3 people charged in Liam Payne’s death, including hotel worker: charges

Three people have been arrested and charged in Argentina in connection with the death of Liam Payne on October 16, authorities announced.

The suspects are accused of abandoning a person followed by death, as well as supplying and facilitating narcotics, Argentina’s National Criminal and Criminal Prosecutor’s Office said in a Press release Thursday 7 November. The suspects have not been named by authorities.

The One Direction star died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

According to the release, “Payne was not fully conscious or experiencing a state of noticeable decline or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”

After Payne fell from the balcony and died, “illegal conduct was discovered from which three individuals were charged with the crimes,” the release said.

Authorities conducted nine raids this week, the release said.

One of the suspects “is the person who accompanied the artist daily during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires.” Another suspect is a hotel employee accused of supplying Payne with cocaine, and a third is an alleged “drug supplier.”

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According to the release, prosecutors have attempted to “reconstruct the days Payne stayed at the CasaSur hotel on Costa Rica Street” in Buenos Aires between October 13 and 16.

Prosecutors said in the release that “self-harm of any kind and/or physical intervention by third parties were ruled out” as contributing causes of his death.

The Nov. 7 release from authorities in Argentina states that in the moments before his death and during at least his last 72 hours, Payne had traces of “mixed use of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body.”

This is a development story.