Liam Payne , the former member of the boy band One Direction, died of trauma and internal and external bleeding, an autopsy performed in Buenos Aires shows. The report on his death, when he plummeted from a hotel balcony in Argentina’s capital on Wednesday, shows the incident is being investigated as a “doubtful death,” according to the local prosecutor , who announced that as a matter of protocol.
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Payne died at 5:07 p.m. on Wednesday after falling from the Casa Sur Hotel balcony and his body was taken to the city’s judicial morgue, where, that night, forensic medical professionals performed the autopsy. Just before midnight, the doctors determined “the cause of death of Liam James Payne, determined macroscopically, has been polytrauma, internal and external hemorrhage,” according to a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter by Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14.
An outpouring of support and love for the British singer flooded social media as the news of his death spread Wednesday night.
The prosecutor’s office said in its press release that as a matter of protocol, the circumstances of Payne’s death will be investigated as a “doubtful death,” even though it seems that the musician was alone when the fall occurred. The office said that Payne “was going through some kind of outbreak due to substance abuse.”
Inside Payne’s hotel room, according to the Mobile Criminalistics Unit of the City Police in Buenos Aires, who surveyed the scene, substances were discovered that “would be narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as several destroyed objects and furniture.” The prosecutor’s office noted that whether the substances found are in fact narcotics is still pending confirmation from experts.
Five witnesses were interviewed at the scene, according to the local prosecutor. Three of the individuals who made statements to local police were hotel staffers and two were women who, in the hours prior, had been with the musician in his room but had already left the hotel when Payne fell to his death.
“Beyond reconstructing the circumstances of the musician’s death, the investigation is also aimed at determining the possible involvement of third parties in the events prior to the victim’s death,” the prosecutor’s office press release states.
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Minutes before Payne’s death at the hotel in Argentina’s chic Palermo district, the hotel manager called 911 to ask for help for a guest who was “under the influence of drugs and alcohol and had destroyed some objects in the room,” the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. The Associated Press obtained the audio and reported that the manager’s voice became more anxious as the call continued and noted that the room had a balcony.
The prosecution said on Thursday that given the position in which the body was left and the injuries from the fall, “it is presumed that Payne did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself and that he could have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness.” On Wednesday, Pablo Policicchio, the communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, told The Associated Press that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.”
The medical examiners in Buenos Aires said that complimentary histopathological, biochemical and toxicological studies were requested and they may confirm or contradict their initial conclusions.
“At this point, the analysis of the stomach content, alcohol and toxins in the blood, vitreous humor, bile, nasal swab and urine for the determination of alcohol and toxins was requested,” the prosecutor’s office said in its Thursday press release.
Payne was open about struggling with alcoholism and posted a video in July 2023 to his YouTube channel indicating he was six months sober after receiving treatment.
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