On Oct. 16, staff from the Casasur, an Argentinian hotel reported aggressive behavior from a guest staying in one of their third-floor balcony suites. With police on the way, the man fell from the ledge and died in the courtyard below. The guest, former One Direction star Liam Payne, shocked the world with his abrupt death and sent fans into sudden grief. How did such a beloved star’s life end so instantaneously?
Payne had been in Argentina with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy for several days before his death. He intended to spend time with former bandmate Niall Horan and use the trip as a vacation, which, reportedly, Payne extended from five days to over two weeks. After attending Horan’s concert, Cassidy traveled back to her and Payne’s currently rented home in the state of Florida, leaving him alone. Despite uploading videos to his social media just hours before his death, posting Argentinian cuisine and mentioning plans to play polo, the singer was soon posing a threat to himself as hotel workers called for help.
According to Argentina’s public prosecutor, there have been three arrests made in relation to Payne’s death. Two were accused of supplying the drugs, one of which was hotel staff. The other individual under arrest is charged with abandonment, under the circumstances of being with Payne multiple times while he was in Buenos Aires.
Hotel staff called the authorities with concerns about Payne’s behavior after he began trashing his room and slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness. Unfortunately, they did not come in time. Upon arriving at the scene, officials pronounced Payne dead. His body was removed from the area about three hours later and autopsy testing began. He suffered from a multitude of injuries, both internal and external, which appear to be medically consistent with no self-protection reflexes during a fall.
Payne’s body was discovered to have traces of alcohol, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and a recently appearing high-end drug cocktail known as pink cocaine. Pink cocaine is a drug originating in Latin America that is known to be used at parties, primarily containing ketamine mixed with ecstasy. His room was also littered with over-the-counter medicines and prescription anxiety pills. With this mixing of substances, it was likely he had been partially unconscious or passed out at the time of the lethal accident.
Liam Payne was known to suffer from mental health problems. He said himself that he turned to alcohol use before shows during his time as a member of One Direction, battling substance abuse for much of his career. With an early rise to stardom, it is sadly common for stars to cope with unhealthy mechanisms. After six months of sobriety, his problems resurfaced. He leaves behind a 7-year-old son named Bear. Payne’s father Geoff has received the body from authorities and will continue to assist in testifying for his son’s justice.