Elisa Lam in the elevator. Ramirez was known as the Night Stalker because of the time of day he would commit his crimes. Credit Netflix. The case of Dorothy Jean Purcelltook place in September 1944, when Purcell, 19, was staying at the Cecil with her boyfriend, 38-year-old Ben Levine. The most recent death was of a 21-year-old college student, Elisa Lam, who disappeared on January 31, 2013. hitType: 'event', Mark Serrels is an award-winning Senior Editorial Director focused on all things culture. While we were all still reeling from the docs released at the end of last year (The Ripper, anyone? According to reports, Osgood had been strangled, raped, and stabbed. Some people think its part of a cover up a plot perhaps between the police and the Cecil but the officers who worked the case insist its not that. If it goes to the tenth floor instead, the ritual has worked and once players step off the elevator they'll be in an alternate dimension. { function external_links_in_new_windows_load(func) Residents had been drinking, washing and brushing their teeth in murky water from that very tank for days before she was discovered. Also based in New York, Simon Baron Development currently has more than $12 billion worth of projects in active development,the venue formerly known as Cecil Hotel being one of them. 2023 CNET, a Red Ventures company. Ahead, we've put together a timeline of Elisa Lam's disappearance and death to straighten out the facts. Which takes me to perhaps the worst part of this documentary: the internet sleuths. (Its worth noting that The Staircase also includes loopier aspects of conspiracy such as the notorious owl theory, but at least these elements were explored by the subjects and included in the trial as genuine possibilities, not just foisted on from the outside like the conjectures in Crime Scene.) hitType: 'event', ga('ads.send', { The new Netflix docuseries Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel dives into the infamous hotels reputation and history through the lens of Elisa Lams 2013 case. eventAction: 'render' In addition to its notoriety as ground zero for countless crimes, the Cecil also has a curious habit of popping up in some of the country's most heinous criminal cases, even if they didn't actually take place at the hotel. Several people have been murdered or taken their own lives at the location and The Night Stalker Richard Ramirez stayed there during the time he was terrorizing LA. The docuseries named Richard Ramirez, known as The Night Stalker (also the subject of one of Netflix's latest true crime docuseries)as one of the notorious serial killers who had stayed at the Cecil Hotel before. Over the years, the Cecil has earned unsavory nicknames such as "Hotel Death" and "The Suicide." Here's the game, explained. More than two weeks after Elisa was last seen her body was discovered in a water tank on top of the hotel, after guests at the hotel reported a drop in pressure and discoloration of the water. This is a place where serial killers let their hair down, like Richard Ramirez who would come back covered in blood and no ones got a problem with that, one interviewee says in the trailer for Crime Scene. If the stories are to be believed, the Cecil housed notorious serial killer Richard Ramirez, who terrorised Los Angeles from 1984 to 1985. Was she murdered? window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { Vergara, whose life was forever changed following the unfounded accusations, actually won a scholarship from the New York Film Academy for directing. However, having these strange sleuths (one asked a friend to record himself touching Lam's gravestone) dissecting them uncritically on camera is a step too far. } Pablo Vergara, death metal musician by the stage name Morbid. 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. external_links_in_new_windows_load(external_links_in_new_windows_loop); Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel is the first season in Netflixs new documentary series that deconstructs the mythology and mystery surrounding She had been bisected at the waist, but no blood was found at the scene, indicating that she had been killed elsewhere. // console.log('force ' + all_links.href); By signing up, you agree to Pedestrian Group's Terms of Service and consent to our Privacy Policy. That same year, Hail the Sun, a post-hardcore band, wrote a song called "Disappearing Syndrome," which was inspired by her story as well. Rosie Fletcher is the UK Editor of Den Of Geek. For this portion for the series, it relies heavily on interviews with the former Cecil Hotel manager and LAPD detectives who worked the case, as well as a couple experts on Los Angeles history. If my job werent to watch and review the entire thing, I wouldve tapped out in frustration two episodes earlier. People creeped out by the footage online have suggested various spooky theories including connections to the movie Dark Water, based on the story published in 1996 and the movie released in 2002 (they are eerily similar) and the elevator game a sort of urban legend where pressing various keys in sequence is supposed to give the player access to another dimension (heres a good explanation of the game and its heritage). // forced } The story of how death-metal musician Morbid got involved in the Elisa Lam case is a cautionary tale on what happens when people on the Internet fail to check their facts. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of It sets itself up as the first of a series that would investigate crimes that all unfolded at a specific location. This is an unsatisfying conclusion for many internet detectives but with absolutely no suspects, no evidence of injury to her body, no reason to think it was suicide and no other logical explanation, this is where we find ourselves. The fascination with The Elevator Game has continued to grow following the release of the documentary, with former American Horror Story DOP Michael Goi still to direct a movie based on the ritual. The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel delves into conspiracy theories circling the Elisa Lam case including The Elevator Game. Find her on Twitter @angelusatani. 1. The police searched the hotel but could not find her. 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Featuring new interviews with the police officers who worked on the case, the hotel manager of the Cecil, guests who were staying at the Cecil at the time, LA historians as well as web sleuths who were obsessed with the case, its a grounded and thorough look at what might have happened to Elisa, while attempting to address some of the anomalies that make this case so strange and compelling. Was it suicide? This hour not only addresses all the reasons why this particular case got so much attention, but why that attention complicated everything about it beyond anyones wildest dreams. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Is it a metrics issue? The Mountbatten-Windsors have been recastagain. hitType: 'event', Watching any serialized documentary series demands a tolerance for deliberately placed red herrings that are quickly resolved in the following episode, but Cecil Hotel does some fairly unforgivable stuff. Since then, at least a dozen more have occurred, per L.A.'s PBS affiliateKCET (opens in new tab), prompting several of the hotel's long-term residents to begin referring to it as "The Suicide" in the early '60s. } Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is bloated, dull and confusing. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), } Of course, there are plenty of true crime creators who research obsessively and can put together engrossing and cohesive content. by Sarah Wasilak He was sentenced to death, and remained on death row until he died of liver failure in 2013. The boy reportedly suffered from nightmares after seeing the image, which aligns with conspiracy theories about the building being haunted by spirits. 22 hours ago, by Victoria Messina By Emma Dibdin Published: Feb 20, 2021 ROBYN BECK // Getty Images To walk around downtown Los Angeles is to see ghosts. for (var t=0; t