Tragedy in Buenos Aires: Liam Payne's fatal fall explored
The cause of death for former One Direction member Liam Payne has been announced. Payne died from multiple injuries and hemorrhages resulting from a fall from the third floor, according to the prosecutor's office in Buenos Aires on Thursday.
Various substances, suggesting prior use of alcohol and other intoxicants, were discovered in his hotel room, as per the prosecutor's statement.
Payne's body was found Wednesday afternoon local time in the inner courtyard of the hotel in the Palermo district of the capital. He had been staying in a room with a balcony on the third floor of the building.
"The autopsy on British musician Liam James Payne, 31, determined that the former member of the boy band One Direction died of multiple injuries and internal and external hemorrhaging," stated the autopsy report, as quoted in the prosecutor's communication.
Additional tests, including toxicological analyses, have been ordered.
Investigators concluded that the 25 injuries described in the autopsy results correspond to injuries consistent with a fall from a height. No injuries suggesting third-party involvement were found on the body.
The prosecutor noted that based on the wounds and the body's position, it is assumed Payne did not consider a reflexive defensive posture and might have been in a state of complete or partial unconsciousness, it added.
Statements were collected from five witnesses, including three hotel employees and two women who had previously been in Payne's room but were no longer present at the hotel at the time of his death, according to the prosecutor's report.
Payne gained international fame as a member of the now-defunct British-Irish pop band One Direction alongside Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson.
According to the Infobae portal, the central hypothesis of the investigators is currently suicide, potentially linked to a mental health crisis due to substance use. Payne was alone in the room at the time of his fall, the portal reported.
The room contained, among other things, a bottle of whiskey, a powder resembling cocaine, aluminum foil, and charred fragments of drink cans. The room's TV screen was smashed, as reported by Argentine media.
The press also revealed that before the musician's death, the hotel reception manager called the emergency services and requested an ambulance. He reported a guest who "is intoxicated by drugs and alcohol," and "when he's conscious, he breaks, he's breaking the whole room." He also expressed concern for the guest's life, noting that he was in a room with a balcony.
