Photo Credit: Liam Payne performing with One Direction / Eva Renaldi / CC by 2.0
Three people in Argentina have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne.
According to a statement from Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office, three people have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne. Payne died on October 16 after he fell from the balcony of his Buenos Aires hotel room.
The three individuals were charged with crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, as well as the supply and facilitation of narcotics. One suspect is a hotel employee who is accused of giving Payne cocaine twice while he was staying at the hotel. Another person is accused of supplying Payne with drugs. The third person had been with Payne on a daily basis during his trip to Buenos Aires and is charged with abandoning a person following death.
Meanwhile, the initial toxicology results showed cocaine in Payne’s system after his death, according to an Argentine official. The final toxicology results are not expected to be made public for a few weeks still, but the preliminary results were handed over to local prosecutors on Monday.
Payne’s autopsy concluded he died from traumatic injuries caused by his three-story fall from the hotel balcony. But investigators found what appeared to be signs of narcotics and alcohol in his room, leading to the perception that the 31-year-old suffered a substance-induced breakdown around the time of his fall.
In addition to cocaine, police reportedly found a blister pack of clonazepam — a central nervous system depressant — as well as over-the-counter medications among Payne’s belongings.
Due to the lack of evidence that Payne tried to protect himself as he fell, the prosecution says he may have fallen from the balcony in a state of “semi or total unconsciousness.”
Liam Payne had been open about his struggles with his mental health, as well as his substance abuse. He had recently announced he had been clean just a few months before his death.
