The Cecil Hotel has become one of the seediest hotels in Los Angeles. From the days of Elisa Lam’s disappearance, the Cecil Hotel became a character in the story of California. Lam was eventually found dead, leading many to believe the building was responsible.
Cecil Hotel has close ties to serial killers
“Hotel with corpse in water tank has notorious past,” was the headline on a CNN.com color piece published along with the news story about the discovery of Lam’s body. “Since its construction in 1927, it’s been the focus of suicides, murders, mystery disappearances, and serial killers,” an Australian news site said of the hotel. “Home to murderers, maniacs, and ghosts, some say the Cecil is anything but your average hotel, they say it’s cursed,” reported one blog. Another simply called it “Serial Killer Central.”
One serial killer who called the Cecil Hotel home was Richard Ramirez, better known as the Night Stalker. Ramirez first killed in 1984, when he was 24. He continued his killing spree over the next year, around Los Angeles, based out of the Cecil Hotel. He was finally caught in 1985.
Ramirez was a satanist and didn’t really have a specific M.O. His victims were chosen randomly and killed men, women and children. He killed with whatever weapon he could find. It’s been reported that he was influenced by his cousin Mike, who was a Green Beret and often bragged about committing horrific acts in Vietnam. Mike ended up murdering his wife in front of Ramirez.
The Night Stalker called the hotel home during his killing spree
The Night Stalker was eventually caught after a single fingerprint was found in a stolen Toyota that was abandoned. Police eventually broadcasted his name and face. Ramirez was spotted and beaten by a mob in East Los Angeles.
Ramirez ended up being convicted of 13 counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. He was eventually sentenced to death, but ended up dying from Lymphoma in 2013.
Even in the height of downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row has always been a poor district. It reaches 54 blocks and has been an area of poverty since the late 19th Century, despite being near financial headquarters. The area was taken over by hobos, transient workers, and aimless rail riders. This allowed the Night Stalker to blend in.
Ramirez would commit his murders in L.A. and then return to the Cecil Hotel and dump his blood-soaked clothes in the dumpsters. He would then walk back in the hotel either naked or just in his underwear.
Jack Unterweger was discovered to be a serial killer
Six years later, Austrian journalist Jack Unterweger stayed at the Cecil as he wrote a story on crime in L.A. for an Austrian magazine. He managed to secure ride-alongs with the LAPD vice squads. It was revealed that trips were revealed to be scouting missions, when it was discovered that Unterweger was a serial killer who strangled prostitutions.
Austrian police eventually connected the deaths of three Los Angeles sex workers with six unsolved murders in Austria, Unterweger fled but was eventually arrested by the FBI in Miami. In 1990, after serving 15 years, Unterweger was granted parole, and almost overnight became a popular TV host and journalist. Within a year, he was in California, killing women again.
Along with these serial killer links, there were other violent deaths at the Cecil. This includes the 1964 rape and murder of a telephone operator and three suicides. One landed on a pedestrian, killing him too. It was rumored that Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia) stayed at the Cecil Hotel, but those rumors are false. Short stayed nearby.
Authorities ultimately ruled Elisa’s death was an accidental drowning. The family actually filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hotel, which was eventually dismissed. The real tragedy of all of this is to the family.
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