The Buenos Aires City Police reportedly raided the hotel where Liam Payne passed away on Wednesday, one week after his death. Sources familiar with the investigation told Us Weekly that police wanted to speak with employees who were working at the Casa Sur Hotel in the days leading up to Payne’s death. They also collected documents and information from the hotel’s computer system.
Payne fell from the balcony of his third floor hotel room at Casa Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday, Oct. 16. He was reportedly causing a scene at the hotel before his fall, with staff and other guests reporting loud noises and property destruction. The insiders said that “the hotel must provide” all of its security camera footage to police as part of the investigation. The investigation is ongoing, though medical examiners have already determined that Payne’s cause of death was the fall, while toxicology has confirmed that he was using drugs and alcohol.
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The Argentine Prosecutor’s Office gave an official statement to Us, explaining that the investigation was still underway. They were in contact with Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, who had expressed “his desire to investigate and to know what happened” to prosecutor Dr. Andres Esteban Madrea. Geoff is now in Argentina under “dynamic police custody until the end of the judicial proceedings and given his state of logical commotion due to the death of his son.” The prosecutors also said their top priority is to preserve “the privacy of the family of the former member of the band One Direction.”
Payne was in Argentina for over two weeks before his death, and attended a concert by his former bandmate Niall Horan during that time. His girlfriend, influencer Kate Cassidy, left the country on Oct. 12 and flew home to the U.S. Payne had a lot going on at the time – we now know that he had recently been dropped by his record label and his publicity representative. He had also received a cease-and-desist letter from his ex-fiancรฉe Maya Henry, who had accused him of harassment and was threatening further legal action if he continued contacting her and her family.
On top of all that, the singer was experiencing a relapse in his alcoholism and addiction. Payne first opened up about his substance abuse issues last year, revealing that he had gotten sober in February of 2023. He said that he had leaned on alcohol in particular during his One Direction days in an attempt to cope with the stress of fame. Fans online have questioned how his relapse got this far out of hand, and this new police investigation may provide the answers.
