People who love to watch thrillers know that elevators, as a traditional scene in horror movies, can make a deep impression. However, in real life, there was a suspicious and widely influential "suicide case" at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, USA - the Lan Ke'er incident. What makes people feel uneasy is that the last scene of Lan Ke'er's life is the picture recorded by the hotel elevator, in which Lan Ke'er's behavior is very strange, which also triggers a lot of speculation.
The story also begins in 2013, when Lan Ke'er was originally a Hong Kong native, and later moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen. She studied psychology at the University of British Columbia, while both of her parents worked in restaurants. In January 2013, Lan Ke'er wrote on social platforms: "The world is so big, I see only a very small part. I'm going to meet new environments and hope to meet some interesting and kind people. After convincing her parents, she ran all the way from Canada to Los Angeles and stayed at the Cecil Hotel.
Where is Cecil Hotel? Don't underestimate it, it's not an ordinary hotel. In 1924, a businessman rented expensive land in downtown Los Angeles and built the Cecil Hotel, but it failed to make the owner a lot of money. From the suicide of guests in the room in 1931 to the famous black dahlia mystery in 1947, many people have been buried here, or have been to the hotel before they died, and even two serial murderers have stayed here.
Since the relocation of the city center, the Cecil Hotel has ceased to be a bustling downtown area, but a scene of homeless people and criminals. The Siesel Hotel has slowly gone from being overcrowded when it opened to being unoccupied. The owner had no choice but to transform the hotel's marketing into an economical, practical hotel. Due to the low price of the hotel, it has also become the home of many poor people and homeless people, who can live in warm rooms for only a small rent.
This is also the reason why Lan Ke'er chose this hotel, after all, she does not have much savings herself and wants to save some. When she first moved in, she would call home every day to report that she was safe, and sometimes she would share her life in the United States with her friends. Until January 31, my parents did not receive a single call from Lan Ke'er. They contacted their daughter, but received a busy phone call. This can make them anxious, and they quickly call the police to let the Police in the United States go to find Lan Ke'er.
Because it is a case of foreigners disappearing in the local area, this case has also received high attention from the police, and they feel a little uneasy when they learn that Lan Ke'er is staying at the Cecil Hotel, because the people around the hotel are very complicated, and Lan Ke'er is alone and prone to accidents. They immediately set out to search the three outer three floors of the hotel, but they did not get results. In the room where Lan Ke'er lived before her disappearance, the items were very messy, but no belongings were lost. They then led the police dog to search, but did not find it. When they looked at the hotel surveillance, Lan Ke'er's last scene in people's eyes was inside the hotel elevator. However, her behavior was very absurd.
In the picture, Lan Ke'er first walked to the elevator, and then pressed the buttons on all floors, the elevator door was about to close, but then suddenly opened again, and then stopped there and did not close. Lan Ke'er slowly leaned out, made some strange gestures outside with his hands, and then returned to the elevator. It went back and forth in and out of the elevator, making some strange movements all the time, and the elevator was stationary for more than ten seconds. Finally, Lan Ke'er stepped out of the elevator and has been missing ever since.
As soon as the surveillance video was released, it blew up the masses. Some people think she took some kind of medicine, some people think she is mentally abnormal, and some people use non-scientific factors to explain the picture. Just when people were talking fiercely, Lan Ke'er found it. On February 19, the hotel had a tenant reaction that the water pipe flow was abnormal and the water pressure was too low. When the workers went to repair, they found that there was black water flowing out, suspecting that the water source might be contaminated, so they opened the door on the 14th floor to check the water tank. However, the workers were horrified to find that a naked female corpse had sunk under the water, and her clothes were blocked in the water pipe, causing the water pressure to be low.
After receiving the news, the police rushed to the hotel and finally confirmed that the deceased was Lan Ke'er, who had been missing for a long time. As soon as this matter came out, many residents of the hotel panicked and did not choose the road. That water tank is usually used for the hotel to drink, and combined with the living habits of foreign countries, the water flowing from their taps is direct drinking water, unlike our country, which generally has to be boiled and then drunk. It is conceivable how much psychological shadow this incident has brought to the residents.
After the police investigated the case, it was finally determined that Lan Ke'er committed suicide and was not killed by others, and the family subsequently accepted this statement. However, that key videotape has always bothered the masses, and most people believe that Lan Ke'er's case has the possibility of killing him. Dr. Li Changyu, a Chinese detective, commented on the case, saying it was "probably murder." Since Li Changyu himself was not involved in the specific case adjudication process, he could not give more explanations.
From a suicide point of view, it is actually possible. Lan Ke'er herself suffers from bipolar disorder, which is a combination of mania and depression. From Lan Ke'er's performance in the elevator, it can be seen that she should be sick. In the state of illness, she may want to choose relief by committing suicide.
However, there are still many doubts in this case. For example, when Lan Ke'er died, his clothes were taken off, and if normal people wanted to commit suicide, did they need to take off their clothes and commit suicide? Someone explained this, Lan Ke'er was wearing a relatively fluffy dress at the time of the incident, and after death, he sank into the water, and under the action of the water flow, the clothes were washed away.
And why did Lan Ke'er choose to commit suicide in the water tank? In inappropriate words, there are many ways to commit suicide, but she used the more difficult one to achieve. Her body was found in a 14th-floor water tank, and normally the roof where the tank was stored would require a key to open the door. However, there is a ladder next to the hotel that leads directly to the roof, which is very troublesome to walk, and it is necessary to climb 14 floors on foot. If she had gone up the ladder to the roof, it would have been a bit unbelievable.
Secondly, the more important suspicious point in this case is that on February 14, the hotel had done a water quality inspection, but on February 19, Lan Ke'er's body was found. However, this suspicion was denied by the police, although the official did not inform Lan Ke'er of the specific date of death, if she died after February 14, then the suspicion will not be broken. However, if the time of her death was after February 14, where was the time of her disappearance?
Finally, there is a thrilling elevator clip, which is actually incomplete and released by the police. It may be that the clip that was clipped involved in the privacy of the person concerned, so it was not published. However, the release of such an incomplete image has caused panic and speculation to the public, which is probably one of the reasons for the continuous rumors in this case. But whatever the truth of the case, Lan's family has decided not to investigate, indicating that they may have learned more clues and accepted the suicide claim.