Tourists shocked after learning body found wedged in rooftop water tank of Los Angeles hotel

Enlarge Image

A man, left, leaves the Cecil Hotel with belongings as Michael and Sabina Baugh, both 27, of Plymouth, England, wait for transportation as they leave the hotel in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Early Tuesday, police discovered the body of a Canadian woman at the bottom of the historic hotel's water tank, weeks after she was reported missing. The Baughs, on a 14-day tour package, had been there eight days and had showered in and drank the water. The couple's tour operator was less than cooperative in finding them other accommodations. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - British tourist Michael Baugh and his wife said water had only dribbled out of the taps at the downtown Cecil Hotel for days.

On Tuesday, after showering, brushing their teeth and drinking some of the tap water, they headed down to the lobby and found out why.

The body of a Canadian woman had been discovered at the bottom of one of four cisterns on the roof of the historic hotel near Skid Row. The tanks provide water for the hotel taps and would have been used by guests for washing and drinking.

"The moment we found out, we felt a bit sick to the stomach, quite literally, especially having drank the water, we're not well mentally," Michael Baugh, 27, said.

Los Angeles police Sgt. Rudy Lopez said the county Department of Public Health had tested the water and deemed it safe. Department officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

A call to the hotel also went unreturned.

The remains of Elisa Lam, 21, were found by a maintenance worker at the 600-room hotel that charges $65 a night after guests complained about the low water pressure.

Police detectives were working to determine if her death was the result of foul play or an accident.

Lopez called it suspicious and said a coroner's investigation will determine Lam's cause of death.

Before she died, hotel surveillance footage showed Lam inside an elevator pushing buttons and sticking her head out the doors, looking in both directions. She was later found in the water tank.

The discovery turned the Baughs' two-week vacation into a nightmare.

"We'd hop in the shower, imagine, the water sprinkles out, and this is the only appropriate word, it dribbled out," Baugh said.

He and his wife Sabina, 27, who were on their first trip to the U.S., had booked their room as part of a tour package and had "no idea that it was in a dodgy area," he said.

The hotel is on Main Street in a part of downtown where efforts at gentrification often conflicts with homelessness and crime.

"When you look at the area, it's not surprising," Baugh said of the discovery of the body. "Everyone we spoke to said why are you staying there? Don't walk at night in that area, stay indoors."

Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia, travelled alone to Los Angeles on Jan. 26 and was last seen five days later by workers at the hotel.

Lopez said the hotel has four cisterns on its roof that are each about 10 feet tall, 4.5 feet wide and hold at least 1,000 gallons of water.

Lam's body was found Tuesday morning at the bottom of one cistern that was about three-quarters full of water, Lopez said.

The opening at the top of the cistern is too small to accommodate firefighters and equipment, so they had to cut a hole in the storage tank to recover Lam's body.

The cisterns are on a platform at least 10 feet above the roof.

To get to the tanks, someone would have to go to the top floor then take a staircase with a locked door and emergency alarm preventing roof access.

Another ladder would have to be taken to the platform and a person would have to climb the side of the tank.

Lopez said there are no security cameras on the roof.

Lam intended to travel to Santa Cruz, about 350 miles north of Los Angeles. Officials said she tended to use public transportation and had been in touch with her family daily until she disappeared.

The Cecil Hotel was built in the 1920s and refurbished several years ago. It had once been the occasional home of infamous serial killers such as Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, and Austrian prison author Jack Unterweger, who was convicted of murdering nine prostitutes in Europe and the U.S., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Baugh and his wife had planned to go to SeaWorld on Wednesday but instead camped in the hotel lobby for more than 12 hours because they refused to sign a health risk waiver to stay in their rooms as they waited to hear back from their tour agency to be placed elsewhere.

"We've got nowhere to go, we've got all our luggage with us," Michael Baugh said.

They also called their family and the British Embassy trying to figure out what to do.

The couple hadn't touched any water at the hotel since learning the body had been discovered.

Eventually, they were placed at another downtown hotel with a less than sterling reputation, from what they heard.

"We're just going from one dodgy place to another," Baugh said, resigned, "but at least there's water."

___

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams . Shaya Tayefe Mohajer contributed to this report.