Liam Payne death: Hotel employee and two others charged

In the ongoing investigation into the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne, three suspects have been charged for their alleged involvement in the pop star’s sudden death last month.

The National Criminal and Correctional Service of Argentina announced on Thursday in a declaration shared in Spanish that it has found evidence of “illegal conduct” by three people — including an employee of the hotel where Payne fell to his death. The charges included abandonment of a person followed by death and supply and facilitation of drugs. The suspects, who were not identified, were charged Friday in a 180-page indictment delivered to Judge Laura Graciela Bruniard, the statement said.

Payne, an “X Factor” alum who also pursued a solo music career after his One Direction days, died Oct. 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel. He was 31.

In a preliminary autopsy released a day after the singer’s death, Argentine officials said authorities found what appeared to be drugs in the singer’s room, in addition to evidence of alcohol and drug use.

Officials conducted nine raids and heard “several dozen” testimonies from people, including hotel staff, Payne’s family and friends, doctors and other experts, Thursday’s release said. Police analysts also reviewed more than 800 hours of surveillance footage from in and around the hotel, sifted through the contents of Payne’s phone (including calls and messages across various messaging and social media apps), and assessed the record of guests and the singer’s orders from the hotel bar and restaurant to understand his drinking and eating habits.

Officers from the cybercrime unit also took information from the mobile phones at the hotel reception and volunteer witnesses to corroborate statements.

Prosecutors allege that one of the defendants followed Payne daily during his stay in Buenos Aires. Payne died two weeks after arriving in Argentina, where he attended a concert on October 2 with former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan. That defendant was charged with abandoning a person followed by death and delivery and facilitation of narcotics, the affidavit said. The remaining two defendants were charged with supplying drugs.

One defendant is a hotel employee who allegedly supplied Payne with cocaine during his stay. The other is a suspected drug supplier who had already been charged with dealing drugs in separate incidents, Thursday’s statement said.

The investigation into Payne’s death is ongoing, and the prosecutor’s office said it was considering to rule out the possibility of suicide because “in the state (Payne) was in, he did not know what he was doing, nor could he understand it. “

In October, officials determined that Payne died of multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. He “did not assume a reflexive stance to protect himself and … he may have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness,” officials said last month.

Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system in the moments before his death, Thursday’s statement said. Prosecutors confirmed that Payne’s body had been delivered to his father, Geoff Payne.

Payne’s remains reportedly will be flown back to his native London, one of the cities where One Direction fans collected last month to celebrate the singer’s life and music.

Payne’s track “Do No Wrong” was set for a posthumous release last week, but plans were quickly put on hold after fans backed out.

“Today I decide to keep ‘Do No Wrong’ and leave these freedoms to all family members,” Payne’s collaborator Sam Pounds said last week in a since-deleted tweet. “I want all proceeds (to) go to a charity of their choice (or of their choice).”

Pounds added: “We are all still grieving Liam’s passing and I want the family to (grieve) in peace and in prayer. We will all wait.”

Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.