Popstar Liam Payne died on October 16th. Payne passed at the age of 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina after falling off a balcony. Payne was a global star and a former member of the popular boy band One Direction that was created on The X-Factor show in 2010.
Payne was staying at a hotel in the upmarket neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentina capital, where he had arrived two weeks prior to his tragic death. It turns out he and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy were only supposed to spend 5 days only in the Argentine capital, but had exceeded the proposed duration. Just days before his passing, Kate had abruptly departed Buenos Aires where the couple had been spending the time together.
Liam had been in the country to visit his former bandmate Niall Horan. Niall was in Argentina for his tour and the pair had remained friendly since the One Direction’s 2016 split. He posted on his Snapchat earlier in the month telling fans that he planned to visit Niall to catch up with each other.
Around the time before his death, 4:00 PM Eastern standard time and 17:00 local time on Wednesday hotel staff had called emergency services with a request to respond to a guest at the hotel who was overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol and had torn up his room. The hotel staff was unaware if Liam’s life was in danger, but he had a room with a balcony and they feared that he might do something life-threatening in his state. Payne’s room was on the third floor and the balcony was about 45 feet above an interior courtyard. It was thought that he fell from the balcony at about 17:07 local time, the authorities arrived minutes later, Payne’s body was later discovered in the courtyard after the staff had told them a loud sound had been heard from there. He was pronounced dead at the scene with no possibility of resuscitation.
Later it was discovered that his room had been destroyed with various broken items and medication found at the scene. There was a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, an anxiety drug called Clonazepam and other over counter medications. There have been substances in his room that appeared to be narcotics and alcoholic beverages along with pieces of furniture broken. The autopsy carried out that evening established that he had suffered multiple traumas and internal and external hemorrhaging. There was a report stating he had 25 injuries which were consistent with a fall from a higher height.
During the recent years before his death, Liam had opened up about his struggles with mental health, drug abuse and alcohol including that he turned to substances as a way to cope from the aftermath of fame and the pressures he faced in One Direction. In 2023, he talked about his abuse of alcohol after almost spending 100 days in a Louisiana rehab facility.
