Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / HORROR HOTEL: "WE TASTED BLOOD IN WATER" AT CECIL HOTEL, ELISA'S BODY IN WATER TANK

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HORROR HOTEL: "WE TASTED BLOOD IN WATER" AT CECIL HOTEL, ELISA'S BODY IN WATER TANK · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a carror. Hotel guests say
0:10
Speaker 1: we tasted blood in the water at the Cecil Hotel
0:15
Speaker 1: just before Elisa's body found floating in the hotel water tank.
0:22
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:25
Speaker 1: being with us.
0:26
Speaker 2: Elisa Lamb is a twenty one year old university student
0:31
Speaker 2: from British Columbia on a solo trip to California, starting
0:36
Speaker 2: in San Diego and ending in Santa Cruz. She's made
0:40
Speaker 2: it to the City of Stars, writing in her blog,
0:45
Speaker 2: I have arrived in Lalla Land.
0:50
Speaker 3: What do you think people imagine when they picture the
0:53
Speaker 3: Cecil Hotel?
0:56
Speaker 4: Is there a room here that maybe somebody hasn't died in.
0:59
Speaker 4: I never got used to.
1:00
Speaker 1: That, never got used to that.
1:03
Speaker 5: Bro out.
1:04
Speaker 1: It's history.
1:05
Speaker 6: The hotel Cecil has always had a dark persona.
1:08
Speaker 4: People call it hotel death.
1:13
Speaker 1: This was a place where sterio killers let.
1:15
Speaker 6: Their hair down, like Richard Ramirez who had come back covered.
1:20
Speaker 1: In blood and no one's got a problem with them.
1:23
Speaker 1: And that was from our friends over at Netflix. It's
1:26
Speaker 1: crime scene, the vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. But let
1:29
Speaker 1: me assure everyone, this is no ghost story. There is
1:34
Speaker 1: nothing supernatural about Alyssa's death. There is a logical conclusion
1:41
Speaker 1: for this beautiful young girl's death, and I intend to
1:46
Speaker 1: find it. I'm not blaming it on a haunting or
1:50
Speaker 1: some phantom. She was killed, but how nonetheless, listen to this.
1:59
Speaker 7: A hotel a notorious past is the site of another
2:02
Speaker 7: bizarre case.
2:04
Speaker 8: Elisia Lamb from Vancouver, Canada is missing.
2:09
Speaker 3: The big unanswered question is where is she?
2:12
Speaker 9: The last footage that we have over was inside the elevator.
2:17
Speaker 3: That's where the case starts to go askew, she.
2:20
Speaker 10: Kept looking outside the door.
2:21
Speaker 1: Why is the elevator not going anywhere?
2:24
Speaker 3: Is someone keeping her here?
2:25
Speaker 1: Her hand movements are very strange in.
2:27
Speaker 3: Your body, like she's conjuring a spirit.
2:31
Speaker 1: It makes people wonder is there something evil going on here? Well,
2:36
Speaker 1: that's all well and good for Netflix to say. In Crime,
2:38
Speaker 1: seeing the vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, it looks to
2:41
Speaker 1: me like she's hiding from someone, someone very much alive
2:46
Speaker 1: in that elevator. The last known surveillance video of Elisa.
2:49
Speaker 1: What happened to Elisa joining me in an All Star panel
2:53
Speaker 1: to make sense of what we know right now? But
2:56
Speaker 1: to Kelly Hyman joining US veteran try a lawyer, TV
3:01
Speaker 1: legal analyst, and host of Once Upon a Crime in Hollywood.
3:06
Speaker 1: Why is it, Kelly, that people in that jurisdiction would
3:12
Speaker 1: rather believe in a supernatural haunting than a plane and
3:16
Speaker 1: simple murder.
3:17
Speaker 7: People want to figure out why something happened. This case
3:21
Speaker 7: has so many layers to it.
3:22
Speaker 1: Here.
3:23
Speaker 7: We have this hotel where death occurs in the hotel.
3:27
Speaker 7: This young beautiful girl dies in the hotel, is found
3:32
Speaker 7: in the water tank, and still no one knows how
3:36
Speaker 7: she was put there, how she was killed. It's important
3:39
Speaker 7: to know, Nancy, as you know that there is no
3:42
Speaker 7: statute limitations on murder, so whoever did this should be
3:47
Speaker 7: accountable for their actions. But people want to try and
3:50
Speaker 7: figure out what happened. Why did she die? If someone
3:53
Speaker 7: didn't kill her, what exactly occurred?
3:56
Speaker 8: You know?
3:56
Speaker 1: To Karen started following up on what trial lawyer Kelly
3:59
Speaker 1: Hyman is saying. Karen Stark is with US renowned as psychologist,
4:03
Speaker 1: TV radio trauma expert. You can find her at Karensdark
4:06
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Karen with a C if you're looking
4:09
Speaker 1: for her online. Karen, why do people want to believe
4:13
Speaker 1: there was a supernatural haunting, that a phantom has something
4:16
Speaker 1: to do with this girl's death. It didn't. Don't you
4:20
Speaker 1: jump on the bandwagon and tune up about a ghost.
4:23
Speaker 1: Did you see her in that elevator. She looks like
4:25
Speaker 1: she's hiding from someone. Why does everyone want to assume
4:29
Speaker 1: it's a ghost.
4:30
Speaker 11: Well, because that's much more exciting, Nancy, the idea that
4:34
Speaker 11: this is a hotel that's haunted and has phantoms, and
4:38
Speaker 11: you know, people really enjoy looking at the supernatural, or
4:43
Speaker 11: the idea that there are forces we don't know about.
4:45
Speaker 11: And yet what you said is absolutely true. You see
4:49
Speaker 11: her being terrified, raising her hands. It does seem like
4:54
Speaker 11: someone is after her. It has nothing to do with
4:57
Speaker 11: the ghost. It has much more to do with who
5:00
Speaker 11: is there? Who don't we know about? How in the
5:03
Speaker 11: world did this happen?
5:04
Speaker 1: There you seeing her hiding back in the corner of
5:06
Speaker 1: the elevator. That last known surveillance video off her at
5:10
Speaker 1: the beginning it I couldn't tell she punching a floor
5:14
Speaker 1: or some other button, looking both ways at one point
5:19
Speaker 1: gesticulating what happened to this twenty two year old girl?
5:24
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, who is she?
5:26
Speaker 12: Listen A Lisa Lamb is a twenty one year old
5:28
Speaker 12: student at the University of British Columbia. She's an avid
5:31
Speaker 12: blogger active on the popular social site Tumbler under the
5:34
Speaker 12: pen name Nouvelle Nouveau. There she posts a mix of
5:38
Speaker 12: chic and trending fashion photos, quotes strewn with bits and
5:41
Speaker 12: pieces of her personal life, including her upcoming solo trip
5:44
Speaker 12: to California and she.
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Speaker 1: Was excited about the trip. Listen.
5:49
Speaker 9: Lisa Lamb embarks on a solo trip to California. Despite
5:52
Speaker 9: her parents' protest, she reassures them with the promise of
5:55
Speaker 9: daily check ins by phone. Her first stop is the
5:59
Speaker 9: San Diego Zoo. Before arriving in La on January twenty sixth,
6:03
Speaker 9: she posts on her Tumblr blog, I have arrived in
6:06
Speaker 9: Lalla lad. She checks into the Cecil Hotel in downtown
6:10
Speaker 9: LA in an area known as skid Row, with the
6:13
Speaker 9: plan to stay in her shared hostile style suite for
6:16
Speaker 9: a total of four days and three nights.
6:19
Speaker 1: Joining me in addition to Hadley Mere's investigative journalist Mike
6:24
Speaker 1: McCormick is with US, owner and lead investigator of MCM Investigations,
6:30
Speaker 1: FORMERLAPD Los Angeles Police department over twenty five years, and
6:37
Speaker 1: you can find an mcminvestigations dot com. While Mike, having
6:41
Speaker 1: been in LA for twenty five years, I guess you've
6:43
Speaker 1: seen it all, or have you? I don't get why
6:46
Speaker 1: people want to blame her death on a ghost. To
6:53
Speaker 1: get up into that water tank, you had to go
6:55
Speaker 1: through all sorts of security hoops and she would not
7:01
Speaker 1: have had those codes and the wherewithal to do that.
7:04
Speaker 1: But let me ask you this, Mike McCormick, why is
7:07
Speaker 1: it in your neck of the woods people would rather
7:11
Speaker 1: believe in a supernatural phantom as opposed to a cold
7:15
Speaker 1: blooded killer.
7:17
Speaker 13: That very just muddies the waters. I believe she was
7:23
Speaker 13: she was murdered. I believe she was picking up to
7:27
Speaker 13: the water tank and dumped into it. My question would be,
7:32
Speaker 13: why wasn't these water tanks locked down? They're not only
7:42
Speaker 13: had access for her to be thrown in there, but
7:45
Speaker 13: somebody could go up there any time and you know,
7:48
Speaker 13: contaminate the water with poison. So this whole scenario does
7:53
Speaker 13: not make sense.
7:54
Speaker 1: And another thing to Mike McCormick, veteran investigator, former LAPD.
8:00
Speaker 1: She embarks on a solo trip to California, now. One
8:04
Speaker 1: of the first things she did, and I can remember, Mike,
8:07
Speaker 1: when we were living in La for Dancing with the Stars.
8:11
Speaker 1: We lived there nearly a year. The children were about
8:14
Speaker 1: three years old. One of the first things we did
8:17
Speaker 1: was take the train from La to San Diego to
8:21
Speaker 1: see the famed San Diego Zoo, and it was amazing.
8:25
Speaker 1: My point is, this does not sound like a girl
8:29
Speaker 1: that is entertaining thoughts of death in any way. She
8:35
Speaker 1: doesn't seem afraid for her life. She certainly was not suicidal.
8:40
Speaker 1: She's at the San Diego Zoo posting about it.
8:44
Speaker 13: No, she doesn't seem like she was depressed at all.
8:47
Speaker 13: She was having appeared to be having a good time.
8:51
Speaker 13: Other than that video in the elevator, she's scared of something.
8:57
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right there at the so called horror hotel,
9:01
Speaker 1: the Cecil. So what do we know happens? Next two
9:07
Speaker 1: Hadley Meres joining us investigative journalist in this jurisdiction, La
9:12
Speaker 1: HATTLEI thanks so much for being with us. Let me
9:14
Speaker 1: ask you, why do people want very much to believe
9:20
Speaker 1: in a haunting at the Cecil hotel as being responsible
9:24
Speaker 1: for this girl's death. That's total bs technical, legal term.
9:28
Speaker 14: Yes. Well, I think the reason a lot of people
9:30
Speaker 14: want to believe in this kind of ghostly thing happening
9:34
Speaker 14: to Alisa, this great mystery, is because of the history
9:37
Speaker 14: of the Cecil Hotel. A lot of my work delves
9:40
Speaker 14: into the history and law of lesser known places in
9:43
Speaker 14: Los Angeles, and in all of my years of journalism
9:47
Speaker 14: in LA I have never come across the place with
9:49
Speaker 14: more documented.
9:51
Speaker 15: Suicides, deaths, infamous murders. We had two serial killers, and
9:56
Speaker 15: so this is a place that has been notorious for decades.
10:01
Speaker 15: Way before this tragedy with Alisa Lamb. I mean, residents
10:05
Speaker 15: would kind of morbidly jokingly call it the suicide. So
10:09
Speaker 15: it's always had this very bad reputation. Then you have
10:13
Speaker 15: this beautiful, vibrant young girl disappear. The police released this
10:18
Speaker 15: mysterious video that does look strange, and you're off to
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Speaker 15: the races in internet culture of today.
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Speaker 1: And that's seemed to take over the entire investigation crime
10:35
Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace, when did we first realize something
10:43
Speaker 1: was wrong?
10:44
Speaker 9: Listen, Alisa Lamb is supposed to end her stay at
10:47
Speaker 9: the Cecil Hotel on January thirty first, but she never
10:52
Speaker 9: makes it to check out. Her parents begin to worry
10:55
Speaker 9: as Alisa has failed to uphold her promise of daily
10:58
Speaker 9: check ins that contact the LAPD, and a search ensues
11:02
Speaker 9: for the young university student. Dogs search her room and
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Speaker 9: the hotel rooftop, but Alisa is nowhere to be found.
11:10
Speaker 1: You know, right there, Hedley Mere is joining us investigated
11:13
Speaker 1: journalists in la I'm very curious dogs searched the roof.
11:18
Speaker 1: Now I know that dogs hit on the fire escape area,
11:24
Speaker 1: So that leads me to believe the dogs led police
11:29
Speaker 1: to the roof. Did they not see those water tanks
11:32
Speaker 1: up there?
11:33
Speaker 14: They did see the water tanks, and they do say
11:35
Speaker 14: that they very much regret not checking the water tanks
11:38
Speaker 14: because they did in fact search the roof. So you know,
11:42
Speaker 14: it's tragic because she ends up being in there for
11:44
Speaker 14: much longer than she could have if the police had
11:48
Speaker 14: gone up to check the water tanks.
11:50
Speaker 1: Now, the police dogs picked up on her scent at
11:54
Speaker 1: a window leading to a fire escape, not all the
12:00
Speaker 1: fire escape itself. So who dragged her body to the
12:07
Speaker 1: roof and put her in one of these cisterns? Look
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Speaker 1: At how difficult it is to get in and out
12:15
Speaker 1: of the cistern. Could she have done that on her own.
12:19
Speaker 1: They've got a whole fleet of workers trying to look
12:23
Speaker 1: in there. So other than the reputation of the cecil,
12:30
Speaker 1: nothing suggests she took her own life. What happened to Elisa?
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, one of the last people
12:41
Speaker 1: to see her alive and speak to her says she
12:44
Speaker 1: was very much vibrant, alive, excited and looking forward. I
12:51
Speaker 1: want you to hear what she says.
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Speaker 16: We would see hundreds, if not thousands of people a day,
12:57
Speaker 16: and the fact that she was so gregarious made it
13:00
Speaker 16: easy for me to remember her and remember what our
13:04
Speaker 16: interaction was like. She was asking a lot about like
13:08
Speaker 16: the weight of what she had, and whether or not
13:11
Speaker 16: she would need to ship things home or if she
13:14
Speaker 16: could still like put it all in her suitcase. I
13:17
Speaker 16: could not at this point tell you any of the
13:20
Speaker 16: titles that she purchased. I do remember her buying a lot.
13:25
Speaker 16: It was like, you know, a banker's.
13:27
Speaker 1: Box worth of books and records. That's really important sound
13:32
Speaker 1: and that comes from our friends at Fox eleven in La.
13:35
Speaker 1: It's Katie Orphan, a bookstore owner, and to you, Karen Start,
13:40
Speaker 1: renowned psychologist. It's classic, classic evidence that this young woman
13:48
Speaker 1: just twenty two, was not planning to take her own life.
13:52
Speaker 1: She went and bought out the bookstore. She bought so
13:55
Speaker 1: many books that she was trying to figure out how
13:58
Speaker 1: to ship them home, whether I would all fit in
14:00
Speaker 1: her suitcase. Did you hear that? And what does it
14:03
Speaker 1: tell you Karen's talk?
14:04
Speaker 11: It tells me that she was enjoying her life. These
14:07
Speaker 11: books were supposed to be presents for her family. She
14:11
Speaker 11: was looking forward to the trip. And Nancy, there are
14:14
Speaker 11: alarms that go off if you try to get into
14:17
Speaker 11: those water tanks and you're on the roof, So it
14:20
Speaker 11: seems to me somebody must have known how to shut
14:24
Speaker 11: off the alarms, because how would she know not one
14:30
Speaker 11: more than one and then get herself up there and
14:32
Speaker 11: lift the lid. That just seems inconceivable. She's a small girl,
14:38
Speaker 11: She's twenty one years old. So I also want to
14:42
Speaker 11: add that people love, as your question was before ghost stories,
14:47
Speaker 11: because if you think about sitting around a campsite and
14:50
Speaker 11: kids and they are exciting, they make you have adrenaline,
14:54
Speaker 11: just like quantit houses. So they don't pay attention to
14:57
Speaker 11: the facts here, which is how in the w the
15:00
Speaker 11: world could she have done this.
15:01
Speaker 1: Joining me is renowned and esteemed medical examiner. She shot
15:07
Speaker 1: to the forefront of the nation's consciousness during the Alex
15:11
Speaker 1: Murdog double murder trial. Joining me is doctor Michelle Dupree,
15:15
Speaker 1: forensic pathologist, medical examiner, and looky for Me former detective
15:20
Speaker 1: with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. She is the author
15:23
Speaker 1: of Money, Mischief and Murder, the Murdog Dynasty the rest
15:27
Speaker 1: of the story, but for my purposes. She is the
15:31
Speaker 1: author of the Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Doctor Michelle Dupree,
15:37
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Another fact that really
15:40
Speaker 1: sticks out in my mind, doctor Michelle, is that she
15:43
Speaker 1: was found naked. And you and I have discussed many,
15:47
Speaker 1: many times the assessment and method of homicide and suicide.
15:52
Speaker 1: It is extremely rare, I would venture to say, almost
15:57
Speaker 1: nonexistent for a female to commit suicide without any clothes.
16:04
Speaker 1: On why I'm not a shrink, I don't know, but
16:08
Speaker 1: I do know from a case I tried, Doctor Michelle Duprie,
16:13
Speaker 1: A case I tried. I'll never forget it. The district
16:16
Speaker 1: attorney called me over the loud speaker, Nancy, come to
16:19
Speaker 1: my office. I literally ran to mister Slayton's office, and
16:24
Speaker 1: he wanted me to investigate and possibly prosecute a suicide.
16:30
Speaker 1: It had been built a suicide. It wasn't a suicide,
16:34
Speaker 1: doctor Duprie. And the moment I walked into the victim's
16:37
Speaker 1: home and found out she was lying in the bed
16:40
Speaker 1: buck naked with a gunshot went to the head. I'm like, no,
16:44
Speaker 1: that's not right. Help me out, doctor Duprie. I know
16:48
Speaker 1: it sounds anecdotal, but statistics verify what I'm saying. A
16:52
Speaker 1: woman does not commit suicide naked.
16:55
Speaker 6: Nancy, You're absolutely right, And the other things don't add
16:58
Speaker 6: up either, everything that the other guests have said. You know,
17:00
Speaker 6: how did she get into the water tank, how did
17:03
Speaker 6: she even get upstairs, how did she get past the codes?
17:05
Speaker 6: All of that, you know, And as you know, drowning
17:08
Speaker 6: is a diagnosis of exclusion. And we don't really know
17:11
Speaker 6: why or how she died as far as I know.
17:14
Speaker 6: But she couldn't have done this by herself. Nothing, nothing
17:17
Speaker 6: indicates that this was a person with suicidal ideation.
17:22
Speaker 2: Elisa Lamb has promised her parents a daily check in
17:26
Speaker 2: by phone while on her solo trip to the Golden State.
17:30
Speaker 2: So the Lambs begin to worry when on January thirty first,
17:35
Speaker 2: Elisa fails to call either of them.
17:39
Speaker 3: What do you think people imagine when they picture the
17:42
Speaker 3: Cecil Hotel?
17:45
Speaker 4: Is there a room here that maybe somebody hasn't died in.
17:48
Speaker 4: I never got used to that, never got used to.
17:51
Speaker 1: That browt It's history. The hotel Cecil has always had
17:56
Speaker 1: a dark persona.
17:57
Speaker 4: People call it death.
18:02
Speaker 1: This was a place where serial killers let.
18:04
Speaker 6: Their hair down, like Richard Ramirez who had come back
18:09
Speaker 6: covered in blood.
18:10
Speaker 1: And no one's got a problem with them. As much
18:13
Speaker 1: as our friends at Netflix would like to advance the
18:16
Speaker 1: theory that this is a super natural phenomena, it's not.
18:21
Speaker 1: She was killed. Elisa was killed. That was from our
18:26
Speaker 1: friends at Netflix. Crime scene, the vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.
18:31
Speaker 1: No supernatural phantom had a hand and the death of
18:34
Speaker 1: this young girl. But I want to take a look
18:38
Speaker 1: at the surveillance video that catches her just before she's killed.
18:43
Speaker 17: The surveillance video released by the LAPD shows a Lisa
18:46
Speaker 17: Lamb entering the hotel elevator and crouching to press several buttons.
18:50
Speaker 17: She then backs into a corner, waiting before suddenly darting
18:53
Speaker 17: out of the elevator, swiveling her head urgently from side
18:56
Speaker 17: to side. At one point, she steps completely out of
18:59
Speaker 17: the elevator, movie out of view for some time, before
19:02
Speaker 17: returning and repeatedly pressing the elevator buttons. She steps out again,
19:06
Speaker 17: gesturing strangely to an unseen individual outside the elevator to
19:10
Speaker 17: her right, moving her arm in circles and flexing her
19:14
Speaker 17: wrists and fingers. The elevator door remains open this entire time. Finally,
19:19
Speaker 17: Alisa slides out of view into the hallway and the
19:22
Speaker 17: elevator door closes, before opening and closing two more times,
19:26
Speaker 17: with Alisa nowhere to be seen.
19:29
Speaker 1: Kelly Himan joining US veteran trial lawyer, TV legal analyst
19:33
Speaker 1: and host ofb Once Upon a Crime in Hollywood. Kelly,
19:39
Speaker 1: of course, under the law, when you argue to a jury,
19:42
Speaker 1: you are not allowed to ask any juror to put
19:46
Speaker 1: themselves in the shoes of the victim. However, you can
19:51
Speaker 1: say things like watch her on this elevator. She's clearly
19:56
Speaker 1: afraid of somebody. Don't even say some thing. Okay, I
20:01
Speaker 1: know your podcast is wants to put up a crime
20:03
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, but I am not buying into the la
20:07
Speaker 1: theory that a ghost did this. That said, you don't
20:11
Speaker 1: have to passage. You are to say is this how
20:14
Speaker 1: you would behave You can say things like is that normal?
20:19
Speaker 1: What do you think she's feeling right now? What do
20:23
Speaker 1: you think she's hiding from? Look at her. That's how
20:28
Speaker 1: you could argue that to a jury and not get
20:31
Speaker 1: an objection that would be sustained in front of the jury.
20:33
Speaker 1: You don't want that. You do not want the other
20:35
Speaker 1: size objections to be sustained. No, So you don't ever
20:39
Speaker 1: want to do anything evidentiarily wrong in front of a jury.
20:43
Speaker 1: But she's clearly Kelly afraid of something.
20:47
Speaker 7: What was her state of mind?
20:49
Speaker 1: Nancy?
20:50
Speaker 7: That is definitely key.
20:51
Speaker 1: So when we.
20:52
Speaker 7: Look at this video, we see her there and then
20:55
Speaker 7: all of a sudden she's hiding behind like to hide
20:58
Speaker 7: herself so she can't be seen. And then she is
21:01
Speaker 7: getting out of the elevator. She's peeking out looking to
21:05
Speaker 7: see someone. She's crouching down as well and making all
21:09
Speaker 7: types of hand gestures, and then gets back in the elevation,
21:13
Speaker 7: looks around to see who's there. This looks like a
21:16
Speaker 7: woman who is afraid of whoever is about to come
21:20
Speaker 7: in the elevator.
21:21
Speaker 1: Karen starting joining me as a psychologist. Karen, I want
21:24
Speaker 1: to ask you a very specific question. For someone to
21:27
Speaker 1: have visual hallucination is rare, but even more rare, I
21:33
Speaker 1: believe it's auditory hearing, some sort of hallucination. You heard
21:40
Speaker 1: the bookstore owner describing her just before her death. She
21:46
Speaker 1: was perfectly in control of her faculties and trying to
21:49
Speaker 1: figure out how she could get all of these books
21:52
Speaker 1: shipped home, very happy and very excited. I find that
21:57
Speaker 1: very hard to reconcile with her possibly having auditory or
22:02
Speaker 1: visual hallucinations. I don't think she did. I mean, you
22:06
Speaker 1: have to look at the facts, and the facts are
22:08
Speaker 1: a couple hours before her death, she was perfectly saying,
22:11
Speaker 1: and she.
22:12
Speaker 11: Was perfectly saying throughout the trip and having a great time.
22:15
Speaker 11: Think about this, as I'm watching that elevator doesn't move.
22:20
Speaker 11: What's going on that the elevator stays open and it
22:24
Speaker 11: looks like she's desperately trying to get it to close
22:27
Speaker 11: go to a different floor. I don't know about an
22:30
Speaker 11: elevator that could stay that way unless somebody is really
22:33
Speaker 11: controlling the elevator and keeping it open. So something is
22:37
Speaker 11: really wrong with all of this, including as I said before,
22:41
Speaker 11: the fact that the alarms were intriggered when supposedly she
22:45
Speaker 11: put herself on the roof. I also want to address
22:48
Speaker 11: what you said earlier about women not killing themselves when
22:52
Speaker 11: they're nude, because the truth is women care about their
22:55
Speaker 11: parents and so in fact, they even put on makeup
23:00
Speaker 11: sometimes because they want to look good. They do think
23:04
Speaker 11: about that. Statistically, we know it.
23:06
Speaker 1: Even though her appearans were distraught, no one could find
23:09
Speaker 1: Alissa until guests began complaining. At the Cecil Hotel.
23:15
Speaker 10: We noticed that the water pressure was very low. Turning
23:24
Speaker 10: the tap on this why is it pressure blocked? Why
23:26
Speaker 10: is there no water pressure? And the water was quite discolored.
23:36
Speaker 10: It was like a dark color, like it had like
23:41
Speaker 10: a bound tent to it.
23:48
Speaker 18: We were brushing our teeth using that water, We were
23:51
Speaker 18: showering in that water. We did drink the water, but
23:57
Speaker 18: it did have a funny taste to it.
23:58
Speaker 1: From Netflix, I'm seeing the vanishing at the Cecial Hotel
24:02
Speaker 1: and more. The wall depression never got better.
24:05
Speaker 18: The receptionist told us that they will ask maintenance guys
24:11
Speaker 18: to come and.
24:12
Speaker 1: Get it looked at.
24:17
Speaker 4: There was a complaint about the water pressure so I
24:20
Speaker 4: asked maintenance to check for possible clogs, you know, see
24:25
Speaker 4: if everything's.
24:25
Speaker 1: Okay from our friends at Netflix crime scene, the vanishing
24:28
Speaker 1: at the Cecil Hotel. So not the police, but the
24:33
Speaker 1: maintenance guy. After the guests complain about tainted water, find Alissa. Now,
24:41
Speaker 1: who would think to bypass all of the security mechanisms
24:46
Speaker 1: somehow extra human strength lift the top and jump into
24:53
Speaker 1: it to be found naked. None of that makes sense,
24:56
Speaker 1: And plus there's more about how her body was discovered
25:02
Speaker 1: the condition in which it was discovered.
25:04
Speaker 12: Listen, Investigators believe a Lisa Lamb's body floated in the
25:07
Speaker 12: water tank for the nineteen days she was missing, causing
25:10
Speaker 12: decomposition to progress much faster. In the report, the medical
25:13
Speaker 12: examiner knows Elsa's face and abdomen are bloated, her skin
25:17
Speaker 12: is green and marbled, and their skin slippage on her
25:20
Speaker 12: face scalping much of her upper body. The report even
25:22
Speaker 12: shows that Alisa had black mold growing on her back.
25:26
Speaker 1: Straight out to doctor Michelle Dupree, joining US pathologists, medical
25:30
Speaker 1: examiner or detective and author, Doctor Duprie, I'm very curious
25:36
Speaker 1: about some type of sediment found on her body. Her
25:42
Speaker 1: skin is green and marbled, A sand like residue is
25:46
Speaker 1: found all over her. Could you analyze what you've heard?
25:51
Speaker 6: Well, Nancy, that sounds like it's just because she was
25:53
Speaker 6: in the water for so long. And I don't know
25:55
Speaker 6: the environment of temperature or anything like that, but it's
25:58
Speaker 6: suddenly that is just a byproduct of decomposition from being
26:02
Speaker 6: in the water for such a long time too.
26:05
Speaker 1: Havli Meerz joining US investigative journalists out of this jurisdiction, La,
26:10
Speaker 1: describe what you know about the sediment on her body.
26:14
Speaker 14: Well, I believe the sediment on her body probably came
26:18
Speaker 14: from her time in the water tank. That's something that happens,
26:22
Speaker 14: you know, in this really scary environment. So the sediment
26:26
Speaker 14: could have been from when she was going up and
26:29
Speaker 14: going on the roof, and then her body's in that
26:31
Speaker 14: water for nineteen days.
26:35
Speaker 15: So I my opinion is that there's a very logical
26:39
Speaker 15: explanation for this strategy.
26:41
Speaker 1: Pardess so far has been ruled officially as accidental, but
26:45
Speaker 1: the details leading up to this remain a mystery. Again,
26:51
Speaker 1: the way in which she's found does not in any
26:55
Speaker 1: way indicate suicide. There were no traces of alcohol or
27:00
Speaker 1: illegal drugs in her system. Her family says she was
27:03
Speaker 1: taking all of her routine meds. Back to you, doctor,
27:07
Speaker 1: Michelle Dupree, I still don't understand why your body, if
27:12
Speaker 1: you're in the water, has sediment attached to it. What sediment?
27:17
Speaker 6: Well, again to answer, we don't know exactly what the
27:19
Speaker 6: report means by sediment, but if we're in the water,
27:23
Speaker 6: our body does change chemically. It changes usually into something
27:27
Speaker 6: we call sap qualification, which could buy some people be
27:30
Speaker 6: described as sediment. But I think that whatever is on
27:33
Speaker 6: the body is probably a result from her being in
27:36
Speaker 6: the water for so long.
27:38
Speaker 9: Katie Orphan, manager of the Last bookstore in downtown la
27:41
Speaker 9: is one of the last people to see and speak
27:44
Speaker 9: with Alisa Lamb. She described Alisa as outgoing, lively, and
27:48
Speaker 9: very friendly.
27:50
Speaker 2: Elisa's parents report their daughter missing to LAPD and a
27:56
Speaker 2: search ensues, but Elisa is nowhere to be found. That
28:01
Speaker 2: is until guests at Elisa's hotel began to report something
28:06
Speaker 2: murky in the water.
28:09
Speaker 1: What happened to Elisa? Well, many people would have you
28:12
Speaker 1: believe that she is the murder victim of a ghost.
28:18
Speaker 3: Listen, what do you think people imagine when they picture
28:21
Speaker 3: the manager of the Cecil Hotel.
28:24
Speaker 4: Well, unfortunately a lot of them were thinking there's some crazy,
28:27
Speaker 4: creepy person behind the scenes that just doesn't care and
28:30
Speaker 4: is running this hotel where all these bad things happen,
28:33
Speaker 4: and it's not true. But I would say there are
28:41
Speaker 4: a lot of unique challenges when you are running a
28:44
Speaker 4: hotel like the Cecil. A lot came with the place.
28:50
Speaker 1: Well, you can't prosecute a hotel or its reputation that
28:55
Speaker 1: from crime scene the vanishing at the Cecil Hotel on Netflix.
28:59
Speaker 1: Let's deal with reality and hard evidence. Listen.
29:03
Speaker 9: The mystery of how Alisa found her way into the
29:06
Speaker 9: water tank remains. The four hotel water tanks, each with
29:10
Speaker 9: a thousand gallon capacity, measure four by eight and require
29:15
Speaker 9: a ladder to access. Additionally, access to the hotel's roof
29:19
Speaker 9: is securely locked, only accessible with staff pass codes and keys.
29:24
Speaker 9: Any unauthorized use of the doors or stairs would trigger
29:29
Speaker 9: an alarm.
29:29
Speaker 1: Straight back out to a renowned investigator, owner of MCM
29:35
Speaker 1: Investigation's former lapd over twenty five years, Mike McCormick, Mike,
29:40
Speaker 1: did you hear the security measures in place to guard
29:43
Speaker 1: those cisterns from the residents? The guests at the cecil
29:48
Speaker 1: four hotel water tanks, each with a one thousand gallon capacity.
29:53
Speaker 1: They measure four by eight. No one can just fall in.
29:56
Speaker 1: You have to go up a ladder to access each
29:59
Speaker 1: one of them. This is important. The hotel's roof is
30:03
Speaker 1: securely locked, only accessible with staff pass codes and keys.
30:11
Speaker 1: Unauthorized use of doors or stairs triggers and alarm. In
30:20
Speaker 1: our New York apartment, you can't go up on the roof.
30:25
Speaker 1: It's impossible to get in unless you work there and
30:29
Speaker 1: you have pass codes and keys. Now what does that
30:32
Speaker 1: tell you.
30:33
Speaker 13: Mike Nancy? That tells me the alarm was disconnected. The
30:41
Speaker 13: law enforcement needs to look at previous staff members and
30:47
Speaker 13: the current staff members that were at the hotel at
30:53
Speaker 13: the time. The fact that she went to the fire
30:58
Speaker 13: escape tells me that she was looking for an escape
31:04
Speaker 13: route and either couldn't make it all the way out
31:08
Speaker 13: out of the fire escape and was forced back by somebody,
31:12
Speaker 13: and from that point was murdered and taken up onto
31:19
Speaker 13: the roof and dumped into the water tank. And the
31:24
Speaker 13: law enforcement needs to look at the staff, previous staff
31:30
Speaker 13: that may have not been working there at the time,
31:33
Speaker 13: and the current staff at the time.
31:41
Speaker 1: Crime Stores with Nancy Gray. Joining me right now is
31:49
Speaker 1: Matt Mangino, attorney, former felony prosecutor, and author of The
31:55
Speaker 1: Executioners Toll. Matt, thank you for being with us. Everything
32:01
Speaker 1: McCormick just said makes perfect sense. What do you think, Well,
32:05
Speaker 1: it does make sense.
32:06
Speaker 8: And you know, certainly, if I were investigating this case,
32:10
Speaker 8: I'm looking on the inside immediately. If someone says that
32:14
Speaker 8: these alarms were set, that there was no way to
32:17
Speaker 8: get to the roof without triggering them, pass codes and
32:20
Speaker 8: keys that I'm looking on the inside. I'm looking for
32:24
Speaker 8: someone who would have the ability to disconnect the alarm
32:30
Speaker 8: system and have keys to these areas. But the thing
32:33
Speaker 8: that I would want to know is how many keys
32:35
Speaker 8: are out there? I mean, this isn't the walled door
32:38
Speaker 8: of a story. This is the Cecil Hotel. It's run down.
32:42
Speaker 8: I mean, how many people have worked there? When was
32:46
Speaker 8: the pass code last checked and inspected? You know, those
32:49
Speaker 8: are all things that I would want to know. It's
32:51
Speaker 8: easy to say, yeah we have a pass goode, Yeah
32:53
Speaker 8: we have keys, are they functional? How many are there?
32:57
Speaker 8: So I'm looking at a whole array of things. If
32:59
Speaker 8: I'm investing this.
33:00
Speaker 1: Kit too, Doctor Michelle Dupre, pathologists, medical examiner and detective
33:06
Speaker 1: doctor Dupree. Even though her body had been in that
33:10
Speaker 1: cistern for a period of days, her skin had slippage,
33:14
Speaker 1: There was actually mold, black mold growing on her back.
33:18
Speaker 1: Could you tell if there were signs of, for instance, asphyxiation, suffocation.
33:27
Speaker 1: Could you tell if she had been molested, if she
33:30
Speaker 1: had been raped, even though her body had been in
33:32
Speaker 1: the water.
33:33
Speaker 6: NA, It may be entirely possible. It really just depends
33:36
Speaker 6: on the circumstances. But we could certainly tell if she
33:38
Speaker 6: had been strangled, to say, or if she had had
33:42
Speaker 6: blunt force trauma or some other kind of trauma. Absolutely
33:46
Speaker 6: we would be able to tell those things.
33:47
Speaker 1: But what about a rape kit, would you still be
33:49
Speaker 1: able to obtain DNA?
33:51
Speaker 6: We would do it a rape kit, and hopefully we
33:53
Speaker 6: would be able to But because of being in the water,
33:56
Speaker 6: I'd say there's probably a fifty to fifty chance it's possible.
33:59
Speaker 6: It's really going to just depend on the circumstances. Water
34:03
Speaker 6: is certainly going to dilute any DNA, perhaps even wash
34:06
Speaker 6: it away, But there's always a chance, and we always
34:10
Speaker 6: take samples anyway in the hopes that we do find it.
34:13
Speaker 1: In the autopsy, we learned her anus was prolapsed. Could
34:17
Speaker 1: that be a sign of sex assault?
34:18
Speaker 6: It could be, but chances are simply part of the decomposition.
34:21
Speaker 6: Unless there was any trauma surrounding that, it's probably normal decomposition.
34:25
Speaker 1: To Karen Stark, Karen, you heard all the security measures
34:31
Speaker 1: that were in place. The cisterns were very heavy to open,
34:35
Speaker 1: you had to have a pass key, you had to
34:38
Speaker 1: know secret codes within the hotel. The entire area was
34:42
Speaker 1: locked and sealed off for guests. You couldn't get up
34:45
Speaker 1: on the roof. But think about it, Karen Stark, if
34:49
Speaker 1: she wanted to kill herself by drowning, why don't you
34:52
Speaker 1: use the bathtub?
34:53
Speaker 11: Why would she go through all of that? Nancy, that's
34:55
Speaker 11: the part that makes absolutely no sense. She could kill
34:59
Speaker 11: herself in a backup. She could use a razor blade.
35:03
Speaker 11: We know that she wouldn't shoot herself because she's female,
35:06
Speaker 11: so that's unlikely. But there's so much that points to
35:10
Speaker 11: another person actually being there. As I said, if you
35:13
Speaker 11: really watch the elevator, how can the elevator's not moving?
35:17
Speaker 11: She's pressing all those keys over and over again and
35:20
Speaker 11: it's just staying open the whole time. Then there are
35:23
Speaker 11: the alarms. How would she lift the lid of that
35:27
Speaker 11: water tank and actually take off her clothes? Imagine that,
35:31
Speaker 11: walk up the ladder that throw her clothes inside the
35:35
Speaker 11: water tank, lift the lid, and then throw herself. It's
35:39
Speaker 11: just it's so improbable. There are so many easier ways
35:43
Speaker 11: to kill yourself.
35:44
Speaker 17: The Cecil Hotel, located in the skid Row area of
35:47
Speaker 17: downtown Los Angeles, opened in nineteen twenty four and has
35:50
Speaker 17: since been plagued by a history of mysterious, unnatural deaths
35:53
Speaker 17: and suicides, alongside a dark roster of guests. Most notably,
35:58
Speaker 17: infamous serial killer Richard vermier As otherwise known as the Nightstalker,
36:02
Speaker 17: made the Cecil his temporary home in the early eighties
36:05
Speaker 17: during his killing spree.
36:07
Speaker 1: What happened to twenty two year old Alyssa Lamb and
36:11
Speaker 1: I guarantee you it has nothing to do with the
36:14
Speaker 1: ghost Listen. It just blew up in a website community.
36:19
Speaker 13: It created this feeding front.
36:21
Speaker 1: If it's a murder, then you need a murderer.
36:23
Speaker 2: You really don't have the full story.
36:27
Speaker 16: She was running around trying to save her own life.
36:31
Speaker 13: Things to keep happening here over and over again.
36:34
Speaker 10: This hotel was fighting something.
36:36
Speaker 16: I would have never thought what was about to happen
36:40
Speaker 16: could happen.
36:43
Speaker 1: This is the latest chapter in a dark history for
36:45
Speaker 1: the Cecil Hotel. That from our friends at Netflix's crime
36:54
Speaker 1: scene the vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, this would not
36:57
Speaker 1: be the first time there was an unexplained death. Does
37:02
Speaker 1: anyone recall the name Annie Lee? I do?
37:06
Speaker 19: Annie Lay leaves her apartment and, using Yale Transit, heads
37:09
Speaker 19: off to the Sterling Hall of Medicine. Around ten am,
37:12
Speaker 19: Lay walks from Sterling Hall to another campus building where
37:15
Speaker 19: her research laboratory is located. Lay is seen on security
37:19
Speaker 19: footage entering the building, but is not seen leaving. At
37:22
Speaker 19: approximately nine pm that night, Lay has not returned home.
37:25
Speaker 19: One of her five housemates calls police to purport her missing.
37:29
Speaker 1: Annie Lay was actually murdered by a colleague who had
37:33
Speaker 1: obsessed on her. Her body hidden in the wall. That's right,
37:40
Speaker 1: she was murdered, and then of course some Shannon Graves,
37:44
Speaker 1: how does she end up in a freezer?
37:46
Speaker 9: Shannon Graves, a twenty eight year old woman from Ohio,
37:49
Speaker 9: was found dead in a freezer in twenty seventeen. She
37:53
Speaker 9: had been missing for months when her dismembered remains were
37:56
Speaker 9: discovered in a friends freezer. Investigators connected her debt to
38:00
Speaker 9: an ex boyfriend, Atturo Novoa, who was later convicted of
38:05
Speaker 9: her murder. The case revealed a complex web of deception,
38:09
Speaker 9: and Novoa's attempts to hide the crime shocked the community.
38:13
Speaker 1: That's right, she didn't accidentally fall into a freezer, Nora.
38:18
Speaker 1: Did she commit suicide by freezer? She was murdered. And
38:23
Speaker 1: of course there's another water tank mystery, which to me
38:27
Speaker 1: is not mysterious at all. It's a murder. Listen.
38:29
Speaker 9: Githa and Ghera, a chemist, was found dead in a
38:32
Speaker 9: water tank in New Jersey. Githa had gone to collect
38:36
Speaker 9: water samples when she disappeared. Her radio and a broken
38:40
Speaker 9: beaker were found in the tank, with a nearby access
38:43
Speaker 9: panel slightly ajar and glass fragments on the floor. An
38:47
Speaker 9: autopsy revealed bruising on her neck and body, suggesting a struggle,
38:52
Speaker 9: but the official cause of death was ruled and drowning.
38:56
Speaker 9: And despite an investigation in several suspects, no arrest were
39:00
Speaker 9: made and the case remains unsolved.
39:03
Speaker 1: And of course there is a student Brian Schaeffer, who
39:06
Speaker 1: goes in a bar and never comes out.
39:08
Speaker 12: At one fifteen am, Shaeffer, Florence and Reed head up
39:12
Speaker 12: the Gateway Buildings escalator to the Ugly Tunic and partake
39:15
Speaker 12: in one more rounded shots while listening to the band.
39:17
Speaker 12: The bar is closing and masses of patrons head down
39:20
Speaker 12: the escalator, but Florence and Reid can't find Schaeffer. The
39:23
Speaker 12: pair eventually assumes that Shaeffer went home, likely walking to
39:26
Speaker 12: his off campus apartment just six blocks away.
39:29
Speaker 1: Somehow someway Brian Shaeffer is dead. To Matthew Mangino, veteran
39:35
Speaker 1: trial lawyer and author, it's not a ghost that is
39:39
Speaker 1: responsible for Alissa's death. And I don't believe she committed
39:44
Speaker 1: suicide in that manner that I just don't see it. Statistically,
39:48
Speaker 1: it didn't happen that way. Someone killed her, someone that
39:51
Speaker 1: knew about those cisterns and had access to them.
39:54
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I would agree with Nancy, and I think
39:57
Speaker 5: that the focus should be on former employees, former people
40:03
Speaker 5: who had an opportunity to know their way around the hotel.
40:07
Speaker 5: The reason I say that is a current employee.
40:11
Speaker 20: You know you're not going to throw the body in
40:14
Speaker 20: a water tank and close the cap, because you know
40:17
Speaker 20: at some point it's going to be discovered, as it
40:20
Speaker 20: was with.
40:21
Speaker 13: The murky water and the bad smell.
40:23
Speaker 8: So this is someone who isn't worried about being around
40:27
Speaker 8: when that body's found, but knows their way around the hotel.
40:30
Speaker 13: And I would look at former employees, former maintenance.
40:33
Speaker 8: People who would have access to that area and know
40:36
Speaker 8: how to navigate the security in the in the past codes.
40:40
Speaker 1: If you know or think you know anything about the
40:44
Speaker 1: death of this young girl, Alyssa Lamb, please call two
40:48
Speaker 1: one three four eight six six ' eight nine zero
40:52
Speaker 1: repeat two one three four eight six six eight nine
40:56
Speaker 1: zero and if you wish to remain anonymous, log on
41:01
Speaker 1: to LAPD online dot org and click on anonymous web tips.
41:10
Speaker 1: We stop now to remember an American hero. Police officer
41:14
Speaker 1: Marshall Lee Waters, mangam p D, Louisiana, shot and killed
41:19
Speaker 1: in the line of duty. Officer Waters with the force
41:23
Speaker 1: with MANGAPD and a full time EMT. Louisiana Highway four
41:29
Speaker 1: twenty five renamed Marshall Waters Junior Memorial Highway in his honor.
41:36
Speaker 1: He is survived by a loving sister, Felicia Waters, and
41:40
Speaker 1: many other loving family members. American hero police officer Marshall
41:47
Speaker 1: Lee Waters end of Watch, Nancy Gray Sonning off, Goodbye friend,