Three charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death
Three individuals have been charged concerning the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, according to authorities in Argentina.
The singer passed away on October 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel.
One individual who was with Payne at the time has been charged with abandoning a person followed by death, as well as supplying and facilitating drugs, according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office.
A hotel employee and another person have also been charged with drug supply. The identities of the suspects have not been revealed.
Payne, 31, a father, was a prominent figure in pop music, gaining fame as a member of One Direction following his appearance on The X Factor in the 2010s.
Argentinian authorities have been investigating Payne’s final days at the CasaSur hotel. After his death, police discovered drugs and damaged furniture in his hotel room. It was previously reported that hotel staff had called emergency services twice, describing a guest who had consumed “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “destroying the room.”
On Thursday, the public prosecutor’s office announced that toxicology tests found alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in Payne’s system.
A post-mortem confirmed that the cause of death was “multiple trauma” and “internal and external hemorrhaging” due to the fall. Medical reports suggest Payne may have fallen while semi- or fully unconscious.
The prosecutor’s office stated that this rules out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act, concluding that Payne was unaware of his actions.
Authorities have also conducted nine raids at residences across Buenos Aires.
They are also continuing to investigate Payne’s broken laptop and other devices that were seized.
The prosecutor’s office added it has examined more than 800 hours of video footage from security cameras in the hotel and on public roads, and received dozens of testimonies from hotel staff, family members, friends, and medical professionals.
The singer’s body was released to his family on Wednesday to be flown back to the UK.
Following Payne’s death, tributes flooded in including from his former partner Cheryl, One Direction bandmates, and music mogul Simon Cowell.
Payne’s bandmates Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and Harry Styles said in a joint statement that they were “completely devastated” and will miss the singer “terribly”, adding the “memories we shared with him will be treasured forever”.
Thousands of fans also remembered the late singer at memorial events in the UK and around the world.
