September 17, 2025 • 53 mins
On a February morning in 2013, guests at the infamous Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles complained of brown, foul-tasting water. What the maintenance team discovered on the rooftop would spark a global internet frenzy - the body of 21-year-old Elisa Lam inside the hotel's water tank.
In the days leading up to her disappearance, Elisa was captured on the hotel’s elevator CCTV behaving erratically. The now-viral footage has since fuelled endless theories, speculation, and conspiracy. But for those who worked inside the walls of the Cecil, Elisa’s case wasn’t unusual. The hotel had a long, dark history of death, violence, murder and tragedy.
This week on True Crime Conversations, host Claire Murphy speaks with the Cecil Hotel's former manager, Amy Price who lived through the sheer horror and chaos. From eerie theories to the realities of running a place with such a dark history, Amy shares what it was like inside the hotel when one of the internet's most enduring mysteries unfolded.
If any of the contents in this episode has caused distress, there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
CREDIT LISTGuest: Amy PriceHost: Claire MurphySenior Producer: Tahli BlackmanAudio Producer: Jacob Round
GET IN TOUCHWe finally have an Instagram! Follow us @truecrimeconversationsFollow us on TikTok @truecrimeconversationsWant us to cover a case on the podcast? Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note.Make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple & Spotify to let us know how you're liking the episodes.We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
True Crime Conversations acknowledges the traditional owners of land and
waters that this podcast was recorded on Hey there, just
before we kick off True Crime Conversations today, I want
to let you know this episode does mention a story
of suicide at the Cecil Hotel. If you or anyone
you know needs to speak with an expert, please contact
your GP, or if you are here in Australia, you
can reach out to Lifeline on thirteen eleven fourteen, or
(00:29):
if you're a bit younger, Kids Helpline one eight hundred,
double five eighteen hundred or Beyond Blue on thirteen hundred,
twenty two forty six thirty six. All of these will
provide trained counselors you can talk to twenty four seven.
On a Tuesday morning in February twenty thirteen, complaints start
to trickle into the front desk of the Cecil Hotel.
(00:51):
The water is coming out brown. One guest says it
tastes metallic, says another, I can't shower in this. The
front desk clerk is used to hearing complaints like these
working at the Cecil, an infamous hotel located in the
heart of downtown LA. The maintenance supervisor a weathered man
who's seen everything the seasil can throw at him, finally
(01:13):
decides to investigate. He's dealt with burst pipes, backed up sewage,
and electrical fires in his fifteen years there.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Water problems are usually pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It'll be a broken mane, some corroded pipes, maybe even
a dead rat in the system. He climbs the narrow
service ladder to the rooftop and approaches four large water tanks.
Now they supplied the hotel six hundred rooms, which are
spread out across fourteen floors. He notices on approach that
the lid on the far tank is sitting just slightly askew.
(01:43):
Now he's noted it, but it's nothing unusual. The wind
and weather has been known to be pretty strong up there,
enough to shift the heavy coverts. But as he approaches,
he's hit with something a smell so pungent he.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Could almost touch it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
He lifts the lid, the one that he'd noticed wasn't
quite un right, and peers into the darkness below.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
What he sees will set.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Off an investigation and internet tidal wave that will leave
the employees dumbfounded, web slutes, intrigued, and detectives scratching their heads.
But the reality is it's all part of the history
of a hotel that has seen it all, including a
lot of death. I'm Claire Murphy and this is True
(02:32):
Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the world's most notorious crimes
by speaking to the people who know the most about them.
Floating in the dark water, nineteen days after she was
last seen alive is the body of twenty one year
old Elisa Lamb. The Canadian student had checked into the
Cecil Hotel on January twenty eighth. She was on a
(02:53):
solo adventure, traveling around the US and experiencing the life
she'd always dreamed of. On January thirty one, the day
before Lisa was supposed to check out of room five
one four, she visited a bookstore and spoke to the staff. Now,
they would be the last people to have any contact
with her. If you have spent any time at all
on the Internet, you've probably already seen Elsa.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Police would release a.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Video of her stepping into the hotel's elevator.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There's no sound, but her actions are.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Creepy, to say the least, disturbing almost and for those
investigating her disappearance incredibly confusing.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
She steps in and immediately.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Scoops to the wall beside the door, putting her back
to the surface where the buttons sit. She seems to
be glancing outside, possibly looking for someone that she doesn't
want to see her is someone following her?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
She presses some.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Buttons, but not just for her floor multiple floors. She
then repeatedly steps out of and back into the elevator again.
She puts her back up against the wall, this time
on the outside, and at one stage she makes gestures
with her hands, so it looks like she's trying to
maybe touch something or gesture towards someone who just isn't there. Strangely,
(04:03):
the door of the elevator stays open for this entire
higher time, even when she's outside of it. The doors
remain open, allowing us to see Lisa and her strange
behaviors from the camera mounted inside the elevator itself. It's
only when she eventually disappears from view to the doors
finally close, and Alisa Lamb is never seen alive again.
(04:25):
What led to her ending up inside the water tank
up on the roof has been the cause of speculation
by thousands of people.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Across the globe.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But for those who called the Cecil their workplace, this
case is just one of many deaths I've had to
face during their time matting the desk. Amy Price managed
the hotel Cecil for ten years, including at the time
Alisa Lamb died, and she has many tales to tell
about the grand entrance Cecil, how that very expensive chandelier
and the lobby gave her and the hotel's guests a
(04:55):
false first impression when so much darkness lurked not only
within its walls but all around it.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Amy joins us. Now, Amy, thank you so much for
joining us today.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I think the thing that stood out for me in
reading your book and seeing you in the Netflix documentary
is there is such a weird like clash between you
as this kind of young, glamorous, very well dressed woman
working at a hotel that had a reputation in a
place that seemed like really quite hard to do, And like,
(05:34):
how did you feel walking into that place on your
very first day? And I apologize because we refer to
it as Cecil, but I understand you guys pronounce it
as Cecil, So walking into the Cecil that very first day,
what was your.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Very first impression.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And I know that you mentioned in the book the
lobby certainly did not match the rest of the hotel.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, and you have to understand when I first started
at the Cecil, it was supposed to be only for
a few days, so I was helping a friend, gladly,
you know, glad to help, and you know, looking at
it as a very temporary situation. And you know, when
I was driving downtown and noticed the area, I certainly,
(06:18):
you know, I was I always unsure, you know, it
didn't look that great, you know, so, but also in
the same breath, you know, for years and years people
talk about the revival of Los Angeles, and it seemed
like it would be really a great opportunity to be
a part of it. So my first day on the
job was definitely overwhelming, just trying to navigate such a
(06:41):
different place. You know, I was given a tour, and
none of the things that I was seeing were anything
like a hotel I had checked into before.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Can you give us an idea of what the building
is like, because it's funny because on the outside there's
these really big signs that advertise that there are seven
hundred rooms within this hotel. Structure, which is like these
big towers, which is massive in itself, but also apparently
this six hundred room, which is a weird thing in itself.
But can you explain to us just how huge these
(07:12):
places and what it was like in the different sections
of the hotel.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well, when I first started, it was all one section.
It was a hotel along with you know, full time
residents had the same look.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Everything was the same and just.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
A very very rundown, bare bones place, a place that
I had never visited before in my life. You know,
there's zero air conditioning. The rooms are about one hundred
and twenty square feet. Most of them do not have
a bathroom. I had never seen a hotel without a
bathroom in the US at that time, there weren't any
youth hostels where it was normal for Americans to be
(07:51):
doing a hostile situation. So just the overall set up,
the public bathrooms, the demographic of the people walking around,
it was all very, very different.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Than anything that I'd ever experienced before.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you mentioned that you got a tour of the
hotel from a man who has become quite a good
friend of yours since you worked together for such a
long time.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Pedro and he.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Tells you pretty quickly that a lot of people die
inside the Cecil Hotel. Can you tell us a few
of the things that he filled you in on on
that first tour?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So during the tour, you know, we went into a
lot of the rooms that were unoccupied, and they had
been unoccupied for years and years and years, so.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
A lot of cases were walking in and.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know, there's just bad smells and it's not necessarily
always related to what happened in the room, but there
were just like unsettling sense every time we walked into
a room and I would ask him what happened in here?
You know, it just I got the vibe that there
was a lot of things that had gone on in
some of these rooms. And he shared a lot of
(08:57):
the stories with me, which again was it was interesting
to hear that these situations had happen and then he
had seen them. And to top it off, while I
was doing that tour, somebody did pass away, you know,
at the hotel, and I heard it on the intercom
and it shocked me.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
I thought, what's going on? You know, somebody's died, you know,
like you know.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
It just it was my first experience with anything like that,
and he said, he said, yes, it happens all the time.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And I thought, wow.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Okay, you know, and again I you know, as I
stayed on longer and got to got familiar with what
was going on at the cecil.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
These aren't murders you know that are going on.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
You know that that's what people tend to jump to,
is that they're you know, they're murders and and things
you know, associated with with that.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
But a lot of them were just you.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Know, old age overdose of course, but not like not murders.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Not to say that there weren't any murders though, because
you mentioned in the book that the rooms that you
were first given because you're only supposed to be there
for a few days, to kind of overhaul the room
to make it look like a big chain hotel in
this idea that maybe it would be turned into that eventually.
And the room that you're given to overhaul, you're told
a murder had taken place in.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yes, you're correct on that, and that involves my friend Pedro,
and it was a circumstance that happened many years ago
where somebody had been stabbed in that room many many times,
and to top it off, my friend Pedro at the
time was taken in for questioning. And if you ever Metam,
(10:37):
I mean, there was just no way that he would
be capable of harming anybody.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I'd love to get an understanding from you and myself
and the producers of this show have talked about this
as we've been researching your story. Like if any of
us were taken into our new workplace, shown around and
understand you're only supposed to be there for a few
days to start with. But if someone showed me this
place and told me people die here all the time,
I probably would have turned around and walked out on
(11:04):
that day.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
What maje is day?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The creative element I you know, I'm extremely creative. I've
been creative most of my life, and it was an
excellent opportunity to to do something new, you know, the vision.
I was more sold, I guess at that time, on
the vision of what would be the end result, which
would be revival and a lot of opportunity. So that's
(11:30):
why I continued to focus on exactly what I was doing,
And at that time I wasn't involved with when those
things happened. I wasn't taking care of it, like I
would pretty pretty soon, you know, But at that time,
I was focused on what I was hired to do.
At that time, we didn't have iPhones like we do now,
(11:51):
Like you know, where you would type in the hotel
the history. I mean, I would have known so much
more if things were different during that period, you know,
just exactly the history, and maybe I would have asked,
you know, a few more questions prior to you know,
starting the position, but the information was not available. It
was just known that downtown Los Angeles was a rough
(12:11):
area and that they were trying to make a comeback.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Can you give us a bit of an idea of
what downtown LA was like, because I mean, at some
stage skid Row was basically right outside the Cecil's front
door until it was kind of shoved back a little bit.
But what what was that area actually like around the hotel?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It certainly wasn't great, that's for sure. You know, if
you walk on the sidewalk that you see a lot
of homeless people, and you know, that's shocking in itself
to see so many people in despair. You know that
they clearly don't have a place to go. And we're
also catering to those people at the first of the month.
You know, at that time as well, downtown Los Angeles,
I feel and still will say, it feels dirty. It
(12:49):
was dirty, but there was also evidence that, you know,
things were moving along. There were a lot of developers
that were working on multiple projects, you know, at the time,
with high rise housing for the young and the hip,
and you know, I just became sold on the story
that I wanted to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You mentioned that you served a lot of those people
that you saw outside the building on the first of
the month, and that was due to their welfare checks
coming in at that time, so they would come to
you to try and find somewhere to stay, even if
it was for a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
That's correct.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, my first experience with the First of the
month was shocking.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
You know. I remember walking into the lobby.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And seeing such a long line of people checking in
with garbage bags, you know, and then you know, I
ask a lot of questions. I'm a very curious person,
so Peter was always that person for me, and you know,
I would ask them what's going on, and you said, oh,
it's the first of the month. You know, they got
they got their checks, so they'll come in for a
couple of days and clean up and then go back
(13:50):
out like it was normal.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
In the book, you mentioned that the Cecil is sometimes
referred to as the hotel inside a hotel, because at
one stage, later on down the track, there is like
a more high end hotel created within the building, while
at the same time it's still servicing those people you
were talking about, and some of the people who are
longtime residents had been there for decades and decades, which
(14:14):
is really interesting too. How was that for you to
run two very different businesses at that time, catering to
people who were really doing it tough, will also welcoming
guests who are travelers essentially.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Well, I would say that there was actually three categories,
you know, the full time tenants, which is also you know,
another whole category, and they were located in a certain
area in the hotel, and then the Cecil hotel, and
then the stay which was you know, inside inside the Cecil.
So we never could quite separate them because of the
(14:49):
elevator banks, so all the demographics are riding up together,
and that was that was tough too. There were some
tough times on that but initially when we did launch,
you know, Stay was originally called Stay. We had a
lot of success. I mean we were on the cover
of Hospitality Design. I mean that's something to be proud of,
(15:10):
you know, to be able to create a concept and
you know, work on site to make it happen. And
it was a lot of hard work that was very intense,
you know, and we did it in a short period
of time. But it was super rewarding, you know, to
see these people arrive, you know, from all over the world.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
You know, stay at a hotel that you designed.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But the link between the two properties, you know, with
the two elevator banks, they were always mixed, so that
you know, there were circumstances where these young travelers are
writing with some of these people with garbage bags, and
you know, it was questionable, you know, but it was inevitable.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You talk about some of the people who lived at
the hotel for long periods of time that you got
to know quite well. You must have some favorite characters
from your experience over the ten years that you worked there.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah, there was there was one I did write about
in the book that he was absolutely.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
He was crazy from the beginning, but there was just
something about him that just we developed some sort of
friendship where, you know, I would say I have a
soft spot for I mean, some of these people they
just didn't have anybody, you know, So you know, it's
not like I had a lot of time to sit
around and talk with them, but that I did get
an opportunity to get to know a lot of them
(16:30):
and learn about their lives and their history and where
they came from.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And you know, I found that quite interesting too.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
This particular one that I'm talking about, he passed away
and I even tried to locate some family members, you know,
like most of these people didn't have anybody, you know,
they there was just a loan.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
What's really sad too, that you do outline in the
book really well, is how many of these people died
alone inside the rooms of the cecil. Sometimes people didn't
realize they'd passed for quite some time if their rent
was being paid. And often you would go into the
rooms afterwards and have to clear out people's personal belongings,
and sometimes they would really must have nothing.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
And that's true.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I mean I was told many times, you know, just
throw everything away. You know, there wasn't anyone to come
for the property. It was just you know, like they
were just gone.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Can you talk to me about the mental health issues
that seemed to impact quite a large amount of people
who ended up staying at the cecil because as we know,
mental health can impact people who do end up on
the street, and that sometimes can be the reason why
they do end up without a home. But that's something
(17:41):
that you were having to face every day. And you're
not a mental health professional, none of your stuff were
healthcare professionals. How was that for you to try and
handle those people who were obviously suffering, maybe not medicated,
maybe struggling with medication.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Like, that's a lot for you guys to take on board.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, there were a lot of very very difficult challenges
when it came to that, you know, and in some
cases safety, you know, where people are off kilter and
you know they're and they can be perceived as dangerous,
you know, these it could be people that are running
in from off the street that aren't staying there at all,
or people that are staying there, you know. So I
really tried to do the best I could to support
(18:22):
my staff, like, you know, how to handle these situations
and always, you know, call the police when you feel unsafe.
But you know, that's another thing to note that in
that area, the police don't come right away. You know,
you learn that pretty quick, you know, when you're calling
the nine one one. And I know I do write
about this in the book because most people think, you know,
(18:43):
if you call a nine one one, help us on
the way, and in some of these areas where they're
probably extremely busy, it's just not the case. So I always,
you know, emphasize, you know, when you're making these calls,
you know, for the police, support like please let them
know you're in danger, that you know, you see a
weapon or whatever, to get somebody over there to help you,
because we were not equipped to deal with those things.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
We were not That of course, would also lead to
quite a few people taking their own lives.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Within the building as well.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
How was that to try and because not only were
you confronted with that as a staff member in that hotel,
but also you would have people who would come back
and say, can I see where my son spent his
last moments? Like you were essentially supporting family members in
the aftermath of that too.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, there was two major cases for that did occur,
and it was extremely hard, you know, just to work
with the family and and you know, especially they're dealing
with something that is just just awful, you know. So
you know, there was a particular case where, you know,
a woman passed away and the sister did drive up
(19:54):
from San Francisco and we did, we did build a
relationship just you know, with her and what she was
dealing with, and she needed my support on what to expect.
She hadn't done anything like this before. It was it
was hard, but I also learned, you know, a lot
more about you know, the person that passed away that
come to find out, you know, she struggled with mental
(20:16):
illness or her entire life, you know, and and her
sister said, you know, this time she finally succeeded, Like
it wasn't the first time.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It's chilling, you know, and it's sad and all those things,
you know, And I knew her, you know, I knew her.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
It was.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And then with the the other suicide that was it's
also in the book, and that was truly like the
most so out of all the people, and I estimate
probably over eighty people died while I worked there, that
I only saw one body, and I just I'm not
that I'm not curious about that stuff, you know, I
(20:53):
just I never wanted to see. But it was getting
closer to the end of my tenure there, and a
young man jumped off I believe it was the eighth
or ninth floor. He landed right on top of my office.
I mean, I felt the impact. I was sitting there
from the beginning, like, oh my gosh, what's happened here?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
You know. It was a lot to feel, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And when the police came, you know, we were able
to find where he jumped. He hadn't actually even been
staying at the hotel. And the police officer said, oh,
I said, is it really bad?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I was sitting out there like in the hallway, you know,
just letting them go through their investigation. And the police
officer said, it's not bad at all. It's just like
the movies. Come over and take a look, just like that.
And for some for some reason, it was probably curiosity
or maybe all those years and knowing that it was
coming to a close that maybe it would be okay
(21:50):
to take a look and I could handle it. And
when I looked over it, I would just I'll never
forget what I saw, you know, such a young man,
a young man, you know, just.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Life lost.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I mean, it just it was It was extremely hard
for me to act up after I saw it. But then,
you know, a couple of weeks later, his father arrives
at the hotel and this is the only person I've
ever seen and he's he's arriving at the hotel for
me to show him where everything occurred.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You know, And it wasn't scheduled. He just popped in,
you know, and it was.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Something I'll never forget, sitting out there on the standing
on the sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles, meeting this man's
father and he's asking me to show him, you know,
where his son died. And I knew quite well that
I didn't have a responsibility to do that. I didn't
have the responsibility to do that. But after talking to him,
(22:48):
and he asked me directly, have you ever lost anybody
in your life that you loved? And I had, you know,
I lost my father suddenly. It was, you know, a
sudden death. And he said, I'm not here to harm you.
I'm not here for a lawsuit. I'm here so you
can show me where he died.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
And I looked at him with you know, I believed him,
and I said, I will show you.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So it was just the two of us with Pedro
going up the elevator bank, and he had he had
told me that while we were outside that he was
a retired police officer in New York City, and he
explained that, you know, his main problem was how things
were handled here and how he learned how his son
passed away. He had been out mowing the lawn and
(23:39):
he heard his wife screaming inside from a telephone call.
So I mean, that's you know, that's just hard to imagine.
And this young man was very young, I want to say, like,
you know, in his twenties.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
He was young.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
So when we were going up the elevator bank, I
did say to him, I said, I saw your son,
you know, I.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I just don't understand what happened.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And he expressed that I believe there was some sort
of sporting accident or something that happened, like maybe in
his younger days, and maybe he just wasn't the same
after that, and he had struggled with mental illness. He
said that he had just talked to his son that
morning when he was released from the hospital, and it
seemed like he was on the right track.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
And when he was found, I mean it was.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
He plugged at his cell phone in the room that
he jumped from, deleted everything on the phone, and there
was a bag that said patient belonging. It's just something
I just couldn't even get out of my head, patient belongings.
Like he came directly from the hospital to our hotel
and he jumped, you know, So it was it was
really it was really hard to take that ride with him.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
But also I think it was.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
A little healing on both sides, a little, you know,
But I mean, how do you ever get anything over
anything like that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's gonna say.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I got a feeling maybe his father appreciated that you
at least could walk him through those final moments for
his son.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And I also what his wife was in the car
and she was just too upset to come in and
I and I said, you know, if she changes her mind,
that you know, just let me know. And that was
the only meeting we ever had. But I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You mentioned before that on entering the season, you didn't
have access to like the internet, in your pocket like
we do today.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So you didn't know to google all.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Of the history of the place, but you would have
started to learn over the ten years that you were
there about the hotel's history. What did you learn about
the hotel itself, like where it had come from and
the things that had happened there that made it such
a landmark of downtown LA.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
That's what I find fascinating about the hotel, And I
often have referred to the hotel as using the Titanic
as an example, you know, because you know, a beautiful
ship was built, it was supposed to be unsinkable, and
you know, and we all know what happened. It didn't
work out for the Titanic. I feel it was the
same for the season the time that it was built.
(26:08):
You know, in the nineteen twenties, people weren't driving cars.
You know, people were taking trains, they were taking buses.
Men were traveling, not so much women. So this was
really designed for a for the business traveler. And you
can find evidence on that, like all over the place,
built for the modern business businessman. Well, I mean that's
certainly that ship has sailed on that, But in some
(26:31):
ways I do I feel I feel a lot for
the Cecil that it didn't work out because it was
built to be something and it just couldn't keep up
with the times.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And that's because of the way that it was built
with the bathrooms.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You know, it's just you know, in what kind of
demographic once people are taking you know, automobiles to work,
what kind of demographic is going to be staying at
a hotel once you know, things advanced without a bathroom
in the room.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, and it's the locations quite close to a train
station too, right, So it had great location. It was
fully geared up for the time that it was built,
but just too late.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
There's even a news piece that I have and I
haven't been able to confirm if it's actually authentic, but
there is a news there's a news piece La Times
about how a celebrity is arriving to the Cecil, you know,
to stay there, and you see these elaborate, like you know,
nineteen twenty automobiles that are like, you know, in the
parking lot next door, and it's just hard to imagine
(27:31):
what that period of time must have been like, you know,
because I never I never got to see it, you know.
As far as the glitz and the glamour.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Well what comes with hotels, And then the Cecil isn't
alone in this in sometimes things happen inside its walls
that give it a reputation, and for the Cecil there's
a few things. So some high profile criminals are reported
to have stayed at the hotel.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Were you aware of that?
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Absolutely? Even before.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
In the early days, people often would come to visit
the whole hotel because of hearing that possibly the nightstalker
stayed there, even though there is no evidence.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
That he actually stayed there. But I am not saying
that it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
There was also an Austrian serial killer that stayed there
and that's confirmed. He did stay there, and a lot
of people actually came from Austria over time to check
it out because of him. Yeah, but at that point
it had been years, like Richard Vernmires would have been
in the eighties. You know, I started at the Cecil
in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Does it like, does that confuse you why people are
so obsessed with stuff like that? Bex Understond You used
to also get a lot of people asking you if
the place was haunted and whether you.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Know ghosts walked the holes too.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Does that confuse you just how obsessive people get about
the darker side of the hotel's history.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
It truly is.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
There's a category of people that are just continued to
be intrigued by the building. Even if I drove by today,
there would be people outside taking pictures. People are intrigued,
They're drawn to it. They're like a good ghost story.
I've never denied that there's they're a ghost or not.
I mean, my personal opinion is I think that the
(29:18):
living are, like.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
You know, more scary than the ghosts.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
But you know, there's a lot of stories and there's
only one that I can actually identify with that, Like
I would say, that's definitely like a ghost story that
I'm familiar with. But the rest, I mean, that's their
personal experience.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You're listening to True Crime Conversations with me, Claire Murphy,
I'm speaking with former manager of the Cecil Hotel, Amy Price.
Up next, Amy delves into the most infamous death to
ever occur at the Cecil Hotel, the mysterious case of
Elisa Lamb. Well, that does bring us to probably the
(29:55):
hotel's most high profile death, and I understand that you
have copped quite a bit of online abuse. Since this
story was profiled in a Netflix documentary, we do want
to hear your side of it, in your words, because
of course you were managing the hotel at the time
that Alisa Lamb passed away, well disappeared, to start with,
(30:19):
Can you give us an idea of what it was
like when you first heard her name, because you were
dealing with her before her disappearance too.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Right, Yeah, I was.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I was aware of Elisa Lamb like while she was
staying at the hotel, because she was disruptive. So when
you know, there would be an elevated situation, I would
be brought on board of course, to like assister staff
and making a decision of what to do, you know,
And in this particular case with Alisa Lamb, it didn't
take long where she was disruptive and she was staying
(30:50):
in a room with eight other eight other women, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Because it we had like dorm like situations in some rooms.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Was that I loved eight people, so and of course
that's the cheapest rate, you know, with the you know,
the bugs.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
But you know, she she.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Was leaving notes, you know, on other people's beds, you know,
and she was not letting people in the room and
asking for passwords. It just didn't seem to make sense
that like she was going to fit in with the
others just because of her behavior. So what we decided
to do was just put her in a different room,
I believe, even for the same price to you know,
(31:26):
to eliminate what was going on. And you also have
done taken into consideration that yes, she was displaying you know,
odd behavior, and we did have to relocate her, but
we were running a hotel, you know, not not a hospital.
So when that would be the first step to try
to you know, manage a situation where everybody could stay peacefully,
(31:49):
and we're still you know, we're still having her at
the hotel. And that seemed to work, you know, and
then then she disappeared, you know, So those two things happened. First,
she stayed you know, in a room with eight with
eight seven other women. We relocated her to her own room,
and then she then she won't missing.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So the police then do turn up, and by this
stage it's February first, but she was supposed to check
out before that. So it's really common policy that if
people don't check out and you check their rooms and
they've left stuff behind that you guys just automatically pack
it up and put it aside in case they come
back for it.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Right, It's a common occurrence. I mean, you'd be surprised.
You know what people do leave, you know in hotel rooms.
They or they don't check out. So there wasn't really
a flag at that point. Just you know, that just
was protocol to you know, actually bag up her property
and then you know, wait to get contacted and most
likely have to ship the contents.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
So that's probably what we imagine the case would be,
you know, in the meantime she's missing and you know,
but then things would unfold when the police got called at.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That time when someone doesn't check out, like it wouldn't
be automatic for you to contact police and let them
know that this person hasn't checked out.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
You wouldn't be contacting the police, You would be contacting family.
It's just not the way hotels are built, you know.
You just you know, you get ready for your other
check ins and you have to you know, collect the
you know, the contents and stand by for a phone call.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
So the police then do come to speak to you guys,
because Elisa's parents have gotten in contact with him because
she was supposed to contact them every day and they
couldn't get a hold of her. What do you remember
happening from that point when the police arrived, because press
attention came pretty quick after that, didn't it.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
When the police arrived, you know, they asked questions, you know,
and we told them everything that we knew. You know,
everything is documented. The hotel had log books, security, you know, entries.
I mean, we did a pretty good job and documenting
and having the information that would be you know, helpful
to them. So at that point, the police officers decided
(34:01):
to essentially move in the property, you know, and gain
access to all of us security footage, which wasn't a
problem for us at all. I mean we actually gave
them their own room and full access and they were
just on their own for I think days, actually just
reviewing all the footage trying to find anything. And that's
what would strike the you know, the next you know,
(34:23):
the next phase of you know, the media covers when
they did find her on the elevator in that footage
and they released it you know, to the to the
you know, to the press, and I know I've seen
it many times. It is it's very bizarre, you know.
So that's where things really changed about what's going on
(34:43):
with her?
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Where is she?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
She's at this hotel with a dark history, and it
essentially exploded from there.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
So I think if the CISO hadn't had the reputation
that it had with some of the stories already floating
around online, that maybe Lisa's story wouldn't have been as
intriguing to all the web slutes that started to step in.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Yeah. Well, and then ultimately the way that she died.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Can we talk a little bit about the police theories
and the investigation within the hotel because they brought in
sniffer dogs to try and trace her as well.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
What was their.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Investigation and their initial theories about what had happened to her?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
How did they come to be?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Well, as the days went on and she was still missing,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It it was alarming, you know, And I can say
that I never felt that she would be found at
the hotel. I Mean, my my feeling was, you know,
she struggling with mental illness. Maybe she you know, she
walked in an area she shouldn't be, you know, walking in,
and she you know, got taken advantage.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
I thought, you know, something like that might have happened
to her. I would have never imagined that she was
at the hotel, you know.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So the concepts, the theories that evolved with the two
police officers that I worked with daily daily, they started
asking me, were the garbage is being taken out of
the hotel?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
You know, talking to our employees.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I mean, it was it was shifting to like, oh
my god, gosh, you think someone here like the garbage
like you know, so to me was unimaginable, you know,
unimaginable that.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Could be the case.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
But again, we cooperated every step of the way, and
I know that they would say the same about about
our team and us. So when they the dogs, that
wasn't a surprise, you know. They they told me that
they were going to be coming in with dogs, and
you know, I had I was a part of one
of the teams walking through. You know, we did, We
did our best, and that's when I learned when Elisa
(36:41):
had gone off her medication in the past, that she
liked to find a place to hide. So then I thought,
we're looking for someone sleeping in one of these closets, like,
you know, because she had gone off her meds and
I guess you can, you know, stay up for an
extended period of time and you could experience paranoia and
then you could crash.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
And in six hundred room hotel, plenty of places to hide,
right exactly.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
And I remember going through, you know, that process and thinking,
you know, this would have been nice to know in
the beginning, because if she's in a closet, let's find her.
You know, I mean we you know, we were we
looked everywhere for I certainly wanted her to be found,
you know, I I we did our very best to
you know, to cooperate and uh and do everything right,
you know. And so then after the dog search and
(37:28):
you know, I guess continued, you know, a contact with
the police. It kind of faded a little bit because
there wasn't any findings, so.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
That when you look at it in hindsight, the sniffer
dogs took the police to the fire escape, and they
didn't think anything of that after that, did they and.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
The and the dogs were also on the roof. They
did go to the roof. It's just the time of year.
It was February, so it was cold, you know, they
didn't they didn't.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Pick up anything there.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
But I mean, did you know the tour was on
the roof as well, so nothing was missed when it
was you know, when when it came to trying to
find her.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
After the break, Amy unpacks the aptum off and public
reaction following the discovery of Elisa's body, Can you tell
me through the moment that the maintenance workers came to
you and said that they'd found her body?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yes, at that point, I you know, I'd worked there
many years and Pedro, who you know, I dedicated my
entire book to him. He rarely ever presented a major problem.
I mean he you know, he could handle a lot,
and nothing was ever too much. So the day that
he came into my office with Santiago, who was also
(38:43):
you know, a part of the Netflix show and you know,
the maintenance person that actually discovered Alisa Lamb. They came
in and he said, Price, we have a problem.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
You know, people that know me, well that's what they
call me. My last name is Price.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
And my heart just dropped because I knew that the
problem must be so big for him to even say
something like that to me so close my office. Store
we sit down and that's when he discloses, you know
that the missing girl she's here and yeah, and I
asked where and he told me in the tank. And
(39:19):
at that point it all happened so fast, but also,
you know, slowly, because it's a lot to process, you know,
just to take in, you know, and obviously being the
one in charge and having to handle it all was
my responsibility. So once I learned what I needed to learn,
I asked them to leave, and I remained in my
(39:41):
office with the door closed for several minutes because I
knew at that point that this in my mind, it
was over for the cecil, you know, I mean, how
would you ever bounce back from something like this? And
what was going to happen once I made the call.
And I understand that people feel maybe I should not
(40:03):
have called my mother, but I already knew that she
was gone, so it was I guess maybe it was
just like a reaction that I had because I knew
I wouldn't be able to receive any support for hours,
you know, my next steps and what would happen after
was an absolute mob scene and would remain a mob
(40:24):
scene forever.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Actually, when you do finally call police, one of the
offices tells you that he'd actually received a phone call
from a clairvoyant that almost sort of points them in
the right direction.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Can you talk us through that?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
So I was working with two particular police officers and
I immediately try to call them since they were, you know,
the lead investigators. I tried to call them first versus
the nine one one. I wasn't able to reach them,
so then I had to go with nine to one one.
And where you're sitting at from the seesaw, hear the
(41:06):
sirens comments not far. So I would meet up with
him a couple hours later in the lobby, along with
many other people that arrived, and he took me aside
and said that he had been an investigator for many,
many years and he had served or received so many
different tips and also from clairvoyant psychics over time, but
(41:28):
he said this one really was pretty chilling that he
had gotten contact. So he had been contacted from somebody
in China and the message was she's in the water.
But given that the time, and you know, we hadn't
found her, how would you even I don't know what
(41:49):
to say.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Yeah, that's a pretty difficult connection to make, isn't it right? Yeah,
I mean, obviously this news impacts a lot of people,
but I'd like to start with how it impacted your
stop and yourself. Because you guys are pretty used to
death in the cecil. You've heard it happen many many times.
(42:14):
Some of your staff have to clean up after some
of these times. Did Elisa's death hit differently you think,
and especially because it was so widely publicized?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yees, it affected all so much and in so many
different ways. But those are a lot of trauma, you know,
with our staff, you know, it was a lot. I
mean I offered, you know, some therapy, like if people
wanted to talk to somebody about it, because that's how
I felt that that could be necessary. That is not
(42:47):
something that you should have to experience on the job,
you know, not to mention. I never ever want to
forget about the loss of life. A life was lost.
A young woman died, you know, and the way she
died it's horrific, but you know, life was lost, someone
lost a daughter.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
I'm not sure it ever returned to being the same.
I mean, the employees, I don't. I'm not sure they
ever drank the water again, which you know, I can understand.
I mean, we did everything right as far as to
try to turn her around and fix it and make
it a safe place to be again. But after that happened,
it just changed everything for the hotel really and then
also it quickly went into you know, the hotel death
(43:28):
and all the horrible things that happened to the cecil
and just an absolute rehash of everything that's occurred over time,
like we were living in that day again.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Something you do is like covering your book, is how
this impacted Elisa herself. Because you described the tank where
her body was found. It wasn't ever designed to have
anyone inside it, so it wasn't designed for anyone to get.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
So you talk about the fact that you think about
her a lot, and you think about what that experience
would have been like for her and how scary that
would have been for her.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
What that elevator footage means to me is somebody that
is very parent, somebody that is yes, she might have
been afraid, but mostly paranoid.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
And if she was looking for a hiding spot, she
found one. But to me, when I.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Envisioned her path and how she ended up there in
the result, because there would have been some time before
she actually passed away. It's almost hard to even think about,
you know, just being there alone, knowing that there is
nobody to help you, you know, and it is a
restricted area, so there wasn't anybody around, you know, to
(44:39):
hear her when she probably did go into distress.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
It also obviously hit Elisa's family very hard too, and
they did fly in from Canada and come and speak
to you. And as you mentioned, when you helped the
man whose son had jumped from the window, you also
took the time to spend some time with Elisa's family too.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
I did. I did at that time.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
When the Lambs came to Los Angeles, I was contacted
through our attorney and the request was, will you have
the Is it okay to bring the Lambs here and
show them where their daughter died? And I didn't have
to do that, but I felt that that was fair,
you know, I felt that was fair. So there was
(45:25):
quite a few people that arrived that day to go
up to the roof.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
On our side, you know, it was Pedro and I,
which always that one was that way was Pedro and I,
and then a team of attorneys on the other side
with the Lambs.
Speaker 4 (45:38):
You know, writing separate elevators. You know, it was.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
It was uncomfortable. It really was. Now I've you know,
in most business meetings you start, you shake hands, and
you know, it wasn't one of those, you know, So
we we met on the roof and I'll just never
forget the horror and what it felt to hear and
see Alisa Lamb's mother and the pain that she was in.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
It was. It was horrific.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And for Peter and I off to be on the
sidelines just you know, allowing them their time, it was
heart wrenching because it's just it's hard to understand, you know,
and the pain that the woman felt and she displayed
that day. I'll never forget.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
It.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Also to impacted every single resident who was staying or
who lived permanently at the Cecil as well, because it
impacted the water supply for them, and so you had
to essentially evacuate everybody, and then you're in that hotel
and there's no people. That must have been a really
surreal moment.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
It was, you know, and it again, I don't want
to highlight the hardship of the hotel and everything that
was related to.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
What happened to Alisa Lamb.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
But it was an extremely difficult time because we didn't
have any water.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
I did.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
I actually had to drive around downtown Los Angeles in
my personal vehicle looking for lodging for our tenants. You know,
it was and that was you know, the same day.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
You know that that occurred.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
But we also had to relocate all the other guests
to other hotels. And you know, we were pretty much
always the cheapest hotel in town, so you know, it's
a little different when you're you know, now relocating everybody
else to like, you know, other hotels in town.
Speaker 4 (47:17):
And and not to mention.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
The horror, you know, everybody out front and you know,
the media and helicopters overhead, just no words to even
really describe what all.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
That was like.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
And eventually you describe in the book how you just
had to empty the water in those tanks and just
let it kind of all flow out.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Yeah, yep, yep, all the water was drained and there,
I mean we were we were shut down for quite
some time, and you know, we had to lay everybody
off at the hotel we did. You know, it was
it was an eerie, eerie time for sure to be
present in a place where you know, usually the lights
are on and you know, people are in and out,
and suddenly it's just, you know, a crew of maybe
(48:02):
five six people.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
How did.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
The Netflix documentary impact you, guys? And I mean, I
know you.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Personally have had quite a horrible time of it.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Because the Internet has its own theories about what happened
to Alisa Lamb. Even if the police investigation in their
findings say otherwise, people believe other things, and they believe
things of you. How has that impacted you and your
team who've contributed to that documentary to try and tell
that story.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
When I was when I was asked to participate in
the Netflix show, I was no longer at the hotel.
Those days were over. I had been asked many many
times for comment. You know, you wouldn't find any comment
for me at any time with anything that happened at
the hotel. So when I was asked, I really thought
(48:55):
about it, and I thought, I've never said anything. Maybe
it would be helpful to explain to people what actually happened.
Because I'm aware of all the conspiracy theories, you.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Know, and I was there.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
There's not really anything I can't answer when it comes
to her disappearance, what happened to her, and I thought
it might be helpful just to clarify. That was my
reason for participating. I just never saw the rest coming.
I really didn't, So it took me all by surprise.
I never lived in Los Angeles to be you know,
on camera or anything like that. So the things that
(49:31):
happened immediately after, you know, the show came out were.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
In the beginning.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
It was fairly crippling because I just wasn't expecting it.
And then the things that were being said, like are hard.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
To hear, you know that.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
I I've heard that people do not think I have
enough emotion. Well, you know, when you're in being interviewed
and you're not, they can't you can't even hear most
of the questions I'm being asked. I'm just answering the questions,
like you know. So my interview was much different than
the other people that were on the show, you know,
and I'm the most credible source because I actually worked there.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
So my family was threatened. I mean I've received multiple
you know, threats that you know, people are coming from
me and my family, you know, things about my appearance.
I mean, it was it was really a lot to take,
you know, and it went on for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
What's it like for you today? You still having to
deal with.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
Them occasionally it happens, you know, mostly on social media.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
It does happen.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
But I've learned how to work through it, you know,
and I fully understand. The lesson is that no one's
ever really all going to We're not all going to agree,
you know, and there are people that just can't accept
that that was the outcome, you know, they want it
to be something else, And I think that that's going
to remain the story. And I know that I was
(50:51):
one hundred percent honest and I've answered all the questions
that I ensured everything that I know. And I'm also
terribly sorry that that it happened in the first place.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
I mean, it's it's awful.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Well finally made you walk away from the Seasil.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
I actually probably would have never left the seesaw the
secel closed, so it was purchased by another a group
and they had their own ideas of what would happen,
you know with the hotel, so we closed it and
I was a part of that closure as well, which
was also a really sad time, you know, all the
things that we had been through together ten years. I
(51:34):
learned so much in the period of time it was.
Speaker 4 (51:38):
It was it was really hard to leave.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
So that really is the reason why I did leave
the Cecils, because it actually closed, and the moment that
I walked out the door, it felt like it was
a lot to process, you know, looking up at the
building and thinking it's over, you know, because every day
was it was constant chaos.
Speaker 4 (51:59):
It was always just constant chaos.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
And you say that, and you outline a really willing
your book, but when you say chaos, you actually really
mean that that. Sometimes you know, a naked person might
run through the lobby.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
You've been you know, physically.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Threatened, or there's you know, a lovely man who you
describe who just gave you lovely compliments every day. Like
it was just one extreme to the other for that time,
wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (52:23):
Yes, And I have to say that there's resilience in
the chaos.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
You know, I learned resilience.
Speaker 2 (52:32):
So what's there today at the season.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
They're presently, as far as I know, they're presently filling
it up with homeless people. So it's returning to basically
a hotel that is housing the homeless, which you know,
we have a lot of homeless people here in Los
Angeles and they do need housing. So yeah, it will
(52:57):
never be a hotel again. I can't imagine that would
ever operate as a hotel again. It's over for the
Cecil in that way.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
Thank you so much to Amy for helping us tell
the story of the Cecil Hotel and Alisa Lamb. You
can read more about her book Behind the Door at
the link in our show notes. If you want to
see images from this story, you can head to our
Instagram page at True Crime Conversations, and also if you
wouldn't mind give us a follow and have a look
at our case explainers as well. If you enjoyed this episode,
please review our show on Apple Podcast or leave a
(53:27):
comment on Spotify. True Crime Conversations is hosted by me
Claire Murphy and produced by Tarlie Blackman, with the audio
designed by Jacob Brown. Thanks so much for listening. I'll
be back next week with another True Crime Conversation.
True Crime Conversations acknowledges the traditional owners of land and
waters that this podcast was recorded on Hey there, just
before we kick off True Crime Conversations today, I want
to let you know this episode does mention a story
of suicide at the Cecil Hotel. If you or anyone
you know needs to speak with an expert, please contact
your GP, or if you are here in Australia, you
can reach out to Lifeline on thirteen eleven fourteen, or
(00:29):
if you're a bit younger, Kids Helpline one eight hundred,
double five eighteen hundred or Beyond Blue on thirteen hundred,
twenty two forty six thirty six. All of these will
provide trained counselors you can talk to twenty four seven.
On a Tuesday morning in February twenty thirteen, complaints start
to trickle into the front desk of the Cecil Hotel.
(00:51):
The water is coming out brown. One guest says it
tastes metallic, says another, I can't shower in this. The
front desk clerk is used to hearing complaints like these
working at the Cecil, an infamous hotel located in the
heart of downtown LA. The maintenance supervisor a weathered man
who's seen everything the seasil can throw at him, finally
(01:13):
decides to investigate. He's dealt with burst pipes, backed up sewage,
and electrical fires in his fifteen years there.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Water problems are usually pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It'll be a broken mane, some corroded pipes, maybe even
a dead rat in the system. He climbs the narrow
service ladder to the rooftop and approaches four large water tanks.
Now they supplied the hotel six hundred rooms, which are
spread out across fourteen floors. He notices on approach that
the lid on the far tank is sitting just slightly askew.
(01:43):
Now he's noted it, but it's nothing unusual. The wind
and weather has been known to be pretty strong up there,
enough to shift the heavy coverts. But as he approaches,
he's hit with something a smell so pungent he.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Could almost touch it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
He lifts the lid, the one that he'd noticed wasn't
quite un right, and peers into the darkness below.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
What he sees will set.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Off an investigation and internet tidal wave that will leave
the employees dumbfounded, web slutes, intrigued, and detectives scratching their heads.
But the reality is it's all part of the history
of a hotel that has seen it all, including a
lot of death. I'm Claire Murphy and this is True
(02:32):
Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the world's most notorious crimes
by speaking to the people who know the most about them.
Floating in the dark water, nineteen days after she was
last seen alive is the body of twenty one year
old Elisa Lamb. The Canadian student had checked into the
Cecil Hotel on January twenty eighth. She was on a
(02:53):
solo adventure, traveling around the US and experiencing the life
she'd always dreamed of. On January thirty one, the day
before Lisa was supposed to check out of room five
one four, she visited a bookstore and spoke to the staff. Now,
they would be the last people to have any contact
with her. If you have spent any time at all
on the Internet, you've probably already seen Elsa.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Police would release a.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Video of her stepping into the hotel's elevator.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There's no sound, but her actions are.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Creepy, to say the least, disturbing almost and for those
investigating her disappearance incredibly confusing.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
She steps in and immediately.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Scoops to the wall beside the door, putting her back
to the surface where the buttons sit. She seems to
be glancing outside, possibly looking for someone that she doesn't
want to see her is someone following her?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
She presses some.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Buttons, but not just for her floor multiple floors. She
then repeatedly steps out of and back into the elevator again.
She puts her back up against the wall, this time
on the outside, and at one stage she makes gestures
with her hands, so it looks like she's trying to
maybe touch something or gesture towards someone who just isn't there. Strangely,
(04:03):
the door of the elevator stays open for this entire
higher time, even when she's outside of it. The doors
remain open, allowing us to see Lisa and her strange
behaviors from the camera mounted inside the elevator itself. It's
only when she eventually disappears from view to the doors
finally close, and Alisa Lamb is never seen alive again.
(04:25):
What led to her ending up inside the water tank
up on the roof has been the cause of speculation
by thousands of people.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Across the globe.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But for those who called the Cecil their workplace, this
case is just one of many deaths I've had to
face during their time matting the desk. Amy Price managed
the hotel Cecil for ten years, including at the time
Alisa Lamb died, and she has many tales to tell
about the grand entrance Cecil, how that very expensive chandelier
and the lobby gave her and the hotel's guests a
(04:55):
false first impression when so much darkness lurked not only
within its walls but all around it.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Amy joins us. Now, Amy, thank you so much for
joining us today.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I think the thing that stood out for me in
reading your book and seeing you in the Netflix documentary
is there is such a weird like clash between you
as this kind of young, glamorous, very well dressed woman
working at a hotel that had a reputation in a
place that seemed like really quite hard to do, And like,
(05:34):
how did you feel walking into that place on your
very first day? And I apologize because we refer to
it as Cecil, but I understand you guys pronounce it
as Cecil, So walking into the Cecil that very first day,
what was your.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Very first impression.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And I know that you mentioned in the book the
lobby certainly did not match the rest of the hotel.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, and you have to understand when I first started
at the Cecil, it was supposed to be only for
a few days, so I was helping a friend, gladly,
you know, glad to help, and you know, looking at
it as a very temporary situation. And you know, when
I was driving downtown and noticed the area, I certainly,
(06:18):
you know, I was I always unsure, you know, it
didn't look that great, you know, so, but also in
the same breath, you know, for years and years people
talk about the revival of Los Angeles, and it seemed
like it would be really a great opportunity to be
a part of it. So my first day on the
job was definitely overwhelming, just trying to navigate such a
(06:41):
different place. You know, I was given a tour, and
none of the things that I was seeing were anything
like a hotel I had checked into before.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Can you give us an idea of what the building
is like, because it's funny because on the outside there's
these really big signs that advertise that there are seven
hundred rooms within this hotel. Structure, which is like these
big towers, which is massive in itself, but also apparently
this six hundred room, which is a weird thing in itself.
But can you explain to us just how huge these
(07:12):
places and what it was like in the different sections
of the hotel.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well, when I first started, it was all one section.
It was a hotel along with you know, full time
residents had the same look.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Everything was the same and just.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
A very very rundown, bare bones place, a place that
I had never visited before in my life. You know,
there's zero air conditioning. The rooms are about one hundred
and twenty square feet. Most of them do not have
a bathroom. I had never seen a hotel without a
bathroom in the US at that time, there weren't any
youth hostels where it was normal for Americans to be
(07:51):
doing a hostile situation. So just the overall set up,
the public bathrooms, the demographic of the people walking around,
it was all very, very different.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Than anything that I'd ever experienced before.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you mentioned that you got a tour of the
hotel from a man who has become quite a good
friend of yours since you worked together for such a
long time.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Pedro and he.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Tells you pretty quickly that a lot of people die
inside the Cecil Hotel. Can you tell us a few
of the things that he filled you in on on
that first tour?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So during the tour, you know, we went into a
lot of the rooms that were unoccupied, and they had
been unoccupied for years and years and years, so.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
A lot of cases were walking in and.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know, there's just bad smells and it's not necessarily
always related to what happened in the room, but there
were just like unsettling sense every time we walked into
a room and I would ask him what happened in here?
You know, it just I got the vibe that there
was a lot of things that had gone on in
some of these rooms. And he shared a lot of
(08:57):
the stories with me, which again was it was interesting
to hear that these situations had happen and then he
had seen them. And to top it off, while I
was doing that tour, somebody did pass away, you know,
at the hotel, and I heard it on the intercom
and it shocked me.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
I thought, what's going on? You know, somebody's died, you know,
like you know.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
It just it was my first experience with anything like that,
and he said, he said, yes, it happens all the time.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And I thought, wow.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Okay, you know, and again I you know, as I
stayed on longer and got to got familiar with what
was going on at the cecil.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
These aren't murders you know that are going on.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
You know that that's what people tend to jump to,
is that they're you know, they're murders and and things
you know, associated with with that.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
But a lot of them were just you.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Know, old age overdose of course, but not like not murders.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Not to say that there weren't any murders though, because
you mentioned in the book that the rooms that you
were first given because you're only supposed to be there
for a few days, to kind of overhaul the room
to make it look like a big chain hotel in
this idea that maybe it would be turned into that eventually.
And the room that you're given to overhaul, you're told
a murder had taken place in.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yes, you're correct on that, and that involves my friend Pedro,
and it was a circumstance that happened many years ago
where somebody had been stabbed in that room many many times,
and to top it off, my friend Pedro at the
time was taken in for questioning. And if you ever Metam,
(10:37):
I mean, there was just no way that he would
be capable of harming anybody.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I'd love to get an understanding from you and myself
and the producers of this show have talked about this
as we've been researching your story. Like if any of
us were taken into our new workplace, shown around and
understand you're only supposed to be there for a few
days to start with. But if someone showed me this
place and told me people die here all the time,
I probably would have turned around and walked out on
(11:04):
that day.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
What maje is day?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The creative element I you know, I'm extremely creative. I've
been creative most of my life, and it was an
excellent opportunity to to do something new, you know, the vision.
I was more sold, I guess at that time, on
the vision of what would be the end result, which
would be revival and a lot of opportunity. So that's
(11:30):
why I continued to focus on exactly what I was doing,
And at that time I wasn't involved with when those
things happened. I wasn't taking care of it, like I
would pretty pretty soon, you know, But at that time,
I was focused on what I was hired to do.
At that time, we didn't have iPhones like we do now,
(11:51):
Like you know, where you would type in the hotel
the history. I mean, I would have known so much
more if things were different during that period, you know,
just exactly the history, and maybe I would have asked,
you know, a few more questions prior to you know,
starting the position, but the information was not available. It
was just known that downtown Los Angeles was a rough
(12:11):
area and that they were trying to make a comeback.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Can you give us a bit of an idea of
what downtown LA was like, because I mean, at some
stage skid Row was basically right outside the Cecil's front
door until it was kind of shoved back a little bit.
But what what was that area actually like around the hotel?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It certainly wasn't great, that's for sure. You know, if
you walk on the sidewalk that you see a lot
of homeless people, and you know, that's shocking in itself
to see so many people in despair. You know that
they clearly don't have a place to go. And we're
also catering to those people at the first of the month.
You know, at that time as well, downtown Los Angeles,
I feel and still will say, it feels dirty. It
(12:49):
was dirty, but there was also evidence that, you know,
things were moving along. There were a lot of developers
that were working on multiple projects, you know, at the time,
with high rise housing for the young and the hip,
and you know, I just became sold on the story
that I wanted to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You mentioned that you served a lot of those people
that you saw outside the building on the first of
the month, and that was due to their welfare checks
coming in at that time, so they would come to
you to try and find somewhere to stay, even if
it was for a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
That's correct.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, my first experience with the First of the
month was shocking.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
You know. I remember walking into the lobby.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And seeing such a long line of people checking in
with garbage bags, you know, and then you know, I
ask a lot of questions. I'm a very curious person,
so Peter was always that person for me, and you know,
I would ask them what's going on, and you said, oh,
it's the first of the month. You know, they got
they got their checks, so they'll come in for a
couple of days and clean up and then go back
(13:50):
out like it was normal.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
In the book, you mentioned that the Cecil is sometimes
referred to as the hotel inside a hotel, because at
one stage, later on down the track, there is like
a more high end hotel created within the building, while
at the same time it's still servicing those people you
were talking about, and some of the people who are
longtime residents had been there for decades and decades, which
(14:14):
is really interesting too. How was that for you to
run two very different businesses at that time, catering to
people who were really doing it tough, will also welcoming
guests who are travelers essentially.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Well, I would say that there was actually three categories,
you know, the full time tenants, which is also you know,
another whole category, and they were located in a certain
area in the hotel, and then the Cecil hotel, and
then the stay which was you know, inside inside the Cecil.
So we never could quite separate them because of the
(14:49):
elevator banks, so all the demographics are riding up together,
and that was that was tough too. There were some
tough times on that but initially when we did launch,
you know, Stay was originally called Stay. We had a
lot of success. I mean we were on the cover
of Hospitality Design. I mean that's something to be proud of,
(15:10):
you know, to be able to create a concept and
you know, work on site to make it happen. And
it was a lot of hard work that was very intense,
you know, and we did it in a short period
of time. But it was super rewarding, you know, to
see these people arrive, you know, from all over the world.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
You know, stay at a hotel that you designed.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But the link between the two properties, you know, with
the two elevator banks, they were always mixed, so that
you know, there were circumstances where these young travelers are
writing with some of these people with garbage bags, and
you know, it was questionable, you know, but it was inevitable.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You talk about some of the people who lived at
the hotel for long periods of time that you got
to know quite well. You must have some favorite characters
from your experience over the ten years that you worked there.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah, there was there was one I did write about
in the book that he was absolutely.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
He was crazy from the beginning, but there was just
something about him that just we developed some sort of
friendship where, you know, I would say I have a
soft spot for I mean, some of these people they
just didn't have anybody, you know, So you know, it's
not like I had a lot of time to sit
around and talk with them, but that I did get
an opportunity to get to know a lot of them
(16:30):
and learn about their lives and their history and where
they came from.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And you know, I found that quite interesting too.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
This particular one that I'm talking about, he passed away
and I even tried to locate some family members, you know,
like most of these people didn't have anybody, you know,
they there was just a loan.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
What's really sad too, that you do outline in the
book really well, is how many of these people died
alone inside the rooms of the cecil. Sometimes people didn't
realize they'd passed for quite some time if their rent
was being paid. And often you would go into the
rooms afterwards and have to clear out people's personal belongings,
and sometimes they would really must have nothing.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
And that's true.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I mean I was told many times, you know, just
throw everything away. You know, there wasn't anyone to come
for the property. It was just you know, like they
were just gone.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Can you talk to me about the mental health issues
that seemed to impact quite a large amount of people
who ended up staying at the cecil because as we know,
mental health can impact people who do end up on
the street, and that sometimes can be the reason why
they do end up without a home. But that's something
(17:41):
that you were having to face every day. And you're
not a mental health professional, none of your stuff were
healthcare professionals. How was that for you to try and
handle those people who were obviously suffering, maybe not medicated,
maybe struggling with medication.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Like, that's a lot for you guys to take on board.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, there were a lot of very very difficult challenges
when it came to that, you know, and in some
cases safety, you know, where people are off kilter and
you know they're and they can be perceived as dangerous,
you know, these it could be people that are running
in from off the street that aren't staying there at all,
or people that are staying there, you know. So I
really tried to do the best I could to support
(18:22):
my staff, like, you know, how to handle these situations
and always, you know, call the police when you feel unsafe.
But you know, that's another thing to note that in
that area, the police don't come right away. You know,
you learn that pretty quick, you know, when you're calling
the nine one one. And I know I do write
about this in the book because most people think, you know,
(18:43):
if you call a nine one one, help us on
the way, and in some of these areas where they're
probably extremely busy, it's just not the case. So I always,
you know, emphasize, you know, when you're making these calls,
you know, for the police, support like please let them
know you're in danger, that you know, you see a
weapon or whatever, to get somebody over there to help you,
because we were not equipped to deal with those things.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
We were not That of course, would also lead to
quite a few people taking their own lives.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Within the building as well.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
How was that to try and because not only were
you confronted with that as a staff member in that hotel,
but also you would have people who would come back
and say, can I see where my son spent his
last moments? Like you were essentially supporting family members in
the aftermath of that too.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, there was two major cases for that did occur,
and it was extremely hard, you know, just to work
with the family and and you know, especially they're dealing
with something that is just just awful, you know. So
you know, there was a particular case where, you know,
a woman passed away and the sister did drive up
(19:54):
from San Francisco and we did, we did build a
relationship just you know, with her and what she was
dealing with, and she needed my support on what to expect.
She hadn't done anything like this before. It was it
was hard, but I also learned, you know, a lot
more about you know, the person that passed away that
come to find out, you know, she struggled with mental
(20:16):
illness or her entire life, you know, and and her
sister said, you know, this time she finally succeeded, Like
it wasn't the first time.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It's chilling, you know, and it's sad and all those things,
you know, And I knew her, you know, I knew her.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
It was.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And then with the the other suicide that was it's
also in the book, and that was truly like the
most so out of all the people, and I estimate
probably over eighty people died while I worked there, that
I only saw one body, and I just I'm not
that I'm not curious about that stuff, you know, I
(20:53):
just I never wanted to see. But it was getting
closer to the end of my tenure there, and a
young man jumped off I believe it was the eighth
or ninth floor. He landed right on top of my office.
I mean, I felt the impact. I was sitting there
from the beginning, like, oh my gosh, what's happened here?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
You know. It was a lot to feel, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And when the police came, you know, we were able
to find where he jumped. He hadn't actually even been
staying at the hotel. And the police officer said, oh,
I said, is it really bad?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I was sitting out there like in the hallway, you know,
just letting them go through their investigation. And the police
officer said, it's not bad at all. It's just like
the movies. Come over and take a look, just like that.
And for some for some reason, it was probably curiosity
or maybe all those years and knowing that it was
coming to a close that maybe it would be okay
(21:50):
to take a look and I could handle it. And
when I looked over it, I would just I'll never
forget what I saw, you know, such a young man,
a young man, you know, just.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Life lost.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I mean, it just it was It was extremely hard
for me to act up after I saw it. But then,
you know, a couple of weeks later, his father arrives
at the hotel and this is the only person I've
ever seen and he's he's arriving at the hotel for
me to show him where everything occurred.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You know, And it wasn't scheduled. He just popped in,
you know, and it was.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Something I'll never forget, sitting out there on the standing
on the sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles, meeting this man's
father and he's asking me to show him, you know,
where his son died. And I knew quite well that
I didn't have a responsibility to do that. I didn't
have the responsibility to do that. But after talking to him,
(22:48):
and he asked me directly, have you ever lost anybody
in your life that you loved? And I had, you know,
I lost my father suddenly. It was, you know, a
sudden death. And he said, I'm not here to harm you.
I'm not here for a lawsuit. I'm here so you
can show me where he died.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
And I looked at him with you know, I believed him,
and I said, I will show you.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So it was just the two of us with Pedro
going up the elevator bank, and he had he had
told me that while we were outside that he was
a retired police officer in New York City, and he
explained that, you know, his main problem was how things
were handled here and how he learned how his son
passed away. He had been out mowing the lawn and
(23:39):
he heard his wife screaming inside from a telephone call.
So I mean, that's you know, that's just hard to imagine.
And this young man was very young, I want to say, like,
you know, in his twenties.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
He was young.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
So when we were going up the elevator bank, I
did say to him, I said, I saw your son,
you know, I.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I just don't understand what happened.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And he expressed that I believe there was some sort
of sporting accident or something that happened, like maybe in
his younger days, and maybe he just wasn't the same
after that, and he had struggled with mental illness. He
said that he had just talked to his son that
morning when he was released from the hospital, and it
seemed like he was on the right track.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
And when he was found, I mean it was.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
He plugged at his cell phone in the room that
he jumped from, deleted everything on the phone, and there
was a bag that said patient belonging. It's just something
I just couldn't even get out of my head, patient belongings.
Like he came directly from the hospital to our hotel
and he jumped, you know, So it was it was
really it was really hard to take that ride with him.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
But also I think it was.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
A little healing on both sides, a little, you know,
But I mean, how do you ever get anything over
anything like that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's gonna say.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I got a feeling maybe his father appreciated that you
at least could walk him through those final moments for
his son.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And I also what his wife was in the car
and she was just too upset to come in and
I and I said, you know, if she changes her mind,
that you know, just let me know. And that was
the only meeting we ever had. But I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You mentioned before that on entering the season, you didn't
have access to like the internet, in your pocket like
we do today.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So you didn't know to google all.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Of the history of the place, but you would have
started to learn over the ten years that you were
there about the hotel's history. What did you learn about
the hotel itself, like where it had come from and
the things that had happened there that made it such
a landmark of downtown LA.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
That's what I find fascinating about the hotel, And I
often have referred to the hotel as using the Titanic
as an example, you know, because you know, a beautiful
ship was built, it was supposed to be unsinkable, and
you know, and we all know what happened. It didn't
work out for the Titanic. I feel it was the
same for the season the time that it was built.
(26:08):
You know, in the nineteen twenties, people weren't driving cars.
You know, people were taking trains, they were taking buses.
Men were traveling, not so much women. So this was
really designed for a for the business traveler. And you
can find evidence on that, like all over the place,
built for the modern business businessman. Well, I mean that's
certainly that ship has sailed on that, But in some
(26:31):
ways I do I feel I feel a lot for
the Cecil that it didn't work out because it was
built to be something and it just couldn't keep up
with the times.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And that's because of the way that it was built
with the bathrooms.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You know, it's just you know, in what kind of
demographic once people are taking you know, automobiles to work,
what kind of demographic is going to be staying at
a hotel once you know, things advanced without a bathroom
in the room.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, and it's the locations quite close to a train
station too, right, So it had great location. It was
fully geared up for the time that it was built,
but just too late.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
There's even a news piece that I have and I
haven't been able to confirm if it's actually authentic, but
there is a news there's a news piece La Times
about how a celebrity is arriving to the Cecil, you know,
to stay there, and you see these elaborate, like you know,
nineteen twenty automobiles that are like, you know, in the
parking lot next door, and it's just hard to imagine
(27:31):
what that period of time must have been like, you know,
because I never I never got to see it, you know.
As far as the glitz and the glamour.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Well what comes with hotels, And then the Cecil isn't
alone in this in sometimes things happen inside its walls
that give it a reputation, and for the Cecil there's
a few things. So some high profile criminals are reported
to have stayed at the hotel.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Were you aware of that?
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Absolutely? Even before.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
In the early days, people often would come to visit
the whole hotel because of hearing that possibly the nightstalker
stayed there, even though there is no evidence.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
That he actually stayed there. But I am not saying
that it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
There was also an Austrian serial killer that stayed there
and that's confirmed. He did stay there, and a lot
of people actually came from Austria over time to check
it out because of him. Yeah, but at that point
it had been years, like Richard Vernmires would have been
in the eighties. You know, I started at the Cecil
in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Does it like, does that confuse you why people are
so obsessed with stuff like that? Bex Understond You used
to also get a lot of people asking you if
the place was haunted and whether you.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Know ghosts walked the holes too.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Does that confuse you just how obsessive people get about
the darker side of the hotel's history.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
It truly is.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
There's a category of people that are just continued to
be intrigued by the building. Even if I drove by today,
there would be people outside taking pictures. People are intrigued,
They're drawn to it. They're like a good ghost story.
I've never denied that there's they're a ghost or not.
I mean, my personal opinion is I think that the
(29:18):
living are, like.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
You know, more scary than the ghosts.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
But you know, there's a lot of stories and there's
only one that I can actually identify with that, Like
I would say, that's definitely like a ghost story that
I'm familiar with. But the rest, I mean, that's their
personal experience.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You're listening to True Crime Conversations with me, Claire Murphy,
I'm speaking with former manager of the Cecil Hotel, Amy Price.
Up next, Amy delves into the most infamous death to
ever occur at the Cecil Hotel, the mysterious case of
Elisa Lamb. Well, that does bring us to probably the
(29:55):
hotel's most high profile death, and I understand that you
have copped quite a bit of online abuse. Since this
story was profiled in a Netflix documentary, we do want
to hear your side of it, in your words, because
of course you were managing the hotel at the time
that Alisa Lamb passed away, well disappeared, to start with,
(30:19):
Can you give us an idea of what it was
like when you first heard her name, because you were
dealing with her before her disappearance too.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Right, Yeah, I was.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I was aware of Elisa Lamb like while she was
staying at the hotel, because she was disruptive. So when
you know, there would be an elevated situation, I would
be brought on board of course, to like assister staff
and making a decision of what to do, you know,
And in this particular case with Alisa Lamb, it didn't
take long where she was disruptive and she was staying
(30:50):
in a room with eight other eight other women, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Because it we had like dorm like situations in some rooms.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Was that I loved eight people, so and of course
that's the cheapest rate, you know, with the you know,
the bugs.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
But you know, she she.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Was leaving notes, you know, on other people's beds, you know,
and she was not letting people in the room and
asking for passwords. It just didn't seem to make sense
that like she was going to fit in with the
others just because of her behavior. So what we decided
to do was just put her in a different room,
I believe, even for the same price to you know,
(31:26):
to eliminate what was going on. And you also have
done taken into consideration that yes, she was displaying you know,
odd behavior, and we did have to relocate her, but
we were running a hotel, you know, not not a hospital.
So when that would be the first step to try
to you know, manage a situation where everybody could stay peacefully,
(31:49):
and we're still you know, we're still having her at
the hotel. And that seemed to work, you know, and
then then she disappeared, you know, So those two things happened. First,
she stayed you know, in a room with eight with
eight seven other women. We relocated her to her own room,
and then she then she won't missing.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So the police then do turn up, and by this
stage it's February first, but she was supposed to check
out before that. So it's really common policy that if
people don't check out and you check their rooms and
they've left stuff behind that you guys just automatically pack
it up and put it aside in case they come
back for it.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Right, It's a common occurrence. I mean, you'd be surprised.
You know what people do leave, you know in hotel rooms.
They or they don't check out. So there wasn't really
a flag at that point. Just you know, that just
was protocol to you know, actually bag up her property
and then you know, wait to get contacted and most
likely have to ship the contents.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
So that's probably what we imagine the case would be,
you know, in the meantime she's missing and you know,
but then things would unfold when the police got called at.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That time when someone doesn't check out, like it wouldn't
be automatic for you to contact police and let them
know that this person hasn't checked out.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
You wouldn't be contacting the police, You would be contacting family.
It's just not the way hotels are built, you know.
You just you know, you get ready for your other
check ins and you have to you know, collect the
you know, the contents and stand by for a phone call.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
So the police then do come to speak to you guys,
because Elisa's parents have gotten in contact with him because
she was supposed to contact them every day and they
couldn't get a hold of her. What do you remember
happening from that point when the police arrived, because press
attention came pretty quick after that, didn't it.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
When the police arrived, you know, they asked questions, you know,
and we told them everything that we knew. You know,
everything is documented. The hotel had log books, security, you know, entries.
I mean, we did a pretty good job and documenting
and having the information that would be you know, helpful
to them. So at that point, the police officers decided
(34:01):
to essentially move in the property, you know, and gain
access to all of us security footage, which wasn't a
problem for us at all. I mean we actually gave
them their own room and full access and they were
just on their own for I think days, actually just
reviewing all the footage trying to find anything. And that's
what would strike the you know, the next you know,
(34:23):
the next phase of you know, the media covers when
they did find her on the elevator in that footage
and they released it you know, to the to the
you know, to the press, and I know I've seen
it many times. It is it's very bizarre, you know.
So that's where things really changed about what's going on
(34:43):
with her?
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Where is she?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
She's at this hotel with a dark history, and it
essentially exploded from there.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
So I think if the CISO hadn't had the reputation
that it had with some of the stories already floating
around online, that maybe Lisa's story wouldn't have been as
intriguing to all the web slutes that started to step in.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Yeah. Well, and then ultimately the way that she died.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Can we talk a little bit about the police theories
and the investigation within the hotel because they brought in
sniffer dogs to try and trace her as well.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
What was their.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Investigation and their initial theories about what had happened to her?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
How did they come to be?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Well, as the days went on and she was still missing,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It it was alarming, you know, And I can say
that I never felt that she would be found at
the hotel. I Mean, my my feeling was, you know,
she struggling with mental illness. Maybe she you know, she
walked in an area she shouldn't be, you know, walking in,
and she you know, got taken advantage.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
I thought, you know, something like that might have happened
to her. I would have never imagined that she was
at the hotel, you know.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So the concepts, the theories that evolved with the two
police officers that I worked with daily daily, they started
asking me, were the garbage is being taken out of
the hotel?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
You know, talking to our employees.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I mean, it was it was shifting to like, oh
my god, gosh, you think someone here like the garbage
like you know, so to me was unimaginable, you know,
unimaginable that.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Could be the case.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
But again, we cooperated every step of the way, and
I know that they would say the same about about
our team and us. So when they the dogs, that
wasn't a surprise, you know. They they told me that
they were going to be coming in with dogs, and
you know, I had I was a part of one
of the teams walking through. You know, we did, We
did our best, and that's when I learned when Elisa
(36:41):
had gone off her medication in the past, that she
liked to find a place to hide. So then I thought,
we're looking for someone sleeping in one of these closets, like,
you know, because she had gone off her meds and
I guess you can, you know, stay up for an
extended period of time and you could experience paranoia and
then you could crash.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
And in six hundred room hotel, plenty of places to hide,
right exactly.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
And I remember going through, you know, that process and thinking,
you know, this would have been nice to know in
the beginning, because if she's in a closet, let's find her.
You know, I mean we you know, we were we
looked everywhere for I certainly wanted her to be found,
you know, I I we did our very best to
you know, to cooperate and uh and do everything right,
you know. And so then after the dog search and
(37:28):
you know, I guess continued, you know, a contact with
the police. It kind of faded a little bit because
there wasn't any findings, so.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
That when you look at it in hindsight, the sniffer
dogs took the police to the fire escape, and they
didn't think anything of that after that, did they and.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
The and the dogs were also on the roof. They
did go to the roof. It's just the time of year.
It was February, so it was cold, you know, they
didn't they didn't.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Pick up anything there.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
But I mean, did you know the tour was on
the roof as well, so nothing was missed when it
was you know, when when it came to trying to
find her.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
After the break, Amy unpacks the aptum off and public
reaction following the discovery of Elisa's body, Can you tell
me through the moment that the maintenance workers came to
you and said that they'd found her body?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yes, at that point, I you know, I'd worked there
many years and Pedro, who you know, I dedicated my
entire book to him. He rarely ever presented a major problem.
I mean he you know, he could handle a lot,
and nothing was ever too much. So the day that
he came into my office with Santiago, who was also
(38:43):
you know, a part of the Netflix show and you know,
the maintenance person that actually discovered Alisa Lamb. They came
in and he said, Price, we have a problem.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
You know, people that know me, well that's what they
call me. My last name is Price.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
And my heart just dropped because I knew that the
problem must be so big for him to even say
something like that to me so close my office. Store
we sit down and that's when he discloses, you know
that the missing girl she's here and yeah, and I
asked where and he told me in the tank. And
(39:19):
at that point it all happened so fast, but also,
you know, slowly, because it's a lot to process, you know,
just to take in, you know, and obviously being the
one in charge and having to handle it all was
my responsibility. So once I learned what I needed to learn,
I asked them to leave, and I remained in my
(39:41):
office with the door closed for several minutes because I
knew at that point that this in my mind, it
was over for the cecil, you know, I mean, how
would you ever bounce back from something like this? And
what was going to happen once I made the call.
And I understand that people feel maybe I should not
(40:03):
have called my mother, but I already knew that she
was gone, so it was I guess maybe it was
just like a reaction that I had because I knew
I wouldn't be able to receive any support for hours,
you know, my next steps and what would happen after
was an absolute mob scene and would remain a mob
(40:24):
scene forever.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Actually, when you do finally call police, one of the
offices tells you that he'd actually received a phone call
from a clairvoyant that almost sort of points them in
the right direction.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Can you talk us through that?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
So I was working with two particular police officers and
I immediately try to call them since they were, you know,
the lead investigators. I tried to call them first versus
the nine one one. I wasn't able to reach them,
so then I had to go with nine to one one.
And where you're sitting at from the seesaw, hear the
(41:06):
sirens comments not far. So I would meet up with
him a couple hours later in the lobby, along with
many other people that arrived, and he took me aside
and said that he had been an investigator for many,
many years and he had served or received so many
different tips and also from clairvoyant psychics over time, but
(41:28):
he said this one really was pretty chilling that he
had gotten contact. So he had been contacted from somebody
in China and the message was she's in the water.
But given that the time, and you know, we hadn't
found her, how would you even I don't know what
(41:49):
to say.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Yeah, that's a pretty difficult connection to make, isn't it right? Yeah,
I mean, obviously this news impacts a lot of people,
but I'd like to start with how it impacted your
stop and yourself. Because you guys are pretty used to
death in the cecil. You've heard it happen many many times.
(42:14):
Some of your staff have to clean up after some
of these times. Did Elisa's death hit differently you think,
and especially because it was so widely publicized?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yees, it affected all so much and in so many
different ways. But those are a lot of trauma, you know,
with our staff, you know, it was a lot. I
mean I offered, you know, some therapy, like if people
wanted to talk to somebody about it, because that's how
I felt that that could be necessary. That is not
(42:47):
something that you should have to experience on the job,
you know, not to mention. I never ever want to
forget about the loss of life. A life was lost.
A young woman died, you know, and the way she
died it's horrific, but you know, life was lost, someone
lost a daughter.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
I'm not sure it ever returned to being the same.
I mean, the employees, I don't. I'm not sure they
ever drank the water again, which you know, I can understand.
I mean, we did everything right as far as to
try to turn her around and fix it and make
it a safe place to be again. But after that happened,
it just changed everything for the hotel really and then
also it quickly went into you know, the hotel death
(43:28):
and all the horrible things that happened to the cecil
and just an absolute rehash of everything that's occurred over time,
like we were living in that day again.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Something you do is like covering your book, is how
this impacted Elisa herself. Because you described the tank where
her body was found. It wasn't ever designed to have
anyone inside it, so it wasn't designed for anyone to get.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
So you talk about the fact that you think about
her a lot, and you think about what that experience
would have been like for her and how scary that
would have been for her.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
What that elevator footage means to me is somebody that
is very parent, somebody that is yes, she might have
been afraid, but mostly paranoid.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
And if she was looking for a hiding spot, she
found one. But to me, when I.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Envisioned her path and how she ended up there in
the result, because there would have been some time before
she actually passed away. It's almost hard to even think about,
you know, just being there alone, knowing that there is
nobody to help you, you know, and it is a
restricted area, so there wasn't anybody around, you know, to
(44:39):
hear her when she probably did go into distress.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
It also obviously hit Elisa's family very hard too, and
they did fly in from Canada and come and speak
to you. And as you mentioned, when you helped the
man whose son had jumped from the window, you also
took the time to spend some time with Elisa's family too.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
I did. I did at that time.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
When the Lambs came to Los Angeles, I was contacted
through our attorney and the request was, will you have
the Is it okay to bring the Lambs here and
show them where their daughter died? And I didn't have
to do that, but I felt that that was fair,
you know, I felt that was fair. So there was
(45:25):
quite a few people that arrived that day to go
up to the roof.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
On our side, you know, it was Pedro and I,
which always that one was that way was Pedro and I,
and then a team of attorneys on the other side
with the Lambs.
Speaker 4 (45:38):
You know, writing separate elevators. You know, it was.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
It was uncomfortable. It really was. Now I've you know,
in most business meetings you start, you shake hands, and
you know, it wasn't one of those, you know, So
we we met on the roof and I'll just never
forget the horror and what it felt to hear and
see Alisa Lamb's mother and the pain that she was in.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
It was. It was horrific.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And for Peter and I off to be on the
sidelines just you know, allowing them their time, it was
heart wrenching because it's just it's hard to understand, you know,
and the pain that the woman felt and she displayed
that day. I'll never forget.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
It.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Also to impacted every single resident who was staying or
who lived permanently at the Cecil as well, because it
impacted the water supply for them, and so you had
to essentially evacuate everybody, and then you're in that hotel
and there's no people. That must have been a really
surreal moment.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
It was, you know, and it again, I don't want
to highlight the hardship of the hotel and everything that
was related to.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
What happened to Alisa Lamb.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
But it was an extremely difficult time because we didn't
have any water.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
I did.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
I actually had to drive around downtown Los Angeles in
my personal vehicle looking for lodging for our tenants. You know,
it was and that was you know, the same day.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
You know that that occurred.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
But we also had to relocate all the other guests
to other hotels. And you know, we were pretty much
always the cheapest hotel in town, so you know, it's
a little different when you're you know, now relocating everybody
else to like, you know, other hotels in town.
Speaker 4 (47:17):
And and not to mention.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
The horror, you know, everybody out front and you know,
the media and helicopters overhead, just no words to even
really describe what all.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
That was like.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
And eventually you describe in the book how you just
had to empty the water in those tanks and just
let it kind of all flow out.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Yeah, yep, yep, all the water was drained and there,
I mean we were we were shut down for quite
some time, and you know, we had to lay everybody
off at the hotel we did. You know, it was
it was an eerie, eerie time for sure to be
present in a place where you know, usually the lights
are on and you know, people are in and out,
and suddenly it's just, you know, a crew of maybe
(48:02):
five six people.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
How did.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
The Netflix documentary impact you, guys? And I mean, I
know you.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Personally have had quite a horrible time of it.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Because the Internet has its own theories about what happened
to Alisa Lamb. Even if the police investigation in their
findings say otherwise, people believe other things, and they believe
things of you. How has that impacted you and your
team who've contributed to that documentary to try and tell
that story.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
When I was when I was asked to participate in
the Netflix show, I was no longer at the hotel.
Those days were over. I had been asked many many
times for comment. You know, you wouldn't find any comment
for me at any time with anything that happened at
the hotel. So when I was asked, I really thought
(48:55):
about it, and I thought, I've never said anything. Maybe
it would be helpful to explain to people what actually happened.
Because I'm aware of all the conspiracy theories, you.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Know, and I was there.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
There's not really anything I can't answer when it comes
to her disappearance, what happened to her, and I thought
it might be helpful just to clarify. That was my
reason for participating. I just never saw the rest coming.
I really didn't, So it took me all by surprise.
I never lived in Los Angeles to be you know,
on camera or anything like that. So the things that
(49:31):
happened immediately after, you know, the show came out were.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
In the beginning.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
It was fairly crippling because I just wasn't expecting it.
And then the things that were being said, like are hard.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
To hear, you know that.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
I I've heard that people do not think I have
enough emotion. Well, you know, when you're in being interviewed
and you're not, they can't you can't even hear most
of the questions I'm being asked. I'm just answering the questions,
like you know. So my interview was much different than
the other people that were on the show, you know,
and I'm the most credible source because I actually worked there.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
So my family was threatened. I mean I've received multiple
you know, threats that you know, people are coming from
me and my family, you know, things about my appearance.
I mean, it was it was really a lot to take,
you know, and it went on for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
What's it like for you today? You still having to
deal with.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
Them occasionally it happens, you know, mostly on social media.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
It does happen.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
But I've learned how to work through it, you know,
and I fully understand. The lesson is that no one's
ever really all going to We're not all going to agree,
you know, and there are people that just can't accept
that that was the outcome, you know, they want it
to be something else, And I think that that's going
to remain the story. And I know that I was
(50:51):
one hundred percent honest and I've answered all the questions
that I ensured everything that I know. And I'm also
terribly sorry that that it happened in the first place.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
I mean, it's it's awful.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Well finally made you walk away from the Seasil.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
I actually probably would have never left the seesaw the
secel closed, so it was purchased by another a group
and they had their own ideas of what would happen,
you know with the hotel, so we closed it and
I was a part of that closure as well, which
was also a really sad time, you know, all the
things that we had been through together ten years. I
(51:34):
learned so much in the period of time it was.
Speaker 4 (51:38):
It was it was really hard to leave.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
So that really is the reason why I did leave
the Cecils, because it actually closed, and the moment that
I walked out the door, it felt like it was
a lot to process, you know, looking up at the
building and thinking it's over, you know, because every day
was it was constant chaos.
Speaker 4 (51:59):
It was always just constant chaos.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
And you say that, and you outline a really willing
your book, but when you say chaos, you actually really
mean that that. Sometimes you know, a naked person might
run through the lobby.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
You've been you know, physically.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Threatened, or there's you know, a lovely man who you
describe who just gave you lovely compliments every day. Like
it was just one extreme to the other for that time,
wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (52:23):
Yes, And I have to say that there's resilience in
the chaos.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
You know, I learned resilience.
Speaker 2 (52:32):
So what's there today at the season.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
They're presently, as far as I know, they're presently filling
it up with homeless people. So it's returning to basically
a hotel that is housing the homeless, which you know,
we have a lot of homeless people here in Los
Angeles and they do need housing. So yeah, it will
(52:57):
never be a hotel again. I can't imagine that would
ever operate as a hotel again. It's over for the
Cecil in that way.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
Thank you so much to Amy for helping us tell
the story of the Cecil Hotel and Alisa Lamb. You
can read more about her book Behind the Door at
the link in our show notes. If you want to
see images from this story, you can head to our
Instagram page at True Crime Conversations, and also if you
wouldn't mind give us a follow and have a look
at our case explainers as well. If you enjoyed this episode,
please review our show on Apple Podcast or leave a
(53:27):
comment on Spotify. True Crime Conversations is hosted by me
Claire Murphy and produced by Tarlie Blackman, with the audio
designed by Jacob Brown. Thanks so much for listening. I'll
be back next week with another True Crime Conversation.
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