Judge charges hotel workers, investigates ‘wrongful death’

Two months after his death, the investigation into Liam Payne’s fatal fall at a Buenos Aires hotel continues to unravel. According to new documents obtained by Rolling Stonethe judge in the case has charged two workers, including the receptionist’s manager who called 911, as she investigates them for wrongful death. The judge has also called for all suspects in the case to be questioned as part of the investigation.

According to Monday’s filing, the judge in the case listed the CasaSur Palermo manager and its receptionist manager, who called 911, as “imputados” or “accused” in the case. The judge investigates them for homicide culposo or “wrongful death”, Rolling Stone confirms. The two workers are being investigated for possible “carelessness, negligence or lack of skill in (their) profession” leading to the death of another person, according to the statute.

“Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they participated in the act under investigation, we are requesting that the following individuals provide a statement,” Monday’s filing said, before listing each individual associated with the case.

Two people accused of serving Payne drugs will be questioned on December 17 at 10 and 11 respectively. Payne’s friend, charged with abandoning a person followed by death, will be arraigned on December 18 at 1 p.m. 10. Both hotel employees will also appear in court on December 19 at 10 and 11. The suspects may refuse to answer questions or offer written statements through their lawyers. According to the Buenos Aires legal system, after the hearing, the judge must decide whether the defendants should be prosecuted further, dropped from the case, or whether there is no evidentiary support for any of the decisions.

As of Tuesday morning, the reception manager continued to work at the CasaSur hotel. He made two 911 calls around the time Payne died on Oct. 16. In one call, he mentioned to the dispatcher that a guest had “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “trashing the whole room.” In another call, he warned that the guest’s life “may be in danger.”

At some point in the second call, the receptionist asks, “Are you also sending the police or not?” After the dispatcher mentions that yes, the police would also join SAME, Argentina’s emergency medical services, he replies: “No, no, just the same. Just the SAME.”

Payne died of multiple trauma, internal and external bleeding and a skull injury as a result of a fall from the third floor of the CasaSur hotel in Palermo Hollywood on October 16. Three people – a friend of Payne’s, a hotel worker and an alleged drug dealer – are currently being investigated in relation to his death.

The new update comes days after a lawyer for Payne’s friend accused prosecutors of “serious irregularities” in a case obtained by Rolling Stonewho claimed prosecutors had failed to review footage from a camera near where Payne hit the ground. The filing also claimed that the accuser met with the manager of the hotel’s restaurant, who had access to the said camera, in private. “Given all that was shown, it is clear that there has not been a serious, in-depth, nor, at least until now, a serious investigation,” the filing read.

Several weeks after his death, prosecutors identified alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant in Payne’s system at the time of his death, according to a toxicology report.

The new inquest update comes several weeks after Payne was laid to rest at a private funeral attended by his One Direction members, along with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and his parents. Earlier this week, Payne’s girlfriend shared a 90-second TikTok video of the pair with the caption, “I love you.”

This story was updated on December 12 at 5:45 PM ET to include mention of the “wrongful death” investigation into two hotel employees.