Update on Liam Payne’s death: Three people arrested as singer’s body was flown to UK

A friend of Liam Payne, a Buenos Aires hotel worker, and a suspected drug dealer have been arrested in connection with the former One Direction singer’s death.

The charges came after authorities conducted nine raids after the 31-year-old fatally fell from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires on October 16.

“Unlawful conduct has been uncovered, in which three people have been charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person with subsequent killing, as well as supply and promotion of narcotics,” said a press release from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14, translated from Spanish on Thursday.

The first person charged with abandonment resulting in death, accompanied Payne daily during his stay in Buenos Aires and helped the celebrity obtain narcotics.

The second defendant is a hotel employee who has to answer for two proven cocaine deliveries to Liam Payne during his stay at the hotel. The third person, also a drug supplier, is accused of two further clearly proven deliveries at two different times on October 14th. Both were charged with two counts each of supplying narcotics.

According to the prosecutor’s office, investigators for this case reviewed over 800 hours of video footage from surveillance cameras at the hotel and other public streets.

They also analyzed Payne’s cell phone data, including his calls, messages, chats on messaging apps and social media accounts.

Argentine authorities also noted that they had approved the release of Payne’s body to his father, Geoff Payne, last weekend.

Payne’s body was flown back to the United Kingdom on Wednesday, the prosecutor in charge of his case confirmed to the BBC.

Liam Payne toxicology test results

Thursday’s news release said Payne had traces of polydrug use, including alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant, in his system for at least the last 72 hours of his life.

Full toxicology details come from tests of Payne’s urine and blood.

A preliminary autopsy released by prosecutors on Oct. 17 revealed that Payne had pink cocaine in his system at the time of his death. Despite its name, pink cocaine rarely contains cocaine. Ingredients typically include a mixture of ketamine, MDMA, starch and caffeine.

Newsweek has turned to the Public Prosecutor’s Office No. 14 for clarification.

Liam Payne’s fatal fall

In a 911 call shortly before Payne’s death, one of the hotel’s executives reported that a man was behaving aggressively and may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

According to the preliminary autopsy report released by Prosecutor No. 14 on October 17, the singer died from “multiple trauma” and “internal and external bleeding” sustained from the fall.

Thursday’s news release added that Payne’s injuries were consistent with a fall from that height, ruling out the possibility of a fall due to self-harm or physical interference from another person.

Prosecutors noted that Payne did not take a position to protect himself from the fall, so he may have been semi- or fully unconscious at the time of his death.

The investigation into Payne’s death is ongoing as the unlocking of Payne’s laptop, which is broken, and other devices seized as part of the investigation are still underway.

Published photos of Payne’s destroyed hotel room at the time of his death showed a broken laptop, a television and what appeared to be drugs and paraphernalia.

Liam Payne’s career highlights

One Direction came third The X Factor But in 2010 he quickly signed a record deal with Cowell’s label Syco Music.

Her breakout song “What Makes You Beautiful,” as well as “Night Changes,” “Story of My Like,” and “Drag Me Down” all have over 1 billion Spotify streams. Although the group went on hiatus in 2016, One Direction has over 42 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

After the band split, Payne pursued a solo career and found success with songs like “Bedroom Floor,” “Get Low” and “Strip That Down” – the latter of which has over 1 billion Spotify streams.

Most recently, he released his song “Teardrops,” which was co-written by JC Chasez of NSYNC.

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