Unsettling Trailer for Netflix's CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL
The Cecil Hotel, located in downtown Los Angeles, has a long and dark history. 16 murders have been committed there, there have been mysterious deaths, and it’s been the home of some of the world's most notorious serial killers.
Now Netflix has a new docuseries coming out titled Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, and while it will cover the history of the hotel, it will put the focus on the mysterious death of Elisa Lam. She was a Canadian student who came to Los Angeles on January 26, 2013. She ended up checking into the rundown Cecil Hotel, and on January 31, 2013, she had vanished.
Lam never checked out of the hotel, and all the police had to go on was some mysterious and creepy security camera footage from one of the elevators in the hotel. That footage showed Lam behaving very oddly. It wasn’t until February 19, 2013, when Lam’s body was found floating in one of the hotel’s rooftop water tanks. Lam’s official cause of death was ruled as an accidental drowning.
When the security footage and story got out, all kinds of theories started popping up of what might really have happened. This documentary will dive into it and attempt to uncover the real story. Crime Scene is a new series that aims to “deconstruct the mythology and mystery surrounding infamous locations in contemporary crime.”
The four-part series comes from documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, and this is the synopsis that was shared:
From director Joe Berlinger (CONVERSATIONS WITH A KILLER: THE TED BUNDY TAPES, PARADISE LOST), CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL is the first season in a new documentary series that deconstructs the mythology and mystery surrounding infamous locations in contemporary crime. For nearly a century the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles has been linked to some of the city’s most notorious activity, from untimely deaths to housing serial killers. In 2013 college student Elisa Lam was staying at the Cecil when she vanished, igniting a media frenzy and mobilizing a global community of internet sleuths eager to solve the case. Lam’s disappearance, the latest chapter in the hotel’s complex history, offers a chilling and captivating lens into one of LA’s most nefarious settings.
Berlinger also makes sure to point out in the press release that he didn’t want to sensationalize this story. He just wanted to focus on details. He explained:
“The idea was to have a central story, in this instance Elisa Lam’s case, that takes viewers from episode to episode, but to also balloon out and give larger context to the crime itself based on the location. Her story is an integral part of the Cecil Hotel’s history, and it was important to us that we not just tell a story about Elisa’s untimely death, but also to highlight the impact that she had on people,” the filmmaker said. “We also spoke to a number of professional experts who had direct involvement in Elisa Lam’s case — members of the Los Angeles Police Department, former employees of the Cecil Hotel, local journalists, and medical experts. As with any good crime story, you have to be a good steward of the responsibility given to you, because for the people involved, this is not just a story.”
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel debuts on Netflix February 10th.