Liam Payne, 31, a former member of the hit British boy band One Direction, which gained a massive international fanbase, was found dead on Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Police reported that they found Payne’s body after emergency services were alerted by hotel staff from the pop star’s accommodation in the Palermo area of the city.
“We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol… He’s breaking things up. He is tearing the whole room apart,” the hotel manager told the emergency services operator and informed them that Panyes’s room had a balcony. “We’re a little afraid that he’ll do something.”
Anonymous Argentinean sources familiar with the first toxicology findings claim that Liam had several substances in his system when he plummeted to his death from a third-story hotel balcony in Argentina.
Clarin
A broken TV in Liam Payne’s hotel room.
According to both ABC News and TMZ, Both publications referenced unnamed people who were aware of the initial testing. Cocaine, benzodiazepines, and a mixture of narcotics known as “pink cocaine” which includes methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA were discovered during a partial autopsy.
Police said they found the room he stayed in a “total disaster.” Among the items discovered were a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, a passport, a cell phone, and medication, including over-the-counter drugs and the anxiety medication Clonazepam.
Additionally, local media reported images allegedly taken from his room, which included a smashed TV, several bottles, cans, candles, aluminum foil, and a half-full glass of champagne.
Hotel staff said he had been in the country to see his old bandmate Niall Horan and had been at the hotel for the past two or three days. The two have maintained their friendship even after One Direction’s 2016 breakup.
An outpouring of support has come from Payne’s fans, prompting them to petition for ‘Liam’s Law’, meant to protect musical artists’ well-being, protecting those like Payne from the hazards of mental illness that have been the dark side of being a famous artist.