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According to Argentine authorities, three people have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne
Enterprise

According to Argentine authorities, three people have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of singer Liam Payne, Argentine prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.

The prosecutor’s statement said that during the investigation into Payne’s death, “unlawful conduct was uncovered as a result of which three individuals were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person resulting in murder and the supply and distribution of narcotics.”

The former One Direction member fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16.

Someone who was with Payne daily during his stay in Buenos Aires is accused of abandoning a person after death, said Andrés Madrea’s statement.

British singer Liam Payne, a former member of the group One Direction, died on Wednesday at the age of 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, police in Buenos Aires said.
Forensic staff recover the body of British singer Liam Payne from the hotel where he died on October 16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Luis Robayo/AFP-Getty Images

A hotel employee is accused of supplying Payne with cocaine twice during his stay at the hotel, the statement said, and a third person is accused of supplying the singer with drugs twice during his stay on Oct. 14.

Both are accused of supplying narcotics, two counts each, Madrea said.

According to prosecutors, toxicology reports showed that Payne had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system in the last 72 hours before his death. The prosecutor’s statement made no reference to “pink cocaine,” which ABC News, citing sources, previously reported was in Payne’s system at the time of his death.

Payne reportedly had a recreational drug in his system at the time of his death, typically consisting of MDMA, ketamine and methamphetamine. The drug rarely contains cocaine and the pink comes from food coloring, officials said.

Prosecutors said his death was caused by “multiple trauma” and “internal and external bleeding” as a result of the fall from the third-floor hotel balcony.

The forensic doctors who performed the autopsy told prosecutors that his injuries were the result of a fall from that height and that self-harm and interference by someone else were ruled out. They added that since Payne “did not adopt a reflexive posture” to protect himself during the fall, “it can be concluded that he may have fallen into a state of semi-consciousness or total unconsciousness.”

As part of the investigation, “comprehensive and careful measures were taken to clarify the circumstances of the artist’s death,” the statement said. Prosecutors heard “several dozen” testimonies from hotel employees, family members, friends, medical professionals, biochemists and psychiatrists.

Prosecutors also analyzed more than 800 hours of security video footage from the hotel and public streets and searched the contents of Payne’s cellphone.

Also following the investigation, Payne’s body was released to his father Geoff Payne last weekend.

Payne, who rose to fame as a member of boy band One Direction, is said to have exhibited destructive behavior in the hours before his death.

The hotel where he was staying called 911 after he “did too much drugs and alcohol” and “ruined the whole room.”

“The guest is in a room with a balcony and we are a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening,” the caller said, according to an audio recording obtained by Telemundo from local media.

Payne was found dead just minutes after the call.

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