WHAT LIES BENEATH - ELISA LAM CASE (EP79)

The mysterious death of Elisa Lam remains one of the most infamous and misunderstood true-crime cases of the decade. In January 2013, 21-year-old Canadian student Elisa Lam vanished while staying at the notorious Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

When she failed to make her daily check-in call home, a missing persons investigation began—but what followed would ignite a global firestorm. When the LAPD released elevator CCTV showing Elisa behaving erratically—pressing buttons, hiding, stepping in and out of the elevator as if reacting to something unseen—the internet exploded.

The video went viral overnight, spawning conspiracy theories, online sleuth communities, accusations, and global speculation. Everyone believed they knew the truth. Three weeks later, Elisa’s body was discovered in a rooftop water tank after guests complained of discoloured water and low pressure.

Her death became the centre of lawsuits, media sensationalism, and endless online myths—all while the real story became lost beneath layers of fiction, fear, and folklore.

In this episode of Radio Espial – True Crime, we strip away the rumours and conspiracy theories to reveal the real timeline of Elisa Lam’s final days.

We examine the facts, the investigation, the autopsy, the media frenzy, and how a tragic case became a global spectacle where everyone had a theory, but almost no one had the truth.

This is the true story of Elisa Lam.

This is What Lies Beneath.

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Radio Espial: Episode 23: Missing - The Annie McCarrick Case

Annie Bridget McCarrick (born March 27th, 1966), an American woman from Long Island, New York, went missing under suspicious circumstances in 1993 while she was residing in Ireland. Radio Espial's Mick Rooney explores the timeline and events surrounding her disappearance. McCarrick was born on Long Island, New York and she grew up and lived in Bayport until her move to Ireland in January 1987, aged 19, to study at St Patrick’s College for Teacher Training in Drumcondra. She later switched colleges and instead decided to study Irish Literature at Maynooth University for three years. For two years she was in a relationship with Dermot Ryan, a period when Annie was renting and sharing a small cottage with a female friend in Ballyboden, Dublin. In 1990, she returned to New York and after a four-month period, the relationship with Ryan petered out. He returned to Ireland and later decided to move to Italy. Annie instead remained in New York and spent two years in the US studying for a m...

The Disappearance of Alpho O’Reilly | Ireland’s Unsolved Mystery (E77)

In January 1996, Alpho O’Reilly — one of Ireland’s most celebrated designers and a respected figure in Dublin’s theatre world — vanished without a trace. Last seen in the early hours of the morning at a petrol station in Co. Wicklow, the 73-year-old drove off in his green Mitsubishi Colt and was never seen again. His car has never been recovered. His passport remained at home. His bank account was never touched. Nearly 30 years later, his disappearance remains one of Ireland’s most baffling cold cases. Who was Alpho O’Reilly, and what really happened on that winter night in 1996? This video explores the life, career, and mysterious disappearance of Alpho O’Reilly — from his groundbreaking work at RTÉ and in Dublin theatre, to the unanswered questions that still haunt this case.

MURDERED: THE CASE OF MARILYN RYNN (E81)

In the early hours of December 22nd, 1995, a 41-year-old woman stepped off a night bus just minutes from home. She had been laughing with friends only hours earlier, celebrating Christmas in the heart of Dublin. But in a dark shortcut through Tolka Valley Park, Marilyn Rynn’s journey ended in brutal violence. Her murder would shock Ireland—and quietly change criminal investigations forever, becoming the first case in the country to be solved by DNA. Radio Espial presents the first ever comprehensive timeline of her case.

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