Photo Credit: One Direction by Eva Rinaldi / CC by 2.0
An ongoing investigation into the balcony fall that led to Liam Payne’s death indicates it may have been suicide.
One Direction star Liam Payne died of internal and external bleeding as well as multiple traumas caused by a fall from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentinian prosecutor’s office. An autopsy, the details of which are still forthcoming, showed the star’s head injuries were sufficient to cause his death.
The investigation remains ongoing, but interviews with five witnesses indicated that Payne was alone at the time of his fall. Substances seized from his hotel room indicated alcohol and drug consumption.
Liam Payne died on Wednesday, around 5 PM local time in Argentina. Guests at the Casa Sur hotel told authorities and the press that they heard banging and shouting for hours before Payne’s fall.
A hotel receptionist called emergency services to inform police of an “aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol. The hotel manager said he heard “a loud noise” at the back of the hotel, and when police arrived on the scene, they found a man had fallen over the balcony in his room.
“I thought they were doing construction — there was so much banging, doors slamming, most of the day. It was loud, bizarre,” a guest told The Guardian. “Later, I heard the sirens, thinking perhaps there was a fire somewhere. And then I heard a very loud scream.”
Payne was in Buenos Aires for a concert by fellow One Direction alumnus Niall Horan earlier in the month, where the bandmates reunited.
One Direction was formed on “The X Factor” back in 2010 after each of its five members failed to progress in the competition, though even as a group they did not make it to the finale. Liam Payne was only 16 when he first performed on the show.
Payne’s former One Direction bandmates Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik have yet to comment on his death. Singer Cheryl Tweedy, with whom Payne had a son in 2017, has also not yet commented publicly.
