Three people have reportedly been arrested and charged in connection with the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne. The 31-year-old died last month when he fell from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Argentina.
Three People Arrested in Connection with Liam Payne’s Death
Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office announced in a statement on Thursday that three people had been arrested in connection with Payne’s death, with officials saying the suspects engaged in “illicit conduct” and were being charged with “the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.”
According to the new statement, the three arrests were preceded by “detailed analysis of more than 800 hours of video footage” from security cameras. One of the people charged was apparently with Payne “on a daily basis during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires” and is charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death.”
Another is a hotel employee who is apparently proven to have supplied Payne with cocaine while he was staying at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. The third is a narcotics supplier who is accused of selling Payne drugs twice on October 14, two days before his death.
Officials previously determined that Payne fell off the balcony of his hotel room in a state of “semi or total unconsciousness.” According to the prosecutor’s office, they have ruled out “self-harm of any kind,” or that a third party was responsible for Payne falling.
Prosecutors also shared that, according to toxicology tests, Payne was under the influence of drugs “in the moments before his death,” as well as for at least three days before his death. Traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant were found in the singer’s system.
Before Payne’s death, he had wrapped filming on the Netflix music competition show Building the Band, which also featured Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland. A premiere date has yet to be announced for the series.
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Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit
