Police have stormed the hotel where Liam Payne fell to his death, as his bodyguard joined to help the hunt for a drug dealer who might have supplied the tragic star.
Officers raided the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel on orders from prosecutor Andres Madrea, who had met Payne’s father Geoff on Tuesday, and have been seen going through documents and examining equipment in the lobby.
They are investigating who could have sold the former One Direction singer drugs before he plunged from his third floor balcony at the hotel on Wednesday last week.
The popstar’s bodyguard Paul Higgins has been assisting police in reviewing security footage at the hotel, alongside Payne’s father.
Prosecutors said last week that they believed Payne was in ‘in a state of semi or total unconsciousness’ during a substance-induced ‘psychotic episode’ when he fell.
Police have been seen raiding the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires where popstar Liam Payne, 31, died last week as they probe who might have sold him drugs
Liam Payne fell to his death last week at the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires – he is pictured here at the Global Gift Gala in London in March 2019
A police officer is seen inside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires as investigations into Liam Payne’s death there last week are stepped up
Liam Payne’s bodyguard Paul Higgins (pictured) has been assisting police in Argentina as they hunt for a drug dealer suspected to have supplied the singer with narcotics
Liam Payne is pictured with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy at a premiere in London in March 2023
A police officer inside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires yesterday after Liam Payne’s death
He died of multiple trauma injuries which had caused ‘internal and external haemorrhaging.’ His 25 ‘life-threatening’ injuries are believed to have included a skull fracture.
Investigators have indicated they do not suspect any ‘third party’ involvement but have made it clear the hunt is still on for his dealer amid speculation someone from the hotel was supplying him.
Argentinian news portal Infobae reported earlier this week that forensic experts had discovered traces of cocaine in Payne’s body but tests had so far proved ‘inconclusive’.
Other unconfirmed reports originating in the US claimed a cocktail of drugs including designer narcotic ‘pink cocaine’ – containing MDMA, ketamine and methamphetamine – had been found in his system during a partial autopsy, along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepine.
The hotel raid involved Buenos Aires City Police belonging to a Special Investigations Division, as well as a Technology Investigations Unit.
They spent most of their time in reception but officers are also understood to have gone up to the third floor suite in which Payne had been staying.
Argentinian TV reporter Guiliana Salguero said overnight: ‘We understand a person who was part of the hotel staff has been suspended after being linked to the supply of drugs to Liam Payne.
‘We’ll have to see how that now plays out. It is a person who worked in the hotel’s restaurant.’
There has not yet been any official comment from the hotel about the police operation and the claims that a member of its staff was being investigated.
A police investigation is continuing at the Casa Sur Hotel in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires
Grieving fans are seen gathering outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Tuesday
Payne’s father told prosecutors earlier this week he wants the truth to come out and is ready to ‘tell them everything he knows’ to aid the ongoing inquiries.
He was told during his meeting with Mr Madrea that the full autopsy results have not been concluded and he will not be able to fly back to the UK with his son’s body until toxicology and tissue tests are complete.
A public prosecution spokesman said: ‘During the meeting with Mr Madrea the musician’s father expressed his desire for an investigation and his wish to know what happened, and told the prosecutor that he was willing to testify about everything he knows about his son’s life that could help the probe.
‘The representative of the public prosecutor’s office informed the father that the toxicological and histopathological studies complementary to the autopsy have not yet been completed, and that their results are necessary to decide on the release of the body.’
Officials also confirmed that investigators were still analysing ‘mobile phones, computers, photographs and CCTV footage’, adding: ‘They will require a longer period of analysis.’
Last week prosecutors said they had interviewed three hotel workers, as well as two women who had spent time with Payne before he died and who were subsequently identified as prostitutes.
They said on Tuesday that efforts to piece together information on the singer’s last hours was continuing with ‘hotel workers, acquaintances, technical and medical professionals and other people linked to him through his work’.
Payne is known to have spent time with Argentinian businessman Rogelio Nores, who is understood to have given a statement to investigators.
Fans gather outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires where floral tributes have been laid
Flowers and other tributes remain outside the Casa Sur Hotel a week on from the tragedy
Mourners continue to pay their tributes to the One Direction singer, who died aged 31
Flowers and notes of condolence have been placed outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires
Fans have been bringing their offerings to the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires
The tributes have piled up at the hotel as police investigations at the scene continue
The singer’s family have been reassured they will be the first to receive any new information that emerges.
That comes after pictures from Payne’s hotel room were leaked last week and published in Argentinian media, showing a white powder on a desk which is still being analysed.
Friends of the singer have claimed he was clean just days before the tragedy.
Sources said he entered Argentina on September 30 and was forced to extend his stay there due to issues with renewing his expiring American visa.
He arrived with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy but she left Buenos Aires to return to the US shortly before Payne died.
The 25-year-old American revealed yesterday that he gave her a note before he died expressing his plans to marry her.
In a tribute shared online, she called Liam her ‘best friend, the love of my life’, spoke of his ‘contagious’ energy and said she was struggling to ‘figure out how to live’ without him.
Posting on Instagram, she wrote: ‘A few weeks ago, we sat outside on a beautiful evening manifesting our lives together. I keep your note close, even though you told me not to look at it.
Kate Cassidy, 25, posted a series of sweet snapshots showing their time together alongside her message on Instagram yesterday paying tribute to boyfriend Liam Payne
She told how the pair had written messages to each other about their future together
The post started with a photo of her embracing him, coloured into black and white
Kate Cassidy, 25, also shared this touching image in her message about Liam on Instagram
‘It said: “Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged and together forever 444”.
‘Liam, I know we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we had planned. You’ll always be with me. I’ve gained a guardian angel.
‘I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond, carrying our dreams and memories with me everywhere I go.’
Kate and Liam first started dating in October 2022, and made their red carpet debut at the Fashion Awards later that year.
