Three Charged Over Death of One Direction’s Liam Payne

FILE PHOTO: British singer Liam Payne performs on stage during a concert in front of the Hotel de Ville to celebrate Paris as host for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Paris, France September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: British singer Liam Payne performs on stage during a concert in front of the Hotel de Ville to celebrate Paris as host for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Paris, France September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
Three people have been charged in relation to One Direction singer Liam Payne's death in a fall from his Buenos Aires hotel balcony last month, Argentine authorities said on Thursday.

The 31-year-old’s death shocked the world, and raised questions about how he had fallen.

A 911 call from a hotel employee the day Payne died warned that he had been acting aggressively and could have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

An autopsy revealed the former boy band member had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he died, a prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Geoff Payne, father of former One Direction band member Liam Payne, looks at tributes left outside the hotel where Liam Payne was found dead after he fell from a third-floor hotel room balcony, in Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2024. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta

Payne’s body was handed over to his father, Geoff, over the weekend and flown back to his native England. Over the past few weeks, Geoff had been seen alongside longtime One Direction bodyguard, Paul Higgins, at the CasaSur hotel where his son died.

Those charged in Payne’s death include a suspected drug dealer, a hotel employee who may have provided Payne with the cocaine and a person who was close to the singer, the authorities said.

All are accused of playing a role in giving Payne the drugs, with the hotel employee accused of giving Payne cocaine at least twice during his stay and the alleged drug dealer believed to have provided it twice more two days before his death.

FILE PHOTO: British singer Liam Payne arrives at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards at Wembley Arena in London, Britain, November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

The person who was visiting with Payne is also charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death,” authorities said.

None of those charged were named, but will be notified and are prohibited from leaving the country, according to the statement.

The investigation into the circumstances of Payne’s death will continue, prosecutors said, adding that they were still trying to unlock the singer’s broken laptop.

Witnesses had told local media that they saw Payne smashing his laptop in the hotel lobby.

FILE PHOTO: A message is written as a tribute to former One Direction singer Liam Payne, who was found dead after he fell from a third-floor hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires, in Manchester, Britain, October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

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