Updated on October 17, 2024 at 17:29

Argentina’s public prosecutor is investigating whether former One Direction star Liam Payne died by suicide, a source with the Buenos Aires City security ministry has confirmed to the Herald. 

Substances seized at the scene indicate that Payne had been consuming drugs and alcohol in the run-up to the fall, according to Argentina’s national prosecution service.

Formally, the investigation is into a death in questionable circumstances. However, “everything indicates that the musician was on his own when the fall happened, and experiencing some form of breakdown as a product of substance abuse,” Argentine prosecutors said in a statement. 

Investigators have interviewed five witnesses to reconstruct what happened in the final hours of Payne’s life. These included three hotel workers and two women who were in Payne’s hotel room before he died but left before he fell.

Two guests at the hotel told the Herald in exclusive interviews that they saw Payne in the hotel lobby around two hours before he died, having a heated argument about money with a woman who spoke Spanish with an Argentine accent and did not appear to understand his English.

You may also be interested in: Liam Payne argued with a woman hours before his death, witnesses say

In the ground floor internal courtyard where Payne fell, police found a bottle of whisky, a lighter, and a phone, taking fingerprints from them.

In his hotel room, they found a lighter, a laptop, and several blister packs of medicines, including the tranquilizer clonazepam, energy pills, and over-the-counter medicines, a source at the Buenos Aires City police told the Herald.

Clonazepam is a commonly prescribed benzodiazepine used to treat mental health conditions including anxiety, bipolar mania, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is contraindicated for patients experiencing current difficulties with alcohol and substance abuse.

Officers took the material for chemical and biological testing. A laptop and passport found at the scene were handed over to the police. They also examined possible access routes to the balcony from which Payne fell.

Leaked photos of Payne’s hotel room show extensive damage, including a smashed television screen. They also show a table covered in pieces of tin foil, cling film, a green cigarette lighter, a tea light, and what appears to be a white powder. On the table were black marks that looked like burns.

The former One Direction star died on Wednesday at age 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony onto a patio at the CasaSur hotel on Costa Rica Street in Palermo. He was killed instantly. Police confirmed his death shortly after 6 p.m.

What did Liam Payne’s autopsy say?

Forensic doctors carried out an autopsy on Payne’s body between 9.45 p.m. and 11.05 p.m. on Wednesday night at a judicial morgue in Buenos Aires. The autopsy report, signed by forensics experts Santiago Maffia Bizzozero and Roberto Víctor Cohen, stated that the cause of death was “multiple injuries and internal and external bleeding.”

They confirmed that Payne’s hands did not present any injuries to suggest that he might have defended himself from another person. All his injuries took place at the same time, and there is no evidence that a third party was involved.

The prosecutor’s office also confirmed that the position of his body and the injuries from the fall indicate that Payne did not reflexively adopt a protective position when he fell, suggesting that he may have been unconscious or semi-conscious.

Now, laboratories are carrying out further tests, including toxicological and biochemical tests and microscopic tissue analyses. This will include analyzing the contents of Payne’s stomach and examining the quantities of alcohol and toxins he ingested by running blood, bile, urine, and nasal swab tests.

If you or someone you know has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, help is available. You can phone 011-5275-1135 or 0800-345-1435 nationwide to reach the Centro de Asistencia al Suicida’s 24/7 crisis lifeline —  if you’re in Buenos Aires, dial 135 for their toll-free helpline.