Friends, Netflix’s new true crime documentary series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel premieres TONIGHT.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is the first season in Netflix’s new documentary series that deconstructs the mythology and mystery surrounding infamous locations in contemporary crimes.
And when you think “infamous locations”, you (I) think the Cecil Hotel, otherwise known as Hotel Death.
Someone in the trailer described the hotel as the place “serial killers let their hair down.” It’s also one of the inspirations behind American Horror Story season 5. Lovely!
One of the reasons why Hotel Cecil is etched so deeply into true crime culture is because of the sudden disappearance and death of college student Elisa Lam.
After she disappeared from the Cecil Hotel, police released a video of the last known sighting of Lam. It was a surveillance video from an elevator, which showed her entering and re-entering the lift at the hotel. She would gesture in the hallway outside, sometimes she would hide in the elevator, waiting for the doors to close.
The video went viral.
On February 19, Lam’s body was discovered in a tank providing water to the hotel. An investigation into her death determined that she died from accidental drowning. Bipolar disorder was also listed as a significant contributing factor in the autopsy report, leading authorities to believe that she had been experiencing a manic episode at the time of her death.
The four-episode series is helmed by Joe Berlinger, the very same director of The Ted Bundy Tapes.
“My past projects have leaned into individual crimes and criminals, but I have never explored the role a particular location has played in creating an environment in which multiple crimes seemingly take place over and over again,” Berlinger said, per Variety.
“The fact that Elisa disappeared in a location that has a multi-decade history of crimes is what made her case fascinating to me.”
The documentary also features interviews with hotel employees and guests, as well as interviews with some of the people who investigated the case.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel premieres tonight, 7pm on Netflix.
Christ, the trailer alone gives me chills.
