Friday,
October 18, 2024 -Former One Direction singer, Liam Payne may
have been unconscious when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony after
suffering a drug-induced episode.
Liam
Payne may have been 'semi-conscious or completely unconscious' when he fatally
fell from a third-floor hotel balcony, Argentina's prosecutor's office has
said.
The
31-year-old British singer plunged 45ft from the third floor into the courtyard
of the Casa Sur Hotel in Argentina's capital on Wednesday, October 16, before
medics confirmed his death.
Detectives
confirmed that a series of substances were seized from the hotel room
'indicating the previous situation of alcohol and drug consumption'.
It
contradicts police reports that the 31-year-old had 'jumped' from the
third-floor hotel balcony.
Prior to Payne's death, hotel staff franticly called 911 regarding 'an aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol' who was 'smashing up his room
Hotel guests claimed to hear 'violent noises', and assumed there was
construction work was ongoing in the room, according to the BBC.
Photos
have also emerged from inside his luxury suite, appearing to show a trashed
television, surfaces covered with tin foil and white powder as well as scorch
marks on the wooden surface.
A
preliminary report into the popstar's death said 'everything indicates' Payne
was alone when he died.
According
to local news outlets, Payne was taken to the Judicial Morgue where
medical staff conducted an autopsy last night.
After
conducting a preliminary report, they suspect that Payne died from external and
internal bleeding after sustaining several injuries.
Authorities
have requested further tests including toxicological, biochemical, and
histopathological examinations.
The
prosecutor's office said forensic reports showed no injuries were observed that
suggest third-party involvement and that the autopsy is compatible with a fall
from height.
However, officials are still launching a probe into the 'possible involvement of third parties' in the events before his passing.
It comes
as police investigating the sudden death of One Direction star Liam
Payne are searching for two 'key witnesses' who could be among the last
people to see him alive.
The
31-year-old singer died instantly after suffering multiple injuries that led to
'internal and external haemorrhaging', when he fell from a third-floor balcony
at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday.
Argentine
investigators are now hunting for two women who spent time with Payne at the
Casa Sur hotel the night before his shock death.
Both
women are said to have left the hotel yesterday after waiting for the star in
the lobby, Argentine outlet Infobae reports.
There is
no indication that the women could be involved in his death, but police hope
they can help piece together Payne's final moments before he plunged to his
death at around 5pm local time.
Payne's
girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, had returned to Florida four days prior to his death,
telling her followers 'I just needed to go home' after their planned 'five-day
trip' was extended to two weeks.
As more
details emerge from the hours before Payne's death, one hotel guest staying in
the same hotel as Payne recalled hearing 'violent noises'.
Doug
Jones told the BBC: 'I thought they were working on the room. There was a
lot of noise, like heavy lifting, like banging, a lot of loud, violent noises,
I thought.
'And I
saw hotel people going in and out of that room, so I thought they were doing
work on the room.
'So
about 4pm, 430pm, I started hearing some more noise, I was still doing work,
and I heard a really loud, violent scream around 4.45pm, 5pm.' He then realised
something was wrong when he saw 'the whole road was full of cops'.
Police
were called to the hotel at around 5pm following reports of 'an aggressive man
who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol', but when they arrived
they heard a loud sound in the inner courtyard. Payne died instantly from
multiple injuries, including a fractured skull.
Detectives
have reportedly seized a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, a phone and a notebook
from the singer's suite, local media reports.
It comes
after Argentine media, including major broadsheets, published troubling images
believed to be taken from Payne's suite which shows white powder, burnt foil
and a smashed-up TV screen.
Payne
was found dead by police who say they found the popstar's medicines
including clonazepam, a drug which is used to control epilepsy,
involuntary muscle spasms, and panic disorders.
There
was a frantic call to 911 from hotel staff about 'an aggressive man who could
be under the influence of drugs or alcohol' who was 'smashing up his room'
minutes before he died.
These photos inside the luxury suite, published by the Argentinian magazine Clarin, appeared to confirm the troubling report about Payne's mental state.
On a
table, the surface was covered with tin foil, white powder, a lighter and
scorch marks on the wooden surface.
More
candle and aluminium foil remains were found in the bathtub of Payne's suite,
the bottom of which was stained and had some burns.
In a
tape of the 911 call from the hotel manager to the police, he could be heard
saying: 'I'm calling from the Casa Sur hotel in Palermo, we have a guest who is
over the top with drugs and is breaking up the entire room.
'We need
someone to come.'
The call
then cuts off and on a second call, the manager adds 'When he is conscious he
is breaking up the room.
'We need
you to send someone, please'
The
emergency operator then asks the manager: 'Under the influence of alcohol and
narcotics?'
The
manager's response made his fears all too plain: 'We need someone to be sent to
us urgently because I don't know if the guest's life is at risk.
'The
room has a balcony and we are afraid that they might do something'
Seconds later, it appeared it was too late to prevent the tragedy as the manager said with emotion in his voice: 'Send only SAME, only SAME. [the city's emergency paramedic service].Payne rose to stardom at age 16 after forming the boy band One Direction on The X Factor in 2010 alongside Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles.
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