All language subtitles for Crime.Scene.The.Vanishing.at.the.Cecil.Hotel.S01E04.The.Hard.Truth.1080p.NF.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.x264-TEPES

[tense music playing]

[man] I find beauty in darkness.

It just resonates with my soul.

The music that I do is called black metal.

It's perdition and doom.

Morbid, it's, uh, my stage name.

It's the physical representation
of my dark subconscious.

Everyone has a shadow self.

Everyone has a secret self
that they hide from others.

I believe in, uh,
embracing the monster in me.

You know, I can do whatever I want
when I'm "Morbid."

Like, I can get away with anything.

[black metal playing]

If it's bloody, then it's bloody.

And sometimes I take it too far.

[woman] This guy Morbid
must have killed Elisa Lam.

[woman 2] He was staying at the hotel.

[man] She was a sitting duck and was
easily manipulated by this perp punk.

[man 2] Everyone suspects him.

[Harlowe] People thought
that all the connections

between this Morbid person…

[Morbid] I'm here in the Cecil Hotel.

…and Elisa Lam

could not be
just some random coincidence.

So it became this call to action
to do something about Morbid.

[man] We need to find him.

[woman] Who is this guy?

[Harlowe] They discover
that his real name is Pablo Vergara.

And they started writing to him.

[woman] You killed Elisa Lam, didn't you?

[woman 2] Fucking murderer.

[man] Just tell the truth!

[Harlowe] To their surprise,
he responded by posting a video.

[black metal playing]

[distorted voice] This is Morbid.

I wanted to inform you, I am innocent.

[uneasy music playing]

[elevator dings]

[camera shutter clicking]

[sounds of traffic]

[horns honking]

[newsman] The initial autopsy is complete,

but we are still a long way from knowing
what happened to Elisa Lam.

Jina You joins us.

A lot of people were hoping
this autopsy would give us answers.

And those answers
won't be coming for a while yet.

We spoke
with the L.A. coroner's office today,

who told us the cause of death
remains inconclusive

and finding out how Elisa Lam died
will require more tests.

[Tovar] The coroner's office
ultimately has the final say

of what is really going on
with that individual.

They have a story,

and in the end, we want to be able
to provide that closure to that story.

And in the case of Elisa Lam,
after the autopsy,

we really didn't know if it was foul play,
suicide, or accidental death.

So we had to wait a number of weeks
for all the tests to come in.

Eventually, I received
the toxicology results.

Given her bizarre behavior
that was seen in the elevator,

one possibility is that she is on a drug
that is creating hallucinations.

But I didn't identify any evidence

that she was consuming alcohol
or abusing any type of illicit drug.

In any case where you have a history
of depression or bipolar disorder,

one of the things that you can look for

is whether or not she took a large number
of pills to try to kill herself…

and I didn't find that.

The only drugs actually identified

were her prescription medications
for her bipolar disorder

that she should have been on.

However, the levels of the medications
were very low.

This is interesting.

In looking at the description
of the medications

that were found at the scene
in her bottles,

there was a higher amount of pills
in the bottles

than what should have been in there
for that fill date of those prescriptions.

When we went back and looked at all
of the levels in the toxicology results,

comparing those
to the prescriptions found at the scene,

it also suggests that she was
undertaking her medications.

Why would somebody do that?

What's really going on there?

Looking for those answers,
it's important we have an idea of her life

before she ended up in L.A.,

and what may have been playing a role
in her final days

before she ended up in the tank.

[Elisa Lam] Where would I be
without the internet?

I suppose we roam on the internet

because we aren't able to find
in our physical lives

the human connection we need for survival.

So we search endlessly online alone.

[Ho] When trying to solve the mysteries
of what happened with Elisa,

it's about piecing together a story

and really getting
a more advanced understanding

of what was happening in her mind.

[keyboard clacking]

[Elisa Lam] We can be empathetic here.

Remind people you are human
and they are human.

If you just listen,
you will understand more.

[Ho] Elisa was a very introspective,
bright person,

and as you read her Tumblr,
you understand her,

because she bared her soul in these posts.

[keyboard clacking]

[Elisa Lam] According to some people,
I have a "chemical imbalance".

Can I just inhabit someone else's brain?

I just wish someone around me
could understand.

Bipolar disorder is still
very stigmatizing for most people,

and most don't understand it.

It just means that the person's
mood instability has highs

and they have lows.

They have depression
and they also have mania…

which is not needing a lot of sleep,
racing thoughts, being more risk-taking,

and generally the best course of treatment
is medication

plus cognitive behavioral therapy.

In some of her Tumblr posts,

Elisa was struggling
with the idea of her mental illness

and her medications,
having to be on so many.

[Elisa Lam] Taking these pills,
I call it the breakfast of champions…

and I hate that I have to take it
every day.

[Ho] It appears she had at least
four prescription medications.

[camera clicks]

Antidepressants, a mood stabilizer,
and an atypical antipsychotic.

[Elisa Lam]
I have to pull myself together.

I'm wasting my time
compared to my fellow peers.

I need a place to go
and find my motivation.

[atmospheric music playing]

[Ho] I think Elisa
put a lot of pressure on herself

to prove that she could be
like everyone else.

She may have thought if she could travel
by herself and have this adventure,

that means that she was normal,
that she was capable.

[Elisa Lam] Bursting with self-esteem
and confidence.

Next leg of my whirlwind adventure:
the West Coast.

Elisa Lam traveled down towards San Diego,

and then she was making her way
up the coast.

[Elisa Lam] Have arrived in La-La Land.

[Marcia] On January 28th,
Elisa arrived in Los Angeles

and checked into the hotel.

She spent a few days
exploring the city of Los Angeles.

[Ho] It's hard to know what happened,
but based on the toxicology report,

as the trip was unfolding, I think Elisa
stopped taking her medications.

And, of course, once she stops
taking the medication,

the risks for a mood episode goes way up.

[Kading] While she is down here
in Los Angeles,

she went to Burbank one afternoon
to attend a live audience production.

[audience cheers and applause]

But while she's there,
she was acting erratically and strangely,

and she writes this long, rambling letter

and demands that that letter
be given to the host of this show,

which obviously raises security concerns.

And so, the security there
escorted her off the property

because they thought
she might be a… a risk.

[sounds of traffic]

Back at the Cecil,

Elisa had been sharing a room at the hotel
with a couple other girls.

Those girls had begun to complain
about her erratic and odd behavior.

I've never spoken publicly about this,
but she was being disruptive.

She was leaving these notes
on other guests' beds.

Like physical notes.

She was writing,
"Go away. Go home. Get out."

[knocking on door]

And then, also, when other guests
were trying to, you know, access the room,

she wouldn't open the door.

[banging on door]

She was looking for a password.

The night before she was gonna check out,
we relocated her

to her own dedicated room.

That seemed to be
a better option for her.

[siren wailing]

And then, later, she proceeds to go down
to the lobby and does…

I don't even know what you would call it.
Like, move where she says that,

"I'm crazy, but so is L.A."

At the time, we didn't really
look too much into it.

I mean, this is the Cecil Hotel.

It's just one thing out of the day
that happens.

You just move on.

[tense music playing]

[Marcia] At this point, we were starting
to get a picture of her mental state,

based on the fact that Elisa
was not taking her medication.

And we were putting a little more weight
into the fact that in this condition,

she could easily become a victim
of some type of crime.

And so, now our investigation
focused on figuring out

exactly how she ended up in the tank.

[Tovar] I felt
that it was necessary to see

what the environment looked like
where she was found.

We wanted to retrace her steps
as best we could.

And when you get onto the rooftop
to get to the tank itself,

you would actually have to walk on pipes
and squeeze in between the tanks

to get to the one that she was in.

And then you'd have to carry a body
up the ladder,

and then place the body into the hole
at the top of the tank.

The other possibility is that Elisa's
brought there from the adjacent structure,

but you would also then
have to come up a ladder with a body.

[Marcia] If she had been killed

or rendered unconscious
at another location,

even though she was light,

to carry a body up a steep ladder
without damaging the body,

it's not possible.

[Kading] There would have been
bruising, cutting,

some trauma to her body that would've
been discovered during the autopsy.

None of that existed.

[siren wails]

[tense music plays]

In most cases of individuals
that have drowned,

they're usually found floating face-down
with their arms drooped and legs drooping.

But when the body was found,
it's reported that she is found

floating face-up.

That's a unique finding.
It could suggest foul play.

But in looking at the tanks
as water's being used,

the water level in there would fluctuate.

I think the flux of the water
could have allowed her to turn

and end up in the position she was found.

-[distant phone rings]
-[keyboard clacking]

And in review of the scene,

we did not find anything suspicious
for any criminal reason why she's dead.

So, at that point in time,

we had the facts, the circumstances,
and all of the information

in order to generate the final report.

[Dean] This long period
of basically no information…

You know, the case sort of stalled,
at least in the public's eyes.

Everyone is waiting for the release
of the autopsy results.

And then, finally, on June 21, 2013,
the results are released.

[newswoman] The death of 21-year-old
Canadian tourist Elisa Lam

has been ruled an accident
due to drowning.

The official also suggested
Lam's bipolar disorder was a factor.

[Lordan] They said that her cause of death
is an accidental drowning,

and bipolar disorder
is a contributing factor.

It didn't make sense.

The whole community is kind of in shock.

An "accidental drowning."

Supposedly "drowned accidentally."

They found it was an accident.
Is it, though?

This can't be.

I have spent hours and hours
investigating this,

and I completely disagree
with the coroner.

It just doesn't make sense.

Especially when the LAPD said

the whole lid is over her
and the hatch is closed.

My understanding is that lid was closed
when our officers went up.

Someone put her in it and closed the lid.
That would only mean she was murdered.

[Sobhani] I think everybody felt
that it would be ruled as a homicide,

so it made you want to delve further
into the autopsy

to see how people
could make sense of this.

So I found a link
to Elisa's autopsy report…

which I actually went through,
page by page.

What's really curious here is this…

A rape kit was processed
and nothing was found,

but if it wasn't
some type of sexual assault,

why would she get naked?

The autopsy also said there's no evidence
of internal or external injuries.

[Lordan] Just because
there were no marks on her body,

that doesn't rule out foul play.

She could've been led to the rooftop
by gunpoint,

forced into the tank and left to die.

That sounds like foul play to me.

The coroner said the reason she died was
based on medication she was not taking,

but I just have a very tough time
believing that.

[Garcia] I've never read anything
that sounds like

those that are in a bipolar state
would do something like this.

I don't think her mental state
was her cause of death.

[Harlowe] I've looked at a lot
of autopsy reports

and there's something mysterious
and suspicious going on here.

It seems like there's inconsistencies
in the autopsy.

Tovar appears to be ambivalent
about his conclusion

that Lam's death was accidental.

There's a section on the autopsy report
where it is the manner of death.

They've got homicide, suicide, accidental,
and they've got undetermined.

It looks like undetermined
was originally marked,

but then it was X'd out
and accident was marked.

[keyboard clacking]

And on top of this, it seems like
the change was three days apart.

[Garcia] I don't know how'd they go from
"could not be determined" to "accidental"?

Why was it changed?

It almost seems like someone's boss said,
"No, we need to change that.

Make it an accident."

Maybe that was LAPD pulling some strings
in their coroner's department,

calling it an accident to hide the truth.

[Garcia] It's an easy way out,
just to close the case.

They just want to silence it
because they have something to hide.

[keyboard clacking]

[Lordan] I've gone looking for information
about the investigation,

but I haven't seen the police files,

and that raises questions in itself.

[Harlowe] Many people have requested
the police report,

but nobody has ever received it.

[Lordan] I was thinking, "Well, obviously,

this confirms that there's some type
of conspiracy that's going on here."

[Harlowe] For the online community,

it suggests a much higher level
of corruption.

This conspiracy was orchestrated,

and these people
were working on it together.

The people involved
in this overarching cover-up…

are the LAPD…

the coroner…

the general manager of the Cecil…

the employee that found her.

And then you've got
the person staying at the Cecil

who people thought murdered Elisa.

[man] Thanks for sitting down with us.

I know it's not easy
to talk about this stuff.

I have-- I haven't talked about this
in seven years.

But I just realized
that you can't solve anything

by running away from your problems.
Like, you have to face them…

no matter how…

how heavy they are.

[computer chiming]

[Vergara] This whole incident started
in February 2013.

I woke up, and, uh, my friend,
she had sent me a message.

BREAKING NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT

The link took me
into this Taiwanese TV channel.

[man in Chinese] Morbid, the lead singer
of Dynasty of Darkness, worships Satan.

His music revolves around
corpses and death.

He is now considered
the murderer of Elisa Lam.

[Vergara in English] I see my picture.

And, um, they're saying
I'm a suspect for… for murder.

Murder of Elisa Lam.

[man in Chinese] This lead singer
wrote messages online,

days before the case,
suggesting that he killed someone.

[computer chiming]

[Vergara in English] Suddenly, I start
getting like just hundreds of messages

from people from the whole world.

[woman] Did you murder Elisa Lam?

[man] You killed Elisa Lam, didn't you?

"We hate you. Fucking murderer.

Why did you do it?"

[woman 2] We're gonna get you
for what you did.

[Vergara] I was shocked, confused.

You know, because prior to that,
I have never heard about Elisa Lam before.

[banging on door]

[door creaks]

After that, the PGR,
which is the FBI of Mexico,

did come to my home.

And they asked me if I have made
any blood sacrifices

for the devil with animals.

[indistinct chattering]

But I was never charged. Nothing.

Later on, I realize that I was
being accused of being the killer

just because the web sleuths
found a video of me

that I posted on the internet
when I was staying at the Cecil Hotel.

Well, uh, hello.

I'm here in the Cecil Hotel,
downtown L.A.

[Vergara] I was there in February, 2012,
for three days,

and that was it.

[yells indistinctly]

I keep doing that all the time.

I wonder if people are starting
to freak out about that shit.

It was one year prior
to when Elisa Lam checked in.

And when she died,
I wasn't even in the country.

I was in Mexico working on my album.

I have contracts
from the recording studio,

I have stamps on my passport.

And even though I have all these,
the web sleuths,

they saw me, the way I look…

and that's what triggered them.

[black metal playing]

Sure, I mean, some of the lyrics talk
about death and murder or whatever,

but, you know, it's just lyrics.
It's just music. It's art.

It doesn't make me a killer.

I wanted to set the record straight
and just, you know, defend myself.

So, you know, I made a video
where I said I'm innocent.

[distorted voice] This is Morbid.

I wanted to inform you
that I didn't kill Elisa Lam.

I am innocent.

I decided to alter my voice, wear a mask
because I was just paranoid.

But the web sleuths,
they wouldn't let it go.

They flagged my accounts, and I ended up
getting my YouTube channel,

my Facebook account,
and my email account terminated.

Being truthful doesn't matter to them.
They want to destroy you. They hate you.

[black metal playing]

There were just, you know,
false accusations, death threats.

Every day, every week…

there was no escape.

At a point when you get so much hate
and just negativity,

there's something that breaks
in your mind.

Something clicks.

[screaming]

Like, after a while,
just, you know, so much you can take.

[reflective music plays]

Like, you can't defend your life,
your music and art.

And, I mean, no matter how strong you are,
you feel powerless.

I got in a very bad place.

I-I guess I just had a meltdown,

and I-I did try to take my life, and, uh…

Just wake up in a psychiatric hospital.

The web sleuths go on with their life
like nothing happened.

But, you know, they really turned my life
upside down.

I do feel like I have lost
my freedom of expression.

I actually haven't made any more music,

and, uh, when I try, it's not the same.

I'm trying to rebuild my life
and everything, but…

it sucks every day.

It's never going away.

And, um, I have to live with it
for the rest of my life.

It's gonna be there
for the rest of my life.

[siren wailing]

[distant phone rings]

[Marcia] I remember some bizarre thing

where the web sleuths
were trying to connect Elisa's case

to some singer in Mexico,

but all I can say
is that he's not involved.

I can understand the web sleuths

were trying to do the right things
for the right reasons, like we are.

You get addicted to it.

The challenge of putting pieces together.

The excitement of being on the chase.

But in this case,

they were getting further and further away
from the evidence.

[Tovar] All of the background information
that's used to rule this as an accident

is not necessarily
made available to the public,

so I think
that for people on the internet,

you really don't have the full story
in front of you.

You don't have all of the facts.

[distant phone ringing]

[Marcia] In the early stages
of the investigation,

when talking to the family,

it wasn't divulged how serious
her mental health was.

As time went by,
we learned from Elisa's sister

that Elisa had a history
of not taking her medication…

and several times previously,

that had caused her to have
some type of mental breakdown.

[Kading] According to her family,
she would become delusional.

She sees things that aren't there.

In fact, it had been so bad,

that on at least one occasion,

she had to be hospitalized.

[Ho] Based on the evidence that we have,
Elisa looked like she had bipolar I…

which means it's the more severe version
of bipolar disorder,

in which sometimes psychotic features
can be a part of that.

In that state,
you have very disorganized thinking

where the logic doesn't really make sense,

and it's hard
to separate fantasy from reality.

I think that when you look at the reports
of her behavior at the hotel,

to then this TV taping,

and even the infamous elevator video…

that, to me, is consistent with somebody
in the middle of a psychotic episode.

[Kading] The night of her disappearance,
she appears to be alone in the hotel.

[elevator dings]

And then she gets into the elevator.

[uneasy music playing]

[Ho] In that elevator video, her behavior
is consistent with somebody

who is having delusions of paranoia
and delusions of persecution.

She looked like she could be
having hallucinations.

And her sister said
this is a pattern that she's had.

[Marcia] We learned that previously,
in the midst of having an episode,

she would be afraid
that somebody was after her.

[Ho] She might see things
that aren't there or hear voices.

And the voices can be saying
very frightening things,

that somebody might be out to harm you
or that you should go kill yourself.

And there's no way to shut them out.

[Kading] Elisa Lam was
in a state of desperation,

running from something
that she is seeing in her mind.

[Ho] When she's in that state,
it does feel very real,

that she's being hunted.

She believes that her life is at stake,
like there's nowhere safe.

She's running around this hotel,
trying to save her own life.

[Kading] Elisa Lam's sister
said that in the past,

she would become frightened,
uh, she would become delusional.

She would run and hide.
She'd hide under the bed.

[female voice shuddering]

[Kading] At this point in time,
she made her way up to the roof.

And it would make perfect sense
that she saw the water tank

as her place to hide.

She climbed the ladder…

opened the hatch…

and jumped into the water tank.

Once she was in there though,
there was one way out.

The hatch on top.

If it's filled with water,
you could pull yourself out.

But if the water's being used
and going down,

it would make it more difficult
to reach the top.

I think she became trapped,

and the only way to keep alive

would be to tread the water and swim
as much as she can.

She was undressing while she was in there

because she may have been trying
to stay afloat

and lighten the load a little bit.

There was also
the possibility of hypothermia.

The water could reach
a very low temperature.

In that situation,
individuals actually start to undress

because of the physiologic changes
that are happening inside the body.

But she ultimately succumbed to…
to drowning.

Sad end to this story.

Looking back,

there was no conclusive evidence
there was any type of foul play.

There was no way to prove
that she had the intent to harm herself

in her state of mind,

so I don't think
that she committed suicide.

I feel confident in my decision

to rule this as a drowning
and as an accident,

with bipolar
as a significant contributing condition.

It's important for people
to understand bipolar disorder.

It is a disease,
and it can take its toll at any time.

[somber music playing]

I'm aware there are some concerns

regarding the actual dating
on the reporting form.

In this particular case, we're human.
There was an error.

We initialed the error, and then
we moved it to where it should be.

And if you actually zoom in
on those particular dates,

you'll see that they both say the 18th
and not 15th and 18th,

so, it was just… it's just a… a misread.

[phone ringing]

[Marcia] Now, some people still feel
that there's some type of conspiracy

to cut out portions of the video
to protect the identity of the killer.

You see the cut
when the door is about to close.

The video has been slowed down.

The time code definitely looks like
it's been blurred or tampered with.

In this type of investigation,

sometimes you want to withhold
certain details from the public,

like the exact time
that she was in the elevator,

which is the reason maybe
that the timecoding on the video

is altered.

One of the reasons that you might
slow the speed of the video

is so that hopefully
somebody will recognize her.

Look, I can't give a concrete answer

on if our media relations

or if the independent media outlets

actually edited it
for one reason or another,

but I do know
that any changes to the video

weren't made by anybody at the hotel.

The evidence is gonna speak for itself.

And there was nothing suspicious

about the actual original
hard drive video,

which we have in our custody.

[Kading] Then there's all the questions

about how there may have been
some oversight

by the LAPD,

because they didn't search the tanks
at that time.

And I know those investigators regret
that they didn't discover her in the tank.

[Marcia] She was in there.

Just missed her.

It sucks.

And I'm guessing you can see the emotion
that it stirs up in me,

because you don't forget.

And in this case,

we figured out what happened.

But the answer hurt.

So… [sighs]

It's unfortunate that some people
think there's a conspiracy,

but there's not.

[horns honking]

[Dean] We spent so much time
fixating on the mystery

and all of the intrigue
and bizarreness of the tale,

we forget that family and friends,

people who cared about Elisa
and knew her and loved her,

look at a case like this very differently.

For them, this has got to be…

You know, it's hell. It's traumatic.

It's heartbreaking.

[newswoman] Outside the family's
restaurant near Vancouver,

a memorial
for a young life lost too soon

in an unforgettable manner.

[cameras clicking]

[Dean] On September 19th, 2013,

Elisa's parents filed suit
against the Cecil Hotel.

It seemed like they believed
this was an accidental drowning,

but the lawsuit alleged a wrongful death
caused by negligence on the hotel's part.

So I did go to the hearing myself…

just to see if I could get
more information.

[gavel pounds]

One of the points that the Lam family's
attorney brought up was

there was risk on the roof,

and that they really should have done more
to stop the public from going up there.

Our legal counsel countered
that we did take security precautions.

The roof is employees only,

and the door to the roof,
you know, it's, uh, alarmed always.

[alarm blares]

But the exterior fire escapes,

they're accessible to anybody,

because, in case of an emergency,
you have to get out.

In terms of the tanks themselves,

outside of the risk of someone falling in,

there's a big risk

because that water could be contaminated
by someone very easily.

It is extremely simple.

Lock the lids.

[Price] There were no regulations
at that point

where you had to lock your water tank.

I'm sure people are locking their water
tanks now, but they weren't then.

[Lordan] Something I personally
still wanted to understand better

was the status of the actual tank lid.

The story from the police

is the lid is closed.

So, then, how could Elisa
have closed the lid on herself?

The employee that found her,
his name is Santiago Lopez.

He reports to the court
that he climbs up on top of the tank,

and the hatch…

is open.

It's shocking new information.

This completely changes the scope
of possibilities for how she died.

[man in Spanish]
The tank had a little hatch?

A little door like this.

When I got there that day, it was open.

-That's when I saw her.
-[man] It was already open?

Mm-hmm.

[helicopter whirring]

[Marcia in English] In regards
to Elisa's body being found,

it was reported to us

that a hotel employee
climbed up the ladder.

The hatch was open…

but that's not what was reported
in the media.

My understanding is that lid was closed
when our officers went up.

[Kading] This was
a communication breakdown.

Somebody said it was closed
and meant to say it was open.

It's an honest mistake.

Outside of all that,

you have the Lams' attorney

saying that the hotel's
responsibility here

should have been trying to help Elisa.

Because Elisa Lam was a guest
of the Stay on Main in the Cecil Hotel,

once she began exhibiting behavior
that was abnormal,

I think there was an obligation
for responsible parties to recognize

that this person who was in their care
was not in her right mind

and needed some help.

If somebody had asked her,
"Are you okay?

Where's your family?
Can we contact them?"

Maybe that would've made a difference.

[Price] As a manager, how far do you go

as far as taking precautions to…
to know if people are okay?

Her behavior was bizarre, but not enough
to be, you know, calling officials in.

And, you know, I would have to ask myself,

"If I had called 911,

would anybody have come?"

A lot of times, when you call the police,
they don't answer.

[siren whooping]

There's so much going on in this area.

There's this huge problem.

[siren wailing]

You know, It's just so overwhelming
for the police

and for everybody involved.

What happened to Elisa Lam is horrendous,
but it isn't because of the hotel.

We were not responsible for her death.

We're just not responsible.

[people chattering indistinctly]

[Dean] The judge ultimately ruled
for the hotel,

and the wrongful death case was dismissed.

Learning the lid
was actually off the tank…

it's a very big deal.

That was the moment
where it really changed for me.

It basically ruled out
the last possibility

that there could've been foul play
in this case,

and I realized that ultimately

this is a tragedy about a woman
who was suffering.

[Sobhani] We saw, you know, the elevator
going up and down in that video.

[woman] This is the floor she stayed on.

[Sobhani] For quite a while,

I held onto the belief
that this was homicide,

and I was
almost 100 percent sure about it.

In trying to make sense of this,

I felt that seeing her grave site
would help me get closer to closure.

[birds chirping]

I had someone who was kind enough
to go and film.

And, uh, he put his hand
on her gravestone for me.

Now I realize that the way to honor her
is to accept the truth,

that this was a tragedy
of an accidental death.

[man] I think it's pretty clear
what really happened to her.

When you look into every facet
of what happened,

it's all entirely explainable.

[keyboard clacking]

But it's still widely touted
as an internet mystery,

modern urban legend,

an unsolved story.

[uneasy music playing]

[Mungin] When people hear the story
of the Elisa Lam case,

you have this cultural phenomenon
that takes weight…

[keyboard clacking]

…which allows for this groundswell
to occur.

-[man] I can't stop thinking about it.
-[man 2] I need to know what happened.

[woman] I've watched it 1,000 times.

[Mungin] I think that people hope
that there was a killer,

or they hope that their own
conspiracy theories would come true.

Because the reality of it is much sadder.

All right.

I re-watched all my videos
before coming here to do this,

and I could see
how conspiracy-minded I was.

My gut keeps leaning towards…

I was caught up
on all these bizarre parallels

that we see in this case.

[Harlowe] In the end, there's so many
of these extreme coincidences,

and it really fed into all those theories.

But when you are too deep into anything,

you do lose your perspective.

I think that people that cross that line
without any facts or evidence…

And that's when you lose control.

And that's when you do things
that can hurt people.

So when the news were released
about her death being an accident,

no one apologized to me,
no one reached out to me.

Nothing changed.

It's just wrong.

People shouldn't get away with that,
and we have to be more responsible

to what we say and do.

What happened to me
could happen to anyone.

This is serious.

I survived it, but…

lots of people get cyber-bullied
and they don't make it.

That place is just a portal to hell,
in my opinion.

Once you step in there, bad things happen.

I've come to realize that I am just
maybe another victim of that place.

Just in a different way.

[horn honks]

[horn honks]

[Price] We closed our doors
January 1st, 2017.

[eerie music playing]

The hotel was sold to a group in New York.

It's worth like 80-something million now.
It's wild.

[Cooper] A determination has been made

that half the building is going to be
low income housing,

and that half the building
is going to be a luxury hotel.

I hope that, um, it'll be a safer place
for everybody involved.

[Lordan] According to reports,
the new owner wants to have

a bar area put up on the roof…

and a wading pool.

[Price] I wish that hotel
a lot of success.

I really do.

I think she deserves another chance.

[horns honking]

I know she could be a showstopper again

and talked about in a positive way.

You know, it's time.

It's time.

[Mungin] Today what we see is
this reimagining of downtown Los Angeles…

where there's this conglomeration
of homelessness and poverty,

of violence,

of tourism,

and of high-class individuals
living in swanky new hotels and lofts.

All of these populations are together.

And so now, individuals wanting
to make money in this area

have this rhetoric of,

"We're going to clean up
the streets of Skid Row"

by just trying to remove human beings.

[sounds of traffic]

[Givens] You got a lot of people
that come down here,

and then they complain about the homeless.

[people chattering indistinctly]

Where are these people gonna go?

You know, they've always been there.

You're the one that's coming down here,
so why look down on somebody like that?

But this is what they do.

[Mungin] We’re talking about the homeless
as if they're the issue.

Those individuals deserve a better space
than what we've created for them.

Because, in this space,
mental health episodes

have become common.

And how many stories
just like Elisa Lam's

have we missed?

[Elisa Lam] Depression sucks.

Period.

[melancholy music plays]

[keyboard clacking]

If someone says to you
that they have depression,

don't ask why.

There is no why.

Tell them every day you love them.

Remind them every day, it will get better.

There is nothing else you can do.

[Ho] I think Elisa was a bright
young woman with a bright future

doing the best that she could
to manage her chronic illness.

[Elisa Lam] I'm not a professional
depressed person.

I am so much more than that.

I am very lucky.

I-I do have amazing,
beautiful things in my life.

I am so very full of…

love.

Elisa had many different dimensions,
many different angles as a human being.

She was looking for happiness

and yearning for joy.

She knew the version of herself
that she wanted to be.

[Elisa Lam] That's the thing
about potential.

It was so close.

[keyboard clacking]

What could have been,
but didn't happen,

breaks your heart.

I think we got cheated
of a brilliant writer in the making.

Looking at her writing,
looking at her honesty,

it's our loss.

It's a loss for all of us.

[Sobhani] People are still
reading her blogs

and commenting on her blog posts.

She's making an impact to this day.

[man] Without a doubt,
you have left your mark here.

[woman] You've touched many lives, Elisa.

Probably even saved a lot of people, too.

[woman 2] You give me hope.

[woman 3] Knowing you,
now I know someone understands me.

[man 2] My only regret
is not finding you sooner.

[woman 3] I will not forget your story,
I promise.

[Sobhani] Elisa Lam brought us together.

And thanks to Elisa,
I realized we're not alone.

We're not alone.

[Dean] There are stories that stick with
you, that you can't stop thinking about.

This is definitely one of those.

[Cooper] You can't forget Elisa Lam.

She was important before she died.
She's still important.

You see that her life mattered.

Her legacy lives.

And just being here with everyone,

she's not quite gone.

[Elisa Lam] I suppose
that is the human condition,

to feel so big, so important, but…

just a flicker in the universe…

and the struggle to come to terms
with those two truths.

[somber music plays]