Tourist’s body found in hotel water tank in Los Angeles

Police are trying to determine whether the death of a 21-year-old Canadian tourist at a Los Angeles hotel was an accident or a murder.

Elisa Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia, was discovered in a water tank on the roof of the budget 600-room Cecil Hotel after guests complained of low water pressure, AP reported.

Police sources told the LA Times mystery surrounds her death and it was hoped an autopsy would yield more clues because there appeared no obvious trauma on her body. 

It was also not yet known how long she had been in the tank. 

Lam had traveled to California alone on January 26 and was last seen on New Year's Eve, Fox News reported.

Last week, police released surveillance footage of Lam inside an elevator at the Cecil Hotel, which showed her pushing buttons for multiple floors and stepping out, waving her arms, The LA Times reported. 

Sgt. Rudy Lopez told the newspaper police searched the hotel at that time, including the roof, but found nothing.

"We did a very thorough search of the hotel," he said.

"But we didn't search every room; we could only do that if we had probable cause" that a crime had been committed."

A maintenance worker found Lam's body Tuesday morning when he went to investigate problems with the water pressure.