All Posts Tagged With: "Elisa Lam"
Autopsy fails to determine Elisa Lam’s cause of death
Hotel surveillance footage shows bizarre actions
Elisa Lam (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)
Water lines are being sanitized at a downtown Los Angeles hotel where a Canadian tourist’s body was found, even though tests suggested the water was fine and an official cause of death hasn’t been determined.
The body of Elisa Lam, 21, was found Tuesday in one of several water cisterns on top of the 600-room hotel near Skid Row.
The hotel has retained a consultant who submitted a plan to sanitize the water lines that will be retested before they are put back into operation, said Angelo Bellomo, the county’s director of environmental health.
Only water for toilets is flowing for hotel guests who chose to stay at the hotel.
Meanwhile, an autopsy performed Thursday failed to tell authorities whether Lam was killed or fell in some kind of bizarre accidents. Coroner’s officials said they would wait for toxicology test results before making a final determination.
Police have called her death suspicious.
Continue reading Autopsy fails to determine Elisa Lam’s cause of death
Officials issue do-not-drink order for hotel water
UBC student was found dead inside rooftop water tank
British tourist Michael Baugh and his wife said water had only dribbled out of the taps at the downtown Cecil Hotel for days.
On Tuesday, after showering, brushing their teeth and drinking some of the tap water, they headed down to the lobby and found out why.
The body of a Canadian woman had been discovered at the bottom of one of four cisterns on the roof of the historic hotel near Skid Row. The tanks provide water for hotel taps and would have been used by guests for washing and drinking.
“The moment we found out, we felt a bit sick to the stomach, quite literally, especially having drank the water, we’re not well mentally,” Michael Baugh, 27, said.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials issued a do-not-drink order Tuesday while its lab analyzes the water, said Terrance Powell, a director co-ordinating the department’s response. The disclosure contradicts a previous police statement that the water had been deemed safe. Results of the testing were expected by Thursday.
Powell said the water was also used for cooking in the hotel; a coffee shop in the hotel would remain closed and has been instructed to sanitize its food equipment before reopening.
“Our biggest concern is going to be fecal contamination because of the body in the water,” Powell said. He said the likelihood of contamination is “minimal” given the large amount of water the body was found in, but the department is being extra cautious.
Powell said the hotel hired a water treatment specialist after the department required it to do so to disinfect its plumbing lines.
A call to the hotel was not returned.
The remains of Elisa Lam, 21, were found by a maintenance worker at the 600-room hotel that charges $65 a night after guests complained about the low water pressure.
Continue reading Officials issue do-not-drink order for hotel water
UBC student dead in L.A., sexual assault & chicken wings
Five things students are talking about today (February 20th)
Elisa Lam (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)
1. Elisa Lam, a University of British Columbia student reported missing Jan. 31st, has been found dead inside a water tank atop a Los Angeles skid row hotel. A hotel worker discovered the body while investigating complaints of low water pressure, reports to The Canadian Press. Guests told reporters gathered outside that they were disgusted by the idea they were possibly drinking water from the tank, reports CBC News. Lam, who was vacationing alone in California, was last seen on Jan. 31st in the hotel elevator. There were reports she was acting strangely.
2. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ list of ways to deter a sexual assault includes the following tips: “Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating,” and “Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone.” The list was widely criticized by conservative and liberals pundits alike (finally—they agree!) on Twitter before the university took it down. The university says the list, which was first published in 2006 and provided to women who took a self-defense class, was taken out of context.
Continue reading UBC student dead in L.A., sexual assault & chicken wings
