The Prosecutor’s Office in Argentina shared a post-autopsy report on Thursday that revealed new details about what led to Payne’s sudden death at age 31 on Wednesday afternoon. According to the report, the former One Direction member died of multiple traumas, internal and external bleeding, and a cranial injury as a result of his fall. Early investigations also indicate the presence of narcotics in his hotel room.
“The circumstances of the case are being investigated as a ‘questionable death,’ although everything indicates that the musician was alone when the fall occurred, and was going through some type of outbreak from substance abuse,” reads the statement in Spanish.
The report states that Payne fell off the balcony of his CasaSur hotel room at 5:07 p.m. local time Wednesday. Minutes before, a worker had called 911 about a “guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room.”
“The forensic experts reported that the 25 injuries described in the autopsy are aligned with those caused by a fall from a height,” reads the report. “They also pointed out that the craniocerebral injuries were sufficient to cause death, while internal and external hemorrhages in the skull, thorax, abdomen and limbs contributed to the mechanism of death.”
By the time police arrived after receiving the initial emergency call, Payne had fallen from his room’s balcony and had died due to the “gravity of his injuries.” The report indicates that forensics are now waiting on results from histopathological, biochemical, and toxicological reports to better understand the substances that may have been in his body at the time of his death. However, early investigations show that there were “narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as various destroyed objects and furniture” inside his room.
According to the report, forensics say they found no evidence of foul play on Payne’s body nor injuries that would prove there were third parties involved in his death. The position in which Payne landed shows that he “did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself,” the report reads. According to the prosecutor’s office, authorities have interviewed three hotel workers and two women who “were with the musician in his room” hours before Payne’s fall.
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The Security Secretary of Buenos Aires confirmed Payne’s death to Rolling Stone Wednesday afternoon, with SAME’s Director Alberto Crescenti telling local press that the artist fell from “about 13 or 14 meters” and that Payne “suffered severe injuries incompatible with life.”
CNN’s Argentine affiliate Todo Notices shared audio from an emergency call from hotel staff to Buenos Aires police that shed some additional light on the tragedy. Hotel staff contacted the police asking for immediate assistance for “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol” at around 5 p.m. local time.
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Payne’s family issued a statement via the BBC Thursday saying they are “heartbroken” by his death.
“We are heartbroken,” the Payne family said. “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul. We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”
