On February 19, 2013, a body was recovered from a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. It was later identified as that of Elisa Lam, also known by her Cantonese name, Lam Ho Yi (藍可兒; April 30, 1991 – February 2013), a Canadian student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She had been staying at the hotel when she was reported missing at the beginning of the month. A maintenance worker discovered the body when investigating guest complaints of problems with the water supply and pressure.

WRGT-TV, virtual channel 45 (UHF digital channel 36), is a primary MyNetworkTV and secondary Dabl-affiliated television station licensed to Dayton, Ohio, United States. The station is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting; the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns dual ABC/Fox affiliate WKEF (channel 22), operates WRGT-TV under a local marketing agreement (LMA). However, Sinclair effectively owns WRGT-TV as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The two stations share studios on Corporate Place in Miamisburg; WRGT-TV's transmitter is located off South Gettysburg Avenue near Guthrie Road in southwest Dayton, between the city's Highview Hills neighborhood and Jefferson Township's New Chicago section. WRGT-TV was a charter Fox affiliate from the network's sign-on in 1986 until 2021. On cable, WRGT-TV is available on Charter Spectrum channel 8.

Ralph Edward Oesper (14 June 1886, Cincinnati – 10 December 1977, Cincinnati) was an American chemist and historian of chemistry. He is noted for his biographies of scientists, emphasizing their personal lives in addition to their scientific communications. Oesper translated significant works in the field of chemistry. As an independent investigator, Oesper's Salt is named for him.

On February 19, 2013, a body was recovered from a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. It was later identified as that of Elisa Lam, also known by her Cantonese name, Lam Ho Yi (藍可兒; April 30, 1991 – February 2013), a Canadian student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She had been staying at the hotel when she was reported missing at the beginning of the month. A maintenance worker discovered the body when investigating guest complaints of problems with the water supply and pressure. Her disappearance had been widely reported; interest had increased five days prior to the discovery of her body when the Los Angeles Police Department released a video of the last time she was known to have been seen, on the day of her disappearance, by an elevator security camera in the hotel. In the footage, Lam is seen exiting and re-entering the elevator, talking and gesturing in the hallway outside, and sometimes seeming to hide within the elevator. The video went viral on the internet, with many viewers reporting that they found it unsettling. Explanations ranged from claims of paranormal involvement to bipolar disorder, for which Lam took medication. It has also been argued that the video was altered prior to release. The circumstances of Lam's death, once she was found, also raised questions, especially in light of the hotel's history in relation to other notable deaths and murders. Her body was naked with most of her clothes and personal effects floating in the water near her. It took the Los Angeles County Coroner's office four months, after repeated delays, to release the autopsy report, which reports no evidence of physical trauma and states that the manner of death was accidental. Guests at the Cecil, now re-branded as Stay on Main, sued the hotel over the incident and Lam's parents filed a separate suit later that year; the latter was dismissed in 2015. Some of the early Internet interest noted what were considered to be unusual similarities between Lam's death and the 2002 horror film Dark Water. The case has since been referenced in international popular culture. It was the subject of Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, a four-part 2021 Netflix docuseries.