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Autopsy fails to find cause of Canadian tourist's water-tank death

By: Greg Risling, The Associated Press

Posted: 02/21/2013 12:57 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 02/22/2013 2:18 PM

This still image taken from a security video was released on Feb. 13, 2013, by the Los Angeles Police Department in connection with the search for 21-year-old missing Canadian tourist Elisa Lam. In this image, a woman believed to be Lam quickly peeks out the door of an elevator before jumping back inside in the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 31, the last day she was seen alive. A maintenance worker at the hotel found Lam's body in a water cistern on the building's roof on Feb. 19, more than two weeks after she had gone missing. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - An autopsy did not determine the cause of death of a 21-year-old Canadian tourist whose body was found wedged in a water tank atop a downtown Los Angeles hotel, authorities said.

More tests must be performed after an autopsy performed Thursday didn't provide definitive answers into whether Elisa Lam of Vancouver was killed or if she fell victim to a bizarre accident.

Coroner's officials will await toxicology tests before making a final determination.

Lam's body was found Tuesday in a water cistern atop the downtown Cecil Hotel. Police have called her death suspicious.

Guest complaints about low water pressure prompted a maintenance worker to make the gruesome discovery.

Before she died, hotel surveillance footage showed her inside an elevator pushing buttons and sticking her head out the doors, looking in both directions.

Meanwhile, water tested from the hotel didn't contain any live bacteria that would cause illness.

Although county health officials issued a do-not drink order, the results that came back Thursday indicated the water was safe from a "microbiological standpoint," said Angelo Bellomo, the county's director of environmental health.

"We can't say what the quality of the water was prior to the samples," taken on Tuesday, Bellomo said. "We can only say that the water met the standard at the time it was sampled."

Chlorine in the water likely killed any bacteria in the tank where Lam's body was found, Bellomo said. Two standard water tests were performed and samples were taken from throughout the hotel.

Bellomo said the hotel has retained a consultant who submitted a plan to sanitize the water lines that will be retested before they are put back into operation. Only water for toilets is flowing for hotel guests currently.

Lam travelled alone to Los Angeles on Jan. 26 and was last seen five days later by workers at the 600-room hotel near Skid Row. She intended to travel to Santa Cruz, about 560 kilometres north of Los Angeles.

High school classmate Alex Ristea of Vancouver called Lam's death shocking and said she was one of the friendliest people he knew.

"This is the last person I expect out of all my friends to have something like this happen to her," Ristea said.

University of British Columbia spokesman Randy Schmidt confirmed that Lam had attended summer school at the university, but was not registered for the current session.

Ristea said he believes Lam had just gone to California for a holiday, saying she had posted pictures on Facebook from tourist locations such as the San Diego Zoo.

Reached by phone, a man who confirmed that it was Lam's home, said he was busy and hung up when asked to speak about her. A woman reached later at the same number, when told it was a reporter calling, also hung up after saying, "Sorry."

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