Argentine authorities probe what happened before Liam Payne’s fatal fall from his hotel balcony

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The circumstances surrounding the death of ex-One Direction singer Liam Payne were suspicious and possibly involved drugs, though there was no sign of a third party being involved, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

Payne, 31, who died on Wednesday, first shot to fame as a teenager and grappled with the pressures of global stardom.

As the news ricocheted around the world, fans and media swarmed the Casa Sur Hotel in the chic Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital where Payne was found dead after plunging from his third-floor hotel room. All four of Payne’s former One Direction bandmates issued a joint statement saying they were “completely devastated.”

“The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever,” said the letter, signed by Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson. “In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say.”

The Buenos Aires police said they found Payne’s hotel room “in complete disarray” with broken objects and furniture. They found packs of clonazepam, a central nervous system depressant, energy supplements and over-the-counter medications strewn about his belongings. The Argentine public prosecutor said there also appeared to be alcohol and narcotics in the room.

Forensics teams reported that a whiskey bottle, lighter and cellphone were retrieved from the building’s internal courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

The prosecutor said that the autopsy showed internal bleeding and 25 traumatic injuries to his skull, limbs and abdomen, consistent with a fall. It said those injuries alone were enough to cause his death.

There were no signs of a third party being involved, the prosecutor said, but described Payne’s case as “suspicious,” citing the star’s apparent alcohol and drug usage.

The lack of defensive injuries on Payne’s hands indicated that he may have fallen into a state of unconsciousness, the public prosecutor said, contributing to the possibility that Payne “was going through some kind of substance abuse episode” at the time. All signs indicated that Payne was alone at the time of his death, the prosecutor added.

The results of the requested toxicology tests are pending and could take weeks to become public.

Medical examiners listed his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external bleeding.” Authorities said they took statements from three hotel employees and two women who had visited Payne in his hotel room hours earlier in an effort to reconstruct Payne’s final moments.

The two women had left the hotel by the time of the incident, the prosecution said.

Hard-core fans, foreign and local, showed up in droves to cry, sing and pay their respects at the hotel where Payne died. A musically inclined devotee broke into One Direction hits, jamming on his guitar as others sang along and filmed with their phones.

Several girls with tear-stained cheeks paused to sit in trance-like silence before a makeshift memorial of candles and colorful flowers spilling prolifically onto the cordoned-off street outside the hotel. Some fans taped up portraits of Payne and handwritten notes with sorrowful slogans like “Always in my heart” on a tree trunk.

At the city’s central Obelisco some kilometers away, the usual Thursday afternoon mix of food vendors, tourists and homeless people gave way to a gathering of largely young female fans united in grief.

“It’s very painful that it’s gone so unexpectedly,” 15-year-old Melissa Acuña said from the vigil. “Obviously I came here to honor him, because it would be an ugly way for him to go if we didn’t.”

On Wednesday, police said Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room,” without elaborating on how they came to that conclusion or whether the jump was intentional. Police said they had rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time that had warned of an intoxicated guest acting erratically.

A hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call recording obtained by The Associated Press saying the hotel has “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol. ... He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.”

Tributes continued pouring in Thursday from pop industry figures and fellow musicians.

Payne was known as the tousle-headed, sensible one of the quintet that went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon with a huge international following of swooning fans. In recent years, he had acknowledged struggling with alcoholism, saying in a YouTube video posted in July 2023 that he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment.

“We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” his family said in a statement through Payne’s representative. “We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, who performed with One Direction in 2014, said he was “shocked and saddened.” The Backstreet Boys said in a social media post that their hearts go out to “Directioners around the world.”

In past interviews, Payne alluded to the grueling consequences of growing up against the surreal backdrop of the entertainment industry.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that. It’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he told the AP in 2013, recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

One Direction announced an indefinite “hiatus” in 2016, and Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop.

While former bandmember Styles became a huge solo star, the others had more modest success. Payne’s 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

In 2020, to mark the 10th anniversary of One Direction, Payne shared a screenshot of a text message he sent to his father on the day he joined the group, which read: “I’m in a boyband.”

“What a journey … I had no idea what we were in for when I sent this text to my dad years ago at this exact time the band was formed,” he wrote.

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Associated Press journalists Natacha Pisarenko and Almudena Calatrava contributed reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina.