home, Idris Elba and Wife Sabrina Were all Smiles at the "Luther: The Fallen Sun" Premiere, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, highly disputed whether or not Short was actually at the Cecil, landed on a 65-year-old pedestrian named George Gianinni, she would come out and feed the pigeons at Pershing Square, he disposed of his bloodied clothing in the hotel's dumpster, presented himself as a journalist from Austria, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Was it suicide? Committing the bulk of his attacks in 1985, Ramirez entered homes through unlocked doors and windows. She arrived in Los Angeles on January 26. Elisa Lam Documentary Leaves Out About The Cecil Hotel [CDATA[ */ Based on Elisas bizarre behavior and hand gestures as seen in the elevator footage in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, and the fact she was seen hitting multiple buttons at once, conspiracy enthusiasts were convinced she was playing The Elevator Game and that the ritual went wrong. ga('ads.send', { 22 hours ago, by Yerin Kim var oldonload = window.onload; But in feeding, and stoking, that appetite, Netflixs true crime tsunami risks sweeping away the frameworks that true crime authors and fans have spent decades building, and stripping away a layer of respectability that the long-disreputable genre has only recently acquired. In September 1985, just 12 hours after the Los Angeles Police Department issued an all-points bulletin identifying him as their prime suspect in the slayings, Ramirez was chased down and beaten by a mob of civilians as he tried to steal a car. ga('ads.send', { All the dance numbers! }; True crime fandom is rife with ethical quandaries, but most fans are attracted to the subject because of their fascination in the why, rather than the how. She loved fashion, The Great Gatsby, and Harry Potter and had been studying at the University of British Columbia. But it's not. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from POPSUGAR. In the following years, the hotel fell faced hard times and it became the site for suicides and violent murders. Rosie Fletcher is the UK Editor of Den Of Geek. .custom-menu-item a { She resides in Toronto, Ontario in Canada with her husband and young son. In addition to the Tumblr blog Nouvelle-Nouveau, which receives a lot of attention in the true crime docuseries, Lam also had a blog on Blogspot called Ether Fields, which she started in 2010. What makes this even stranger is that her Tumblr posts continued to be updated. if (!document.links) { The so-called Night Stalker was regularly seen around Skid Row during his mid-'80s crime spree and, as a then-night clerk at the Cecil told theL.A. Times (opens in new tab),reportedly checked into the hotel for several weeks in July and August 1985, shortly before his arrest in late August. Cecil Hotel's endless trawling through Elisa Lam's Tumblr blog feels uncomfortable, like reading someone's teenage diary -- but given Lam's mental health struggles being paramount to the case it's arguably understandable. In any case, it's always interesting to learn more about the people and places that were discussed in a thrilling series like this one. Lost in Los Angeles 54m Cecil Hotel function external_links_in_new_windows_load(func) If the elevator descends, players must exit the elevator and building without looking back as the ritual has failed. Alas, the building's various owners throughout the years have instead merely attempted surface-level rebrands of the hotelto little or no effect. Content warning: this article mentions rape, suicide, and details which some readers may find distressing. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Other posts show troubling thoughts, including the quote from novelist Chuck Palahniuk, "you're always haunted by the idea you're wasting your life," which she also used as an epigraph for the blog. At this crucial point in the narrative, Crime Scene almost entirely turns itself over to the legions of web sleuths who were drawn to the video, case, and Lam herself, especially through her personal Tumblr (which, as with so much internet ephemera, somehow still exists). Netflix documentary Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel explores the strange case of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian woman who disappeared in January 2013 while she was staying at the Cecil Hotel in downtown LA. It is assumed that it was stolen before her death. pg.acq.push(function() { A professional writer and editor with 18+ years of experience, Christine, now a freelance writer/editor, is a self-professed TV fanatic with tastes that vary considerably from comedies to dramas, sci-fi, and more. Moreover, one cannot ignore the strong possibility that the tragedy of Elisas death was caused by a manic episode, which might have manifested due to her bipolar disorder. Jan. 28: Lam checks into the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. s = d.createElement('script'); Cecil Hotel could have been a tight, concise mystery. Initially sharing a dorm with several other girls, Lam exhibited some erratic behaviour including leaving odd notes on the other girls beds, until eventually she was moved to her own room. The footage circulated widely online, it just went absolutely viral. }); 2023 CNET, a Red Ventures company. j = d.createElement( s ), dl = l != 'dataLayer' ? The blog is still accessible today, with the last post-dated 27-7-12 noting that she is much more active on Tumblr. 1. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, The Best New Netflix Series If You Want To Create An Ass-Shaped Groove On Your Couch, The Best True Crime Documentaries On Netflix If Youve Decided You Never Wanna Sleep Again, Cecil The Lions Son Was Shot Dead By A Trophy Hunter & People Are Devo. ), the streamer has continued to put out a steady stream of new cold case investigations in 2021. Mark Serrels is an award-winning Senior Editorial Director focused on all things culture. Tumblr has a Queue feature that will auto-publish posts if the author is away. It's irresponsible and dishonest, indulging conspiracy theories that put already vulnerable //Crime Scene Spending half your documentary suggesting this man, pushed to the brink by an online mob, could have been responsible for Lam's death is senseless and potentially damaging.