31-year-old Liam Payne, who was widely known for his former role in One Direction, died on Oct. 16, 2024, after he tragically fell from his room balcony into the interior patio of the hotel he was staying at in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Photo from AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, AP News, Memorial outside of the hotel former One Direction singer Liam Payne died in after falling from a balcony
CBS News reports that the Argentina Director of Emergency Medical Services, Alberto Crescenti, stated that an ambulance arrived just seven minutes after he fell. However, Crescenti refused to answer any other questions about the incident, including whether or not Payne had fallen by accident or jumped.
The Sistema de Atencio Medica de Emergencia shared with Telemundo, “British musician Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the band One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo,” the statement read. “In the afternoon, police personnel from Precinct 14B were directed to the hotel by a 911 call reporting an aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, the call was made only minutes before Payne’s death, NBC News states.
On the 911 call, the front desk manager at the hotel stated, “We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol.”
He also said, “he breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.”
According to ABC News, a partial autopsy showed that Payne, who was known to have struggled with alcohol, had multiple substances in his system.
One of those substances included “pink cocaine.” Pink cocaine is a recreational drug that is a mix of various drugs that typically include cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, ketamine, benzodiazepine and crack.
The Argentinian State Police told ABC News that a hotel employee was suspected of giving Payne the drugs he had in his system on the day he died. Officials had interviewed the suspect, however, he was not arrested and charges have not been filed against the individual at this point.
Although a memorial has already taken place, the investigation is still ongoing and Payne’s body will not be returned to the UK until the autopsy is completed.
