Liam Payne death investigation: 5 people charged in connection to One Direction singer's passing
Two months after Liam Payne's death, an Argentine judge confirmed Monday charges filed against five people in connection with the British singer's passing, according to The Associated Press.
A judicial officer confirmed that two of the people were ordered to be put under preventive prison — a form of pre-trial detention — for having supplied the One Direction singer with drugs.
Payne died on Oct. 16 as a "result of the fall he suffered from the balcony of the third floor room of the hotel in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo where he was staying," according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor's Office No. 16, temporarily headed by Marcelo Roma. He was 31.
Authorities confirmed Payne died after 5 p.m. at the Casa Sur hotel in the Palermo district, located on Costa Rica Street. An employee called the emergency line to ask for help for a guest who was "under the influence of drugs and alcohol who had destroyed some objects in the room."
LIAM PAYNE, ONE DIRECTION SINGER, DEAD AT 31
An official confirmed that one person ordered under preventive prison was an employee of the hotel, while the other was a waiter Payne met at a restaurant. Both suspects reportedly face charges for supplying drugs, and will need to present themselves before the judge, the outlet reported.
Three additional people were charged with manslaughter, including two managers of the hotel and a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina. Prosecutors filed charges in November.
Argentina's National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor's Office announced in a press release last month that "several dozen testimonies were received at the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office, including from hotel staff, family members and friends, medical professionals, biochemists and psychiatrists."
Additionally, more than 800 hours of video footage from various hotel security cameras and others on public roads were reviewed, as well as the content of Payne's cellphone, including calls, messages and chats on messaging applications and social networks.
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According to the release, the prosecution "analyzed testimonies, video recordings, messages, documents, invoices, social networks and communications, among other elements." At least four supplies of narcotics from third parties were "conclusively proven" to have been addressed to Payne during his stay at the Casa Sur hotel between Oct. 13-16.
The Associated Press reported that initial toxicology results showed that the 31-year-old died with cocaine in his system. Prosecutors ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.
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Final toxicology results are still pending and not expected to be made public for weeks, but the preliminary report "suggested evidence of exposure to cocaine," an official explained to the outlet before stressing that the initial results were not an accurate reading of the amount that was circulating in his blood when he died.
In addition, the official spoke to the outlet under the condition of anonymity. A preliminary autopsy report released in October revealed that the One Direction singer died from "polytrauma" and "an internal and external hemorrhage."
Payne had one child, a 7-year-old son, Bear, with ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole.