Elisa Lam /// Part 1 /// True Crime Garage | Forensic Files

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick. And with me as always is a man that just
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check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, True [clears throat] Crime Garage. All right,
get ready for our second most requested case of all time. So everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's
talk some true crime. >> [music] [music] [music] >> For weeks, questions have circled about
Alisa Lamb after the Vancouver woman went missing in Los Angeles last month. Yesterday, police found her body in a
hotel water tank. That's just [music] raised even more questions. It stretches believability that a young
Canadian tourist could accidentally end up dead inside a water tank [music] at the top of an LA hotel. And yet, very
little makes sense about the strange disappearance and death of Alisa Lamb. >> I just feel so bad for her parents. The
investigators have to be flumxed like this because if it is foul play, you know, why did she act so odd?
>> The last footage of her in the hotel elevator is perplexing. [music] Why did she press all the buttons? Was
she talking to someone? Was she trying to hide? [music] Coroner Ed Winter says perhaps the
autopsy will provide some clues. >> We are conducting an investigation into the death of Miss Lamb. The autopsy is
scheduled for tomorrow. Either she met with foul play or somehow the 21-year-old would have had to have
gotten through locked doors onto the roof, avoided tripping an alarm, and then climbed up inside the water tank.
[music] The hotel itself has not made a statement, but it did send guests this letter telling them to check out
immediately, which this British tourist did, but not before she drank the hotel water for 8 days.
>> And the water for first two seconds or 3 seconds would was coming black. And then
after a while, we would drink it. But it had strange funny sweet taste. It's disgusting.
>> Utterly horrible. Surely that will add to the notoriety of the Cecil Hotel. It
was already on tour operator Kim Cooper's [music] crime tour of LA. Thanks mostly to the infamous
Nightstalker serial killer Richard Ramirez who killed 14 people. >> And during his spree when he was doing a
lot of home invasions for satanic purposes, he was actually staying as a resident of the Cecil up on the 14th
floor. More relevant to Lamb's case is why was she staying in a hotel in such a dodgy part of LA? Here in Vancouver, it
was difficult to find anyone who knew her well. No one could explain why she went on a California holiday by herself
or what her state [music] of mind was when she left. Tonight we are covering the
disappearance and mysterious death of a young woman named Alisa Lamb. This was a
this still is a very popular case. I know that sometimes we cover very popular cases and we have also got a bit
of a reputation for covering the lesserk known cases. >> I just wanted to take a quick minute
here and kind of pull everybody into the garage and do a little behind the scenes
moment regarding case selection. Uh this is not a task that we take too lightly.
Uh case selection is something we are both very much involved in. The true crime garage army are very much involved
in this as well even if they don't know that they are. Uh so case suggestions here listener requests are the number
one factor in our determination of case selection. So we we get on average about
three or four case suggestions a day. Believe it or not, we do collect that information and compile it. We have a
master list that would make your head spin uh if I were to show it to you. Uh I mentioned this just because we have
had a time or two where I'm sure someone thinks that their requests have fallen on deaf ears, but that is simply not
true. Just because we haven't covered your case does not mean that we never will. But by getting three or four daily
requests, we would have to do three or four shows a day. And I don't think that there's enough beer on the planet to
fuel that kind of crime garage. So when we get a case with multiple suggestions,
we fully take that into account. This being a a major reason why we chose this case for tonight's show. Alisa Lamb is
one of our most requested shows by far. It I mean it's up there with Jean Benet Ramsay, Brandon Lawson, and a couple of
others that I won't mention because we will be covering them very soon. Another big factor is does a particular case
have enough information that we can discuss it for a full show. >> Yeah. >> Sometimes this is especially true with a
lot of the smaller hometown type cases where the invest in investigation quickly went nowhere. You know, there's
no suspects or few leads. There's just not a whole lot of stuff to talk about. And while we're on the subject, I want
to throw this out there as well as far as suggesting a case to us. Many many of the cases suggested are great ideas.
However, this is rare, but it does happen on occasion. You know, maybe more like once a week, we get some kind of
suggestion that sounds something like this. And this is totally made up, but it's a good example. You know, the
suggestion will read, "I live in Taylor Town, and back in the '9s, there was this guy that went missing, and it was
totally weird, and I think you'd love to do a show on it." Well, that that's not
really something that we can there's no information in in that suggestion. We can't really do much of that.
>> Well, they gave you a city, man, and they gave you a rough time. >> They gave me a decade to choose from.
>> Yeah. So, >> do some do some research, man. >> So, if you send in a suggestion, make
sure you include, you know, a person that's involved in the case, their name. Yeah. A link would be great.
>> City, state, those things are all very helpful. >> All right. So, like with everything with
this show, you know, if you donated to the beer fund, we appreciate it. We're a little behind on that. If you mention a
case, you know, we we get a handful every day. So, be patient. It's just two guys in a garage. And because of you and
because of you spreading the word, the show has taken off. It's just out of it's out of freaking control. I mean,
we're top 10 and on Stitcher. I mean, this thing is blowing up. I mean, so just be patient with us. We're we're
trying and and we both have drinking problems, so that doesn't help the business at all. Well, and as we said,
this case has been on our list for quite some time. It is it is one of our most requested cases uh since we've been
doing the show. Uh and this is about Alisa Lamb. So, January 26th, 2013, 21-year-old Alisa Lamb, she's recognized
as a University of British Columbia student. Uh she was going on an international trip. She was calling this
her West Coast tour. She would be traveling to California by herself. Uh her means of travel, she was using
public transportation. She had traveled by way of Amtrak and she was also taking
buses as well. Uh she intended to travel to several California cities before her
trip concluded. She arrives in Los Angeles, California on the 26th. She then checks into the Cecil Hotel which
is in downtown Los Angeles. This is on January 28th. She is set to check out February 1st. During her travels, a
regular habit that she was doing was she was calling or emailing, reaching out to
her parents daily to kind of check in and let them know that she's doing fine and she's enjoying her trip.
>> Mhm. >> Well, the Cecil Hotel where Lisa was staying has a has a long history as
being a place of terrible happenings. >> Uh a little bit of a checkered past. >> Yeah. Yeah. very checkered. Uh it
certainly has a history of suicides and murder. [clears throat] >> Um in 1931, the hotel experienced its
first suicide. Um after that, the hotel would see at least eight or nine more suicides that I could find reportings of
>> and a couple of strange deaths as well occurred in its history. Uh there was certainly a murder or two uh before
Alisa's stay at the Cecil Hotel. And this checkered past really adds to the folklore of the Lisa Lamb case.
>> And I don't want to go through all the the suicides, you know, the bleakness of
that. Uh there a couple of the strange deaths or or possible murders that took place there. Uh there there's a story of
a of a woman who who gave birth at the hotel. Uh she gives birth in in one of the in the bathroom
>> and she threw the newborn baby out the window. >> Yeah. Okay. Look, before you say stuff
like this, maybe you could give us a little bit of a warning. >> It's right on there. When you click on
true crime garage, it warns you that you might hear something terrible >> that at some point you might talk about
a baby being thrown from a window. >> Well, she claimed that the baby was was born uh dead and then they did an
investigation and they quickly determined that they didn't think that that was the same thing. But before she
could be convicted of of that murder, she was ruled to be not competent to stand trial.
>> And there was the one suicide where the lady jumped out of the window and she
actually landed on somebody walking by and killed him as well. >> Uh so we a bunch of suicides, but what I
thought was interesting was that there was uh two serial killers that actually stayed at the Hotel Cecil.
>> Yes. Yeah. We have Richard Ramirez, the the famous nightstalker from 1985. >> Uh he murdered 14 people. He did live
there during a portion of of uh his career, let's say, as a serial killer. >> But some of this folklore is kind of
blown out of proportion, don't you think? >> It's romanticized a little bit. Uh because we have the situation uh where
Elizabeth Short, you know, the Black Dalia, which we've discussed on our show, you know, there's rumor that that
was the last place she stayed at before she was killed when actually we can't find any actual record of her having
stayed there at all, let alone it being the last place she was seen or stayed before her death. So, it does get a
little romanticized with Richard Ramirez. Kind of a similar situation. He did live there on and off for a period
of time, but he also lived in like three or four other hotels, sometimes sleeping
in his car. He was he he was a guy that moved around quite a bit. >> And he would typically stay at a place
just for a night or so. Um, depending on how much money he had stolen or or stolen objects that he had fenced that
day, whatever he received as far as cash went. >> Right. Right. And I think a lot of
people would go, "Well, how can somebody afford to stay at a hotel?" Mhm. >> Well, this hotel was broke up in like
sections. So, like the lower floors were pretty much like a normal hotel, >> you know, a little more pricey. And then
the top floors, they kind of used those as like pay by the day >> type rooms. And they also had uh rooms
that they used for like youth host >> where you could just kind of stay in a collective group, you know, a bunch of
strangers, but your room would be a lot cheaper. And to give you an idea, back in the mid 80s when Ramirez would stay
there, I believe he was typically only paying about 14 or $15 a night to stay there, which is I mean relatively cheap.
>> Just because the rooms are cheap doesn't mean that there's going to be all these
tragic things that happen. But I think it's because the Hotel Cecil was around for so long and it also had 600 rooms.
>> Yeah. And it it's a very old hotel. It was it was built in 1924. it opened up shortly after that. So,
it's been around for a long time and it's in Los Angeles. You know, a popular place to travel to. Um, so you got a
high probability of seeing crazy things happen in this area. That's for sure. Um, and of course, you know, like in the
1950s, that area, that street in particular became pretty rundown and it became known for drug users and transate
lifestyle. Uh, people that were kind of in and out. It was basically a seedy part of town.
>> It's technically in downtown Los Angeles. But Los Angeles is a widespread town. So, as a tourist, if you go there,
there's there's just so many different parts, you know? So, if your buddy says, "Well, I live downtown." Then it's like,
"Yeah, but which part of downtown?" And she could have been staying there for the for the cheap rent, or it could have
just been for the the convenience of being in downtown Los Angeles. When she first started off staying there, she was
sharing a room. As you had mentioned, you can share some rooms, >> right? Like a youth hostel.
>> Yeah. And she shared a room with a couple of other people. I don't know that I could ever do that or feel
comfortable doing that. Um, but that's what she did. And after a couple days, through complaints by these other
people, she's eventually moved to her own room. >> Do you have any idea what these
complaints were? I would love to know specifically what they were, but we're hearing these third hand. You know,
you're hearing these from from the hotel workers that this was reported to. And so basically what is explained to them
is that she was behaving strangely or they they found her to be weird or acting odd and these people didn't want
to share a room with her anymore. So, not not a great detailed description of how she was behaving or things she was
doing or saying, just that they didn't feel comfortable sharing a room with her.
>> And you mentioned earlier that she's recognized as a student. >> Yes, she's recognized as a University of
British Columbia student. However, technically at this point in time in 2013, she was not taking any classes.
She was basically kind of on a break from school. Um she had mentioned to people that uh she had to drop classes
because of her disorders uh that she was relapsing and that this caused her not to be able to go to school.
>> This is actually a really hard case to cover because of the misinformation that's out there.
>> Yeah. Yeah. The the the crazy thing, Captain, is that this is such a widely reported story. You think it would be
easy to come up with information. >> Mhm. The problem being is that most of the reporting on this case are these
kind of smaller web, you know, internetbased news websites, >> kind of clickbait stuff.
>> Yeah. And a lot of them have an agenda. Some of them want to discuss paranormal
activity or they want to talk about psychics and things like this and and and things that aren't really true
crime, uh, so to speak. Even though we've had some psychics on or we've talked about some psychic stuff, we
don't know how much we actually believe in that stuff. >> I I find it fascinating. I just don't
know anything about it. Um but you know, if you were to if this were to be an unsolved mysteries type show, uh this
would be, you know, when you see that they play the creepy music and it says unexplained death, that's what this case
would be. It's it's an unexplained death. It's a it's a girl that unfortunately was out on her own. She
disappeared and and then we have this weird unexplained death afterwards, >> right? And like you said, this is, you
know, you're a true crime dork, so this doesn't really fall in your wheelhouse of
>> Not at all, >> you know, and but let's go let's talk a little bit about her mental state. I
mean, like we said that she was diagnosed bipolar. Uh I have some experience with this. Uh being diagnosed
bipolar is a very tough thing for a therapist to do. Mhm. >> Uh they can treat you as bipolar and
basically it takes years and years and years, but there's no like blood test. They can't take your blood and run it
through some system and say, "Oh, we know for a fact that you have bipolar and we're going to treat you as such."
Now, her list of medications that she's on, they're pretty extensive. Yeah, she's on four different uh types of
prescriptions and it looks that she had filled those prescriptions on January 11th of 2013. So, just a few weeks
before her trip. >> Uh, and she was found, her possessions that were found contained a lot of those
prescriptions. And if you look through this list, some of the stuff is kind of odd because it tells you the number of
pills that were issued to her, >> but it also says the number that was remaining in her possessions.
>> Mhm. >> Uh once they found the possessions, the weird thing is that when she had the
prescription filled, she had leftovers, >> right, >> of other prescriptions. So, we don't
know how many that we know how many that were were issued, but we don't know how
many she had remaining. So, like for example, one of the pills, it was a mood stabilizer. I I'm not going to try to
even pronounce what it is. >> Oh, this isn't the fun part of the show where you and I butcher these. Uh
>> yeah, I we could I I don't even know if we should attempt it. I think we we looked them up and and just to go over
one of the things was a mood stabilizer. She was issued 60 pills and the number remaining was 70.
>> Mhm. >> So, obviously higher. So, we should just assume that she had more. So, it's just
really tough to know because we don't know how many she had prior to this, right?
>> So, we don't know if she was actually taking the medication. >> And the prescriptions were basically uh
there was one for ADHD, uh a mood stabilizer. >> Yeah, it was well the ADHD medicine is
very similar to like um aderall. >> Okay. There was a mood stabilizer as well as an anti-depressant.
Uh, and she did have some over-the-counter drugs in her possession as well. These being things like Advil,
Sinutab. Um, and they found along with her possessions, they found a pill cutter, two pill cases, one divided pill
case, five prescription receipts, and a personal med medication history. Right? So with the aderall or the ADH medicine,
you know, basically to stay focused, she had a medicine to stay focused. The other with the anti-depressants, and
again, I'm not a doctor. I'm just going off of my own experience. U the anti-depressant is to bring your mood up
higher, >> right? To kind of get your baseline to be above depression, right? And then the
mood stabilizer is kind of like a compressor. It takes all your lows and makes them higher, but it also takes all
your highs and makes them lower. So, it it tries to keep you right in that middle, the sweet spot. A lot of people
that take a mood stabilizer will have almost a zombie effect sometimes. Um, and that's something that as you're
getting on this medicine, you have to kind of adapt and kind of see how your body reacts to different kinds because
obviously you don't want to go through your life, you know, especially like let's say they put you on lithium, you
know, some people can are on lithium and they just feel like they're in a fog and
just nothing matters. >> Mhm. Yeah. And people have poured through these this information and
looked through it and tried to decipher, you know, judging by the number of pills
issued, judging by the number of pills remaining, was she overdoing it? Was she not taking what she was prescribed? It's
you really can't tell because we don't know. There was nobody traveling with her. There's nobody to back up if she
was staying on schedule with these med medications. >> Yeah. And and I want to be very clear
about this. I mean, mental health issues are something that I think this country
needs to talk more openly about. >> And so, in doing so, back in 2012, uh I was actually being treated uh for well,
it was it was kind of a messed up situation, but one of the things was I was having a lot of depression almost I
would categorize it as maybe severe depression. Um, instantly they started treating me for bipolar.
>> Mhm. >> So, they put me on an anti-depressant and they put me on a mood stabilizer
and this was without any therapy at all. >> So, wait, this is a physician. You you
know, you go to a regular doctor and you're getting kind of diagnosed with this and but but ultimately treated for
this. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, not to go into it too much and just uh I mean, we've
talked in the past about mental health and we I always get these comments, oh, you know, thanks for bringing this up
and it's so important and well, it's important to me because I mean, I was I was suicidal. So, I was that's all I
could think about. And it wasn't that I was actually it wasn't to the point where I thought I was going to try to
end my life. It was just everything was so bleak and it just felt like I couldn't get out of
>> this depression I was in. And so I actually uh went to like um uh Net Care I think it's what it's called. And you I
met with the therapist there and they kind of assessed me, sent me to my physician and boom, I'm on on an
anti-depressant and on a mood stabilizer. >> Okay. Uh so now you know then I'm going
okay well maybe this is going to fix everything. Um it didn't uh and it actually got way worse. But in the
process I mean for me and I was on this stuff on and off this stuff for years and it was it's really
you kind of establishing a new relationship with yourself. So I'd have these pills some days I would take them.
Some days I wouldn't. Some Sometimes it would seem like they're working. Sometimes it seemed like it was making
things worse. >> Right. >> So, a long story short, you know, I'm not a doctor, but when looking at this
case, I'm viewing it as somebody that has been treated myself and somebody that has been dealing with some of the
same issues that Alisa has been dealing with. >> Well, or was dealing with. What that
gives me a little insight towards is it's not the, you know, the mental health and the way that we treat it is
not the exact same thing as physical health and how we treat that. You know, if somebody has has high blood pressure,
well, we can put you on this medication and it should regulate that blood pressure after x amount of days. Um,
where with a mental health situation, we would you would you disagree with me? It's a lot of trial and error and and
where some things might work for some people, they're not going to work for others.
>> Now, we have this situation where we have a person out on their own and we cannot figure out is she keeping up with
that medication? Uh was she overdoing it, underdoing it? Uh were there other things that that are factoring in?
>> Well, and yeah, and was she being responsible on that medication? I was on a mood stabilizer called Depeico. Um,
and I was told by uh I was told by some physicians that if you drink on it, I mean, it could you could just actually
die >> from it. Uh, then I actually heard from my therapist that, you know, one or two
beers wouldn't be that big of a deal. I mean, cuz think about it this way. I mean, you're, you know, I, you know, I
had a house, I'd like to grill out, stuff like that. And, uh, what do you want to do when you're grilling out?
Have a beer, >> of course. you know, and so when somebody saying, "Well, if you drink,
you might die." Um, the I had a very negative effect when when I drink, I almost would hallucinate, like I'd get
to this almost uh I've never done LSD or anything like that, but it was almost to
this like trippy state. >> And so looking at this case again, that makes me question, was she taking her
drugs properly? And and if she was, she was still having lapses. We know that she was having, you know, some issues
because of the school stuff. >> Mhm. >> And then was when she was out on her own,
>> maybe she would drink and and how would that affect her? And it affects everybody differently.
>> Yeah. >> Cuz if you then, you know, for me, I did the research, some people that were
taking Depeico >> would could drink a couple beers and be fine or even drink liquor and be fine.
And I just found that once I took one drink, I almost became like a crackhead. >> Like as far as like I wanted all I could
think about was getting the next drink and then get the next drink and get the next drink.
>> And that that's been the biggest question mark for me regarding this case when I first looked at it was I wanted
to know how the these these medications would affect what's going on with her internally. I wanted to know because she
is on vacation. She's on her West Coast tour. Was she drinking and partying during this time and was she trying to
back off of medication to drink or was she maintaining that that medication and drinking on top of it and thus having a
different effect, >> right? And that's something we probably will never know. Uh but let's get right
back into the story after this quick beer break. >> [music] >> a [music] a a [music]
All right, we're back everybody. Cheers. >> Cheers. So, we have Alisa Lamb who is
out traveling the US. She's in California all by herself and we know that she has these uh bipolar disorder
and she's on medication for some different things. >> She checks into the Cecil Hotel. She's
there for a couple days. She's moved to a room by herself. And then on January 31st,
>> complaints, >> right? >> On January 31st, Alisa Lamb is last spotted by a hotel worker at the Cecil
Hotel. Uh this would be she's last seen in the lobby of the Cecil Hotel. Um and remind you, she has been contacting her
family up to this point. Uh this is where the contact stops, though. >> Mhm. On February 1st, the following day
was the day that that Lamb was supposed to check out from the hotel. Now, she did not actually check out. And this is
what sparks the the search for Alisa. >> Yeah. And because she's not contacting her family either, her family is going
to fly down to be in LA to help the hotel search for their daughter. >> Yeah. Breaking communication was
something that was that really worried the police as well as her family. Because one of the things I mean she was
in her early 20s and she's traveling by herself and maybe the parents said hey you can go
>> but you're going to have to be in constant contact with us. >> Right. Right. And you would want to be I
mean it's a it's a foreign land you know it's another country. >> Well I wouldn't want to be I'm just
traveling. I'm probably traveling to get away from my family. >> Uh so the police and the family are
working together to try to find Alisa. Now now think about this. So, captain, she could be anywhere. She's in this big
giant city and in in a big giant hotel, first of all, so they're going to have to start their search at the hotel.
Where was she last seen? Well, we know she was last seen in the lobby. And they actually go to her room. They search her
room and her belongings. They do a what what one would consider a thorough search of the hotel as much as they
actually can. You have to keep in mind here um this is not yet a situation where they believe that they they can go
and search every room at this hotel. We're talking about they have like 600 rooms here,
>> right? >> Uh and plus you you have all these back hallways. You're going to have all these
service areas of the hotels where this is not an easy search, >> right? But they can pull surveillance
footage right away. >> Yeah. So what what ends up happening is they search her room. They they can't go
room to room. We have people that are basically living in this hotel. Some people are staying there for a trip.
Some people are staying there on an extended stay. There are people that have lived in this hotel for years.
>> Um they do check all the common areas and they this the search itself provides
no leads to the whereabouts of Alisa. It provides also no leads or no hints of foul play.
>> Mhm. On February 6th and February 7th of 2013, the LAPD, they start to release to
the public details about the suspicious disappearance of Alisa Lamb. Uh they hold a press conference during this
time. This is when you start to see on on the news footage as well that they are putting up posters calling for
action. They're putting her face out there trying to get people to, you know, come forward if they've seen her or know
of her whereabouts. I know a lot of people wonder why the heck would uh LAPD, you know, make such a big deal
about this girl going missing. There's probably a lot of missing persons cases, you know, presented to the public during
this time. But one of the major reasons is it's, you know, she is not from the United States,
>> right? >> And so that becomes a little bit bigger of a deal. >> And the missing person's alert that is
sent out by LAPD, it, like I said, it includes her picture. This is important to LAPD as her family because there are
certain things about this disappearance that have not been fully released to the
public at this time. One of those being that she does have this bipolar disorder. Um, I'm thinking here,
Captain, that the investigators as well as the family are wondering is has this led to her disappearance and therefore
we need to put her picture out there because if if she's if something's happened to maybe she doesn't know where
she is, >> right? because she could be in a manic in a manic state and if she's in a manic
state then >> who knows she she is maybe not capable of getting back or being in contact with
them on her own. >> Yeah. So they the the details that they list are basically you know a general
description of her you know as well as where she was last seen that's at the Cecil Hotel 640 South Main Street in
downtown Los Angeles. Yeah. Um their their additional information simply just states that possibly suffers from mild
depression. >> They also include where she was traveling from and her means of travel.
Again, that's public transportation using Amtrak and buses. You know, hoping that maybe if she ended up back using
buses that she would be spotted there, as well as stating the cities in which she intends to go to. And this leads us
up to February 14th where the LAPD is going to actually release the surveillance footage, the famous
surveillance footage. >> Yeah, we have this is the very famous surveillance footage. This is taken at
at 8:31 a.m. on February 1st, the day that she is supposed to be checking out of the hotel. Now, here's what the claim
is, which is very strange to me, Captain, is that we >> fishy. >> Yeah. We have the footage that's taken
place in the elevator itself, but there's no other surveillance footage to go along with it. You know, there we
don't have footage from the hallways or from any of the other common spaces in this hotel. Yeah. And nothing from the
entrance as well. To me, I just find that very fishy. And obviously, we have lawsuits in this case, so you know, one
could assume that are they hiding these things? Well, you should find it fishy. And I'll tell you why. So, the deal is
they had other cameras. Their claim is that these cameras were either not working or not working to the point that
they were recording anything. Um, having a background in this, I can tell you that this would this really
>> Well, what's your background? Because most people wouldn't know. >> Okay. So, I was a security administrator
for a high-rise building in downtown Columbus, Ohio for several years. Now, mind you, the building that I worked at
was built in 1999. So, it's very different from a building built and constructed in the 1920s.
>> Right. Right. But as technology advances, then people put in new cameras and stuff like that.
>> Yeah. We had, just to keep things short, we had just under 100 cameras throughout
this building. It was, it had 27 stores, uh, 27 floors as well as a rooftop. >> Um, we had four elevators. It's my
understanding that the Cecil Hotel has two elevators. Um, we would have had a camera in any of
those common areas, meaning any place that you could step off of the elevator, there would be a camera that would go
and coincide with one that would be in the elevator as well. >> Right >> now, the thing here is we would conduct,
you know, we would routine security checks of everything. These cameras were being monitored at our front desk. We we
had six different monitors. Uh two of them were scrolling monitors where they would bounce from camera to camera on
the same cycle. >> Uh the other four were actual monitors where you could uh pick which camera you
chose to watch, right? >> And or a multi- view and you could also move and manipulate those cameras to see
certain things and and point the camera in different directions. We were recording on those monitors. So what
that means is that if something was not present on the monitor or at that time it was not being recorded.
>> Okay. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> So we were only recording what was being
monitored. Now I currently work in a different building that is under a different situation. This security
system is constantly recording. It's always recording out of every camera whether it's being monitored or not.
Now, what it does so that you don't have millions and millions and hours of recording, what it does is it's set up
to detect motion. >> And so, it will only save portions of what was recorded by by setting it to
like, you know, 10 seconds before it sees a motion. It will record everything until 10 seconds after it doesn't detect
a motion again. Well, actually, maybe we are perfect to diagnose this case because you were a security guard or a
security administrator. >> Yes, I was in charge of all of the security >> and I suffered with a mental illness.
So, I think we're perfect for this case. [laughter] >> Um, so here here's my caveat to
everybody listening. Now, while I would be considered an expert on those two security systems, every security system
is very different, right? And I'm guessing that the one at the Cecil Hotel is probably not much like either of the
two more modern security systems that I was running. The problems I have that I see from the get-go are that one, I
don't believe that this is a hotel that is conducting routine security checks, >> right?
>> Uh because you have faulty equipment and they've decided that having faulty equipment is fine with them. That
becomes a budget issue. They know that these cameras are not working. It's not that something bad happened one day and
they just discovered these cameras aren't working. They willingly ran the hotel without these cameras working.
Now, did did they not have the budget to fund this? We don't know. But but their
thought was they were saying was that you know what, we have these cameras, the physical camera itself, whether it
be working or not, they're posted in these different positions. So people therefore in the hotel and walking
amongst the floors of the hotel believe that they are being filmed or being watched so they will conduct themselves
as appropriately. Well, and they are being watched, right? So, I mean, uh, in the defense of the hotel, you have
security guards there. You have people monitoring the whole hotel. >> It's, you know, they don't have any
obligation to, you know, film everything and house everything, >> right? >> You know, the their main job is to
prevent anything from happening, >> you know, and then and then the second would be if something does happen to
record it. But it's just odd to me that we have a recording, a famous recording inside the elevator, but nothing
outside. Nothing in the because it would be it would be really interesting to watch this video and watch it from the
inside and the outside because there's times that she steps off the screen and you kind of can't see what she was she's
doing, but if if we had footage of inside the lobby would know what she was doing. The thing I wanted to make sure
that we pointed out here, Captain, is that this video footage, uh, according to Los Angeles news departments, okay,
it's listed as this footage being taken at 8:31 a.m. on February 1st. The reason
why I wanted to be very clear about that is that because every every bit of this footage that
I've seen online, the the time stamp is like you cannot see it. you cannot tell what time it states on there. Uh there's
even been people that have reported that you cannot see the time and kind of guessed was it 1:00 in the morning? You
know what at what time did this video footage take place? I just wanted to point out that it's been reported in Los
Angeles as 8:31 a.m. Now, mind you, my other caveat there would be we don't know how accurate we've seen how faulty
their security camera system is already. We don't know how accurate that time stamp would be, but it gives us
something. It gives us a bit of a place marker to work around. >> And there's a lot of speculation that
there this tape is actually altered. And there I see maybe some evidence of that.
But anyways, let's just get right into it. Let's just do a playbyplay of this video. All right. So, I'm starting the
video now. It is rolling. The door is opening. Alisa enters from the left. goes. She
dips down. She starts pushing. It looks like every button on the left hand side.
>> Mhm. >> They all light up. She steps back, goes to the corner. She's now hanging out in
the corner for a little bit. And then she's kind of creeping around the side. Then she jumps out and she kind of pokes
her head to the right, to the left. Now she steps away. And now she's against the wall. Now she goes into the corner.
back against the wall like right up against it and then right into the corner. >> Now she's stepping around the corner and
she looks out to her right kind of creepy like this >> where where like her body's pretty much
in the doorway but the but she's tilting her head out to look into the hallway >> and she steps out with her right foot.
She looks to her left, jumps out. She takes a side step back. It's almost like she's doing the Cupid shuffle or
something. >> Yeah. So, she just went to her left and then went back into the elevator, then
back out again. >> Now, she's in the hallway. You can see her right arm, but that's about it.
>> And right now, she's standing where the elevator buttons would be in the hallway
>> and she's waving something, but her back is still against the wall. >> Yeah, it looks like her arm is up. Her
right arm is up. Her back is to us. And it looks like she's messing with her hair.
>> And yeah, now she comes in and she starts pushing all the buttons for left hand, right hand, she's pushing
everything >> twice. This is a lot more disturbing than the first time I watched it.
This is probably so thrilling for the listeners. Now she keeps I mean, she's just pushing buttons. Now she steps out
almost fixes her hair, but almost like she's kind of distraught. Like the hell is going on here?
>> She's in the hallway again. >> Now she's waving her hands like kind of in. Yeah, it's very Now she almost looks
like she's doing some weird dance move. And now she's doing something with her fingers. Almost like she's
dancing with her fingers. This is way more disturbing than the first time I watched it.
Her arms are up again. And now she walks down the hallway. >> Yeah, you can't see her.
Nothing. Just cannot see her at all. [snorts] She doesn't >> You can Yeah, she's not in frame
anymore. >> She doesn't come back into frame. And now the elevator door closes. >> Yeah. And that that clip, you can find
it online. It's about uh roughly about 4 minutes, but she's pretty much only in the video for about 3 minutes of that
whole clip. Well, after the elevator door closes, then we see the elevator doing what you exactly would think it
would do. It starts going to the floors of the buttons that she has pushed, and it's opening on each floor. And you can
tell that these floors are different because when the door opens each time, the the the decor is slightly different.
You might see different paint on the walls or a different uh floor tile as it goes through these different floors.
>> All right, so this definitely is some creepy footage. And if you haven't watched it, you should go do so now. And
I'll actually probably just take that footage and put it up on our website at trueimeg.com.
Um what's your takeaway from this? This is the first time we watched it together.
>> Yeah. So my my initial thoughts um when I wa when I had watched it by myself,
the first time seeing it, it looked to me when she goes into the elevator after pressing all the buttons
>> and then she goes right up against the wall like that's a move that you would
do if you were like hiding from somebody. >> Yeah. And then she furthers that by
going into the corner like maybe the person's getting closer or she's more fearful and she's hiding even slightly.
>> Yeah. But that's not initially. Initially she doesn't do that. Right. >> There's a couple movements before she
goes against the wall and then goes into the corner. >> Right. Right. And what I'm saying is she
goes in, she presses multiple buttons. >> She looks very relaxed at that point and
then until she goes right up against that wall. Again, my initial thought there was she's hiding from somebody.
Mh. >> But then she kind of like I don't know if she comes to or what, but then she
decides to step off of the elevator. >> Right >> now, one key thing to me was the corner
that she's hiding in is opposite of where the the buttons for the elevator call buttons. What you would call the
call buttons, which would be the buttons in the hallway. >> They're it's the opposite side. And so
to me, I I had always wondered, you know, when she's hiding from somebody, your first thought, too, is why are
these elevator doors not closing immediately? >> You know, um I will say that that all
elevators do act differently from one another, >> they're finicky. >> They're extremely finicky. Um and what
you can do on an elevator, you can easily confuse an elevator. And what an elevator will do as a security
precaution that if you override the system by hitting a bunch of buttons or hitting things in a weird sequence,
>> its natural state is to want to to default to a safety mode where therefore keeping the doors open is technically a
safety mode for most elevators being that it allows people to exit if they need to and it prevents the elevator
itself from operating. So where where some people might say that well the the building's haunted and the elevator is
not closing because she's running from something that's taking control of the building or taking control of the
elevator. I don't think the door's not closing. You know is any evidence of that? I think I think she's in an old
elevator. She's given it too many commands and it's just hesitating to close. >> Yeah. So, my stance on paranormal stuff
is there's definitely some stuff that I've experienced or some stories I've heard from people that I can't explain,
but I wouldn't say that I'm somebody that normally dives into that or believes into that a lot. And in this
situation, I I don't think it there's some paranormal activity happening. >> Yeah. The only time that that the
paranormal activity made me question was when she when she's doing those weird hand movements when she's like outside
of the the elevator. >> And you know, some people have said it it looks like she's almost casting a
spell >> or you know doing something like that like you know um that's sorry that's
your your spellcasting sound. >> Okay. Um but but to me it more looks like she it
almost looks like somebody talking with their hands a little bit more rather than than casting a spell.
>> Right. And then then people would wonder is she talking to somebody outside of
the elevator. >> I did have a thought that the reason why the elevator doors might not be closing
is that somebody's standing outside in the hallway hitting the call button which would prevent the elevator door
from closing. However, with her hiding in that particular corner, she would be more visible to that person given the
angle of those call buttons. You know what I mean? Like if that was in fact what was going on. Yeah. My initial
takeaway from this and like I said, watching it back, it's like seems a lot creepier than it initially did when I
first watch it because when I first watch it, you see her push the buttons, all the buttons, which is odd.
And it's like, well, one of the things I kind of thought was, you know, uh, my family used to stay at like the Holiday
Inn, you know, hotel, mot in. >> And, uh, it was about like 30 minutes from our house. But for some reason, it
was like, hey, we're going to go stay in a hotel. And we'd get a, you know, swim
in the pool and stuff like that. But sometimes when you have other kids around, you'd start playing like tag,
right? But you would be using the elevators of course and so you jump on the elevators push all the buttons. So
was she playing some, you know, some elevator game of tag with somebody? But that doesn't seem likely
cuz one, people booted her out of a room because she was acting odd. Uh two, she's also a
lot older, >> so it doesn't seem like that's something that she would even be that interested
in doing if somebody asked. She's by herself, so we we shouldn't, you know what I mean? You would assume you play
an elevator tag game. You're doing that with people that you know. Um >> yeah, hopefully she's not playing an
elevator elevator tag game by herself. >> My my initial thoughts were that that she was afraid of something. She's
trying to hide and then once she gets back into the hallway that she's seeing something that maybe she doesn't think
is real and that's why she's moving her hands in a weird way. when I when I take
a step back and I and I view it a second time and I think about I I try to put myself into her sandals, right? So, my
thoughts are are a couple things, right? So, if there were something some entity
or some ghost or something that you think that you saw or that you saw and you're afraid of, what would my natural
instinct be? Well, in any situation, it's going to be fight or flight. But if you're seeing something that you don't
know is real or you're seeing something that you're terrified of that that doesn't seem like it should be real, my
first thought would be flight to to somewhere where I know people are, >> right?
>> And so being that I wouldn't hop into an elevator and press every button to try
to escape a ghost. I would go straight to the lobby where I know there's going to be other people,
>> right? >> That would be my initial reaction to the paranormal type stuff. Now, if if she's
actually afraid of a a real person, then the other problem becomes, well, why would you push every single button?
You know, that again doesn't make sense, >> right? And I I think what we have here
is first when she's getting on the elevator, she she's walking in a very calm demeanor.
>> Mhm. >> And then her next handful of actions um are still pretty calm. like she steps
to the side, you know, being polite. I'm going to go in this corner. The door is
not shutting. Probably because she pushed every button on the lefth hand side. The first re the
first uh mo movement that she makes that is very odd is when she kind of sticks her head out and looks to the right and
looks to the left. And that's very odd. But maybe she's also just a shy person and she's concerned that she doesn't
want to look like a dummy. Or maybe she's doing something kind of goofy by pushing all the, you know, I'm going to
go to every floor just to go to every floor. Maybe she's bored and just trying to find somebody to talk to or and and
so she doesn't want to look dumb. But then the next movement was against the wall. She stays there for a second back
against the wall and then she goes in the corner. Now, a lot of people speculate that's when she's hiding from
somebody. I would, you know, if you have not watched this video, I'll just say go
watch the video now. So I don't I don't want to, you know, tamper with anybody's
ideas. I don't want to put ideas into other people's heads. So do that. Now, so my thought is it's pretty simple.
She's going against the wall because she's trying to have this sense that she's thinking the door is not shutting
because the motion sensor, >> right? So I'm going to go against the wall. So maybe that [clears throat] the
sensor will close the door. And when she goes against the wall, it doesn't work.
So then she goes to the corner. Okay. >> And then she walks out again. And again,
she's not rushing. She's not running. She's very seems pretty calm. And then that's when she starts making those
weird hocus pocus motions. And I can't really explain those. A lot of people say, "Well, maybe she was in the club,
so maybe she was like doing some weird club dance move." And I made the joke that she looked like she was doing the
Cupid Shuffle. Again, those move movements to me, some of them seem like she's trying to trip some sensor. Even
when she starts, she's doing the hocus p I can't even talk today. Hocus pocus type motions, but when she starts doing
those within like the doorway of the elevator, to me, that's to trip some kind of sensor.
>> Right. Right. I agree. And that the part that you were describing earlier, which
is the part that I think really kind of terrifies people the first time they see
it, is where we see her what I would call jump into the hallway. Uh, and the way you described it, had people not
seen it before, might be a little confusing on how this actually plays out. She's making very casual movements
up until this point. And then she very quickly throws her right leg, her right knee forward and she
>> she's doing a lunge. >> Yeah. And she quickly puts her head down almost at waist level and looks to her
right and then very quickly looks to her left. >> Yeah. It's kind of like boom boom boom
>> and then [clears throat] she retreats again into the elevator which which makes it does make it seem like well
she's looking for somebody that might be coming down the hallway on either side >> and she's she's might have been chased
to this point to where she she doesn't know fully know where this person could come from and and then I start
questioning though it if there's somebody outside did she meet somebody while she's in LA uh like we said we she
was moved from one room to another. So, it doesn't seem like she's having a bunch of communication with other
travelers, >> right? >> Um or maybe she was acting odd and there was somebody from the hotel out there.
>> Yeah. And that's been an argument that people have put forward that maybe she
wouldn't go to, you know, when I said I would fly to the lobby where I know other people are, the argument would be
then be, well, if she's hiding from somebody that works at the hotel, >> uh, that that might not be her first
option. She might not want to go to the lobby. >> Yeah. >> The thing I see here though, Captain, is
that I don't see while I see, you know, some quick movements on her part, right?
I don't really see anybody that appears to be in any hurry to go anywhere. >> Yeah.
>> I mean, >> three minutes. >> At least three minutes of the film, she's in or around the elevator.
>> I've also Go ahead. >> Well, I was just going to say that. It's one of those things every time we dive
into a case, uh, it always seems like there's one or two things that I wish we had
>> because, you know, if we had those, we'd have more answers. And I really think if
we had some kind of footage from the lobby cuz there's so much of the you see her in frame but you might only see her
arm >> again. What is she just doing? Is she just standing out there just sitting
patiently? And maybe she was, you know, got off the elevator. I'm just going to stand here and the door will eventually
close. But it didn't. So then she jumps back in. It's um I don't know. >> She appears to me to be stalling the
elevator. That's really what I think when I when when I see her get in and hit every button. That that to me tells
me that she's trying to hold up that elevator for some reason. And maybe maybe not even just to keep it at that
floor, but to stall it from wherever it may be get getting called from. Uh I have heard.
>> Right. But if you're going to stall it, you just go in there and push door open.
>> Right. I I wouldn't think that the the lay person would go in knowing that if I
push all the buttons that it's going to stall out the elevator. I don't think that was her intent. The the reason why
I say that though is I see other evidence of her what I would say stalling the elevator where where she's
using other means of that where where she's standing with her body in the elevator and peering out into the
hallway. Um, that to me is is stopping that door from closing. That's that's keeping that motion sensor alive and
it's not allowing the door to close. Then once she's >> Right. But that doesn't make any sense
with the the you know the second and third motion of her going against the wall and then going in the corner. That
wouldn't be a a mechanism that you'd use to stall the elevator, right? >> No, it wouldn't be my first go-to. I but
what I'm saying is I see I see three things in that video that look to me like somebody stalling the elevator and
and one is pushing all the buttons and and you're right maybe she doesn't know or most people wouldn't know that that
could potentially stall the elevator. Two, she's obstructing the door from closing more than once. Even with those
weird hand movements, she's she's breaking that that sensor and keeping that door open even longer. Mhm.
>> And then when we do see her and we know that she's still next to the elevator,
when we can see her arm but not her body, she's where the call buttons would be in the hallway where one could push
those buttons or hold those buttons down keeping that elevator door open as well.
>> Mhm. >> I know that none of them are definitive things of a person trying to stall the
elevator. I'm just going off of the fact that I see three what could be attempts
of stalling this elevator. Well, and you you know with your experience, I mean, you've watched probably thousands and
thousands of hours of surveillance footage. >> Well, and having a really good knowledge
of of >> drinking your beer. >> It's Gatorade. [laughter] Uh, but not having a really good working
knowledge of of the elevators. >> Is that what you call beer? >> Yeah, it's my energy fuel for the show.
>> It has your electrolytes in it. >> I do want to point out something as we're discussing these elevators,
though. Again, they're very finicky machines. >> Mhm. >> Um, you know, don't >> That was my nickname in high school,
finicky machine. >> Don't play on the elevators. That That's not That's not a good thing. They will
close on you even though they're not supposed to. They will behave in strange ways. Um, I don't want anybody, you
know, nobody needs to lose an arm off of playing elevator tag. >> Mhm. I I feel like I've given my kind
of, you know, initial thoughts and then a step back and and make another assessment of the video, but I don't
think I got your >> Well, well, summarize yours. >> So, so mine, of course, the first
initial thoughts was she's hiding from somebody and something strange is is going on. Then at second look, my
thought is that she's stalling the elevator, that she's being disruptive to the operations of the hotel for some
reason. Like kind of a I don't know. I I feel like there's a little bit of um of
a little like aggressiveness in her that that she's upset with the hotel or and and and wants to just disturb other
people's visit by by holding up the elevator or making it stop at every floor for no reason. You know what I
mean? It seems like a very childish thing to do. Remember remember when you're a kid the first time you stay in
Well, maybe everybody didn't do this, but the first time I remember staying in a high-rise building, right? I thought
it was funny to jump into the elevator, press every single button, and then I would jump off of it and not even need
to take it anywhere. It was just funny to me that I knew, well, it's going to stop at every floor, and you know that
there's somebody on one of those floors going, "God, this elevator takes forever." Um, you know, and then got,
>> you know, but you're 10 and it's funny to you now. I'm not I'm not saying anything.
>> Still funny now. >> It is still kind of funny, but you see what I mean? I get I get the feeling
like she's being disruptive for some reason. Like maybe maybe she's angry that she got moved to another room.
Maybe she's upset with those other guests thinking, "Well, these people are rude and they they they went into the
the to the front desk and complained about me and now I'm in my own room." >> Yeah.
>> Um >> Yeah. I mean, let's have been trying to be friendly with these other travelers and sometimes, you
know, sometimes people pick on other people, >> you know what I mean? and maybe she was
acting a little strange. Uh sometimes you need to take the strange and the and the weird because sometimes that's
strange and weird can be beautiful and you take those people under your wings and become friends with them and and I
think you know one we should all do a better job of trying to be inclusive to people you know because people need
other people and also you know it goes to the point that you know these travelers probably didn't know that she
was dealing with something and probably looking back on this now when they go oh
Yeah, we were the people that complained on her and maybe this wouldn't have happened if we were just more again open
to people's differences and try to be inclusive or just try to be understanding. And so I understand that
her idea might have been, you know, personally to me, I'd go, I'm in a youth hostel situation where I'm
with a bunch of other people and you want to give me my own room. So So these people stay is better. To me, I'm all
for it. upgrade my room. Give me a king-size bed and, you know, put a bunch of little liquor bottles in the fridge
and put that on the house and call it a >> day. You You feel like going from being
living in a petting zoo to being a fat cat in the sky. >> Yeah. Give me a I want to be a fat cat
in the sky. And but maybe it just rubbed her the wrong way, you know? >> Well, and here's one thing I wondered
about that situation, Captain. So, if if you're at the front desk and somebody complains, you know, we got this person
that's behaving strangely, and then your response is going to be, yeah, you're in
a shared room. You know, there's all different walks of life in there. Um, you're in a shared room. That's what you
paid for. Well, then a second person from the same room comes down and complains about the sec the same person,
right? >> Then that person, of course, you're going to that complaint is now justified
and you're going to move that other person to keep these two people happy. I wonder to me I wonder if she wasn't
behaving strangely at all. Is there a possibility that the two people in the room already that complain about her, do
they know one another? Do were they hoping that oh we'll we'll share a room at this discounted rate because we can
say other people can stay here and if they put anybody in here we'll just complain about you and I have flown on
planes together. And what's the thing that we usually do when they have three seats in a row and it's just the two of
us? You sit on one side, I sit on the other side. We leave the middle seat empty. And then we give the nasty stare
down to everybody that walks down the aisle so they don't want to sit between two garage dudes.
>> Mhm. >> And it usually works. >> Yeah. Or or once they sit down, we start complaining about him.
>> Belching, >> right? So they have to move them like, "Can you move? This guy's kind of being
a jerk." >> That's right. He's got hairy arms. >> Yeah. So Well, maybe these people were
just going, "Hey, let's uh let's just complain because if we complain, then we'll just get an upgrade." I got I you
know I have friends that will get a hotel room and then they instantly nothing's wrong with it. They just call
in and go the room doesn't look so clean because they know that they're going to
get an upgrade >> being a DB just to get the the upgrade >> for no reason >> being a jack wagon.
>> The old JW >> old DB in the JW. >> Yeah. So I to me captain I see somebody that looks like they're stalling the
elevator. For what purpose, I don't know. But what it does tell me if I'm right. Um, and not saying that I am.
>> But if one's trying to stall the elevator, then that throw that shows me she's not running from something or
someone. >> That doesn't make a lot of sense here. I mean, to me, it seems like you're trying
to play who can be the dumbest guy in the room game and you're winning. Um, but cuz it doesn't make any sense to me
because if you're just trying to stall the elevator and you don't want to ride on the elevator
>> Mhm. >> then why are you staying on the elevator and she stays on the elevator for a good
minute of that clip, >> right? >> That's why I'm saying it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I It would still
stop at every floor. I What I'm saying is I don't believe she's trying to stall the elevator from leaving that floor. I
think she's just trying to be disruptive and stall the elevator in any form or fashion she can think of. Now go
>> right. Not really. Stall might not be the right word, but basically to possibly inconvenience others.
>> You're exactly right. >> All right. So I think Yeah. So you just picked a really shitty word. You
[laughter] you need to work on that. Um, I see that and that would make sense because the thing that doesn't make any
sense to me and when she comes into the elevator, she bends down almost as she as if she's having a hard time seeing
the buttons like cuz she does go one hand on the knee and puts her face very close to the buttons.
>> I mean, she Yeah. and she almost goes to a 90 90° angle bend, >> you know, to see these buttons and then
she ends up just pushing what looks like to me all the buttons on the left side,
which makes zero sense. Um, unless But look, we've all had those times where we're staying somewhere and, you know,
I've traveled, you know, with music and stuff where I've been in one hotel one night, next night, different hotel next
night, and I get in, I go, "Oh, I'm on floor three." And you're >> a [ __ ] four. Ah [ __ ] No, it's five. But
it doesn't look like that because it's blah blah blah blah blah blah. So I don't I I don't know why she's hitting
every button. So the stall thing makes sense, but you know, my thought is when she is backing away, it's and going
against the wall and going in the corner, it's not to hide from somebody or hide from some paranormal uh entity.
It's to get the sensor to realize that it's time to close the door, okay, and move on.
>> Uh, a lot of those movements I can't I can't explain I can't explain the whole
Cupid shuffle and I can't >> Well, and most people can't and that's why the the footage is so fascinating.
>> Yeah. And I've never uh like I said, I was treated, you know, for bipolar. That's what they started treating me
for. I was never diagnosed with bipolar. Um, I never had a manic episode. I've had
friends that have had manic episodes. Uh, some of them could remember small details of the manic episodes, uh, but
they couldn't remember the full situation. Uh, I worked with a singer songwriter one time that she went
missing for a couple weeks. We didn't know where she was. she wasn't showing up for the session. She had booked and
she had an episode and she ended up she was arrested and then once they realized
that she was just offer medication uh she was released and she told us I don't really remember why I was down at the
state house. I was convinced though that somebody was going to harm somebody else.
>> Mhm. >> And she doesn't remember much of the details but she remembers certain parts
of the event. But again here, Alisa doesn't look like she's acting. I mean, other than a couple weird, it's almost
like normal movement. Normal movement. Oh, that's weird. Normal movement. Normal movement.
>> For 70 weird 75 or 80% of the video, she's moving very casually to me. >> So, those are our initial thoughts and
kind of our summarized thoughts. You know, yeah, maybe she's trying to stall it. Maybe she's trying to inconvenience
the hotel. We don't think that there's anything going on paranormal that we can tell. I mean, like again, I mean, it's
not like we have video footage of the the hallway and there's like, you know, some ghost, you know, the ghost buster
guy. >> Slimer. >> Slimer. Yeah. Um, but that's kind of our thoughts. And now we have tomorrow, you
know, cuz there's no way we're going to finish all this because we have a lot of
theories. >> I'm surprised that we have so much more to get to. Um, you know, we we have to
talk about the rooftop. We have to talk about the body being found. We have to talk about the autopsy. We have
>> theories. Tumblr. Uhup. It goes on and on and on. >> Yeah, we're kind of long- winded today,
but I think it's good. I mean, I wanted to give a, you know, a little bit of your background as, you know, being a
security administrator and all that stuff. And uh, and yeah, I mean, I kind of opened up the floodgates of personal
life. >> Mhm. You opened up the garage door and exposed yourself. I [laughter] >> I sat down in the chair and I told No,
the the reason for doing that was because I think it is a sensitive issue and especially in this case and I know
we brought it up multiple times and uh I think it's something that we should be sensitive about, but it's something that
we should be open and also honest about cuz maybe by me saying, "Hey, look, I've
dealt with it. I've I've been on prescription pills before. I've seen a therapist. I've tried to work out some
of the stuff that was going on in my head and then in my heart, however you want to view that.
>> Uh, and it's not the easiest thing to talk about. And sometimes, um, gets a little emotional cuz I I feel like I'm
in a better place now. And so to think back on the the really hard or dark times is not the best. And I don't need
a bunch of people sending me comments saying, "Oh, thank thank you so much. I'm not trying to be a champion uh for
mental health." I think it's something that we all can do. Pretty simple. Just be open, honest, let people in, be kind
to people, >> right? >> Understand that people are walking different paths than you are. There's
some day e look, even if you're not diagnosed with, you know, some kind of mental, you know,
>> we all have good days and bad days. >> Good days and bad days. Yeah. Exactly.
And it's like though and everybody knows those bad days where somebody's being a
little nicer to you or just, you know, says, "Hey, nice shoes." Right. >> Right. Nice jib. Yeah.
>> Right. It it picks you up. Uh so I don't need a bunch of comments about that.
Just if you want to do anything about it, just be open and honest with your friends and your family. And also just
try to be kinder to each other. >> Be nice to the people around you. Be nice to a stranger, too, because you
don't know what that person's going through. You don't know where that person is from. Maybe they're from a
another town or another country and and they're confused about where they are. Just be nice to one another is all all
the captain's pushing for here. >> Yeah. Be kind. Don't suck. Don't be a douche wagon. And uh you know, be sweet.
And you can be sweeter by checking out our sponsor, Talkspace. People ask me all the time, do you use your sponsors?
Have you checked out your sponsors? Yes, I have. And I think Talkspace is a great
one. You know, we're talking about a lot of mental health issues today on the show. And because uh, you know, I work
my job and I and I do all this stuff musically and then I work on the podcast, it gets a lot harder to keep a
regular schedule with a therapist. So, this is a great way where you have a therapist at your access, you know,
24/7. >> Yeah. Talkspace's biggest thing. Affordable, confidential, and convenient. Uh, don't forget about this
their special offer for our listeners. Visit talkspace.com/g. Again, that's talkspace.com/g.
>> Yeah, that's a fine sponsor. And speaking of work, I need to get back to my job so I can be here tomorrow.
>> I want you to talk about your project real quick. I I told you that you were going to have to talk about it on this
show today. >> Yeah. So, I Everybody knows that I do music. Uh you can check out I just
launched a website. It's more like a uh musical journal, if you will. There's not a bunch of stuff on it yet. I'll be
posting because everybody asked me. So, it's uh captainfatands.com. >> I'm releasing my my real name.
>> It's professor captainfatands. Just go to captainfatands.com. Uh and that is going to be my little
site for my musical journal. And on this Friday on St. Patrick's Day, I have a project that I was involved in. Uh I
write a lot of songs and I sing. Uh normally not for other people. And the project's name is St. Patrick and the
album is called Tin Man. And that will be on iTunes >> this Friday on St. Patrick's Day.
>> Right. So the project is called St. Patrick released on St. Patrick's Day. >> Okay. So check out the captain's
website, captainfatands.com. And we will be back tomorrow with lots more to talk about. Until then, be good,
be kind, and don't litter. >> Yeah, [music] my boss is going to be pissed. I'm drunk.
>> [music]

Elisa Lam /// Part 1 /// 89

TrueCrimeGarage.com

A young pretty student was found drowned in a water tank on a roof of a hotel. Where not one but two notorious serial killers had conducted their business. Just minutes before her death she had been caught talking to someone or something invisible on a hotel security camera. The internet went wild with cries of demon possession and foul play. Of course this sounds like a horror film so it was only fitting that this occurred in Los Angeles. Tonight we discuss the disappearance and mysterious death of Elisa Lam.

Beer of the week - Dark Force by Elevator Brewing CompanyGarage grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

Brief Summary

Alisa Lamb's mysterious death at the Cecil Hotel raises questions about mental health and the investigation surrounding her disappearance.

Key points

The Mysterious Case of Alisa Lamb. Alisa Lamb's disappearance and death raise more questions than answers.
Listener Engagement. The hosts discuss how they select cases based on listener suggestions.
Cecil Hotel's Dark History. The infamous Cecil Hotel has a long history of tragic events and notorious guests.
Alisa Lamb's Disappearance. Alisa Lamb, traveling alone, goes missing after checking into the Cecil Hotel.
LAPD's Public Appeal. The LAPD releases details about Alisa's disappearance, seeking public help.
Surveillance Footage Mystery. Surveillance footage shows Alisa in the elevator, but no other footage exists.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just feel so bad for her parents.

Comment on Alisa Lamb's case

4:02WatchNov 24, 2025

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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