Argentine authorities investigate what happened before Liam Payne’s fatal fall from hotel balcony

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — As Argentine authorities investigated the death of former One Direction singer Liam Payne, who struggled with the pressures of global stardom while still a teenager, prosecutors on Thursday described the circumstances surrounding his three-story fall as suspicious, given the possible drug involvement.

Fans and media crowded the Casa Sur hotel in the upscale Palermo district of the Argentine capital as forensic experts collected evidence a day after Payne, 31, was found dead in the courtyard of the hotel after diving from his room on the third floor.

Buenos Aires police said they found Payne’s hotel room “in disarray” with “various broken items.” They found packets of clonazepam, a central nervous system depressant, as well as energy supplements and other over-the-counter medications scattered among his belongings. Forensic teams reported that a bottle of whiskey, a lighter and a mobile phone were recovered from the inner courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

Argentine prosecutors said the autopsy showed internal bleeding and 25 traumatic injuries all over Payne’s body, including his skull, limbs and abdomen, consistent with the fall. He said those injuries alone were enough to cause Payne’s death.

There was no sign of third-party involvement, he said, but called Payne’s case “suspicious”, citing the likelihood the star had taken alcohol and drugs.

The lack of defensive wounds on Payne’s hands indicates that “he did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself and could have fallen into a state of semi-or total unconsciousness,” the prosecutor said. .

Evidence collected at the scene, the release added, suggested that Payne was “going through some type of drug abuse episode.” According to the release, all signs pointed to Payne being alone at the time of the incident.

Medical examiners attributed Payne’s cause of death to “multiple trauma” and “internal and external bleeding” and ordered toxicology tests. Authorities said they took statements from three hotel employees and two women who visited Payne in his hotel room hours before his fall, in an effort to piece together Payne’s final moments. The two women had left the hotel at the time of the incident, the prosecution said.

On Thursday, fans, foreign and local, continued to filter through the cordoned off street in front of the Payne Hotel. Several girls, their cheeks stained with tears, stopped to sit in trance-like silence before a makeshift memorial of candles, colorful flowers and handmade One Direction signs spreading prolifically down the street .

Tributes also poured in from music industry figures and other musicians.

On Wednesday, police said Payne “jumped from his bedroom balcony,” without specifying how they reached that conclusion or whether the jump was intentional. Police said they rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call Wednesday shortly after 5 p.m. local time that warned of an “aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

A hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call recording obtained by The Associated Press saying the hotel has “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol.” …He destroys the whole room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.”

Payne was known as the disheveled, no-nonsense man in the quintet that went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon with a huge international following of swooning fans. In recent years, he had admitted to suffering from alcoholism, saying in a YouTube video posted in July 2023 that he had remained sober for six months after receiving treatment.

“We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we will remember him for his kind, funny and courageous soul,” his family said in a statement through Payne’s rep. “We support each other as best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space during this horrible time.”

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, who performed with One Direction in 2014, said he was “shocked and saddened”. The Backstreet Boys said in a social media post that their thoughts were with “Directors everywhere.”

With his rapid rise to global fame, Payne had said it took him some time to adjust to life in the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever handle that. “It’s kind of crazy for us to see that people have this kind of mindset about us and what we do,” he said in an interview with the AP in 2013, recounting an experience where a fan was in shock meeting him.

One Direction announced an indefinite “hiatus” in 2016, and Payne – like each of his former bandmates – pursued a solo career, moving into EDM and hip-hop.

While Styles became a huge solo star, the others had more modest success. Payne’s 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10 and remained on the chart for several months. He released an album “LP1” in 2019, and his latest album – a single called “Teardrops” – was released in March.

In 2020, to mark One Direction’s 10th anniversary, Payne shared a screenshot of a text message he sent to his father on the day he joined the group, which read: “I’m in a boyband. »

“What a journey… I had no idea what awaited us when I sent this text to my father years ago, at this very moment when the band was forming,” he wrote.

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Huamani reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Natacha Pisarenko and Almudena Calatrava contributed reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina.