Three Have Been Charged In Connection To Liam Payne’s Hotel Death

Authorities investigating singer Liam Payne‘s untimely death on October 16 say he did not commit suicide. Instead, they have arrested and charged three people in connection with the incident. In a statement, Argentinian officials say the suspects were engaged in “illicit conduct” and were “charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.”

Authorities have poured over 800 hours of security footage from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Argentina, where Payne was staying. Toxicology results show that he had cocaine, alcohol and an anti-depressant in his system at the time of death. Results also indicated he had been in a state of intoxication for days before the event.

Of the three defendants under arrest, the investigation shows that one person was with Payne “on a daily basis during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires.” The remaining two suspects were “both charged with the crime of supplying narcotics, two acts each” according to the statement. One of the remaining 2 people is a hotel employee “who must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the singer’s stay at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.” And the third suspect also charged with supplying narcotics, labeled a “narcotics supplier.”

Payne’s friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores denies any involvement in the incident, “I never abandoned Liam. I went to his hotel 3 times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened. There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.” Nores says he did cooperate with authorities.

Payne fell from the third-floor balcony of his room after being seen on social media just hours before, seemingly enjoying his time in Argentina. His girlfriend, Kate Cassidy was also seen in the videos. Payne was in Argentina to watch former bandmate Niall Horan perform. His body was flown back to his hometown in the UK on Wednesday in preparation for his funeral.

Payne rose to fame in 2010 after an audition on The X Factor led him to join the boy band, One Direction. With the popularity of Harry Styles, Horan, Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, the band released 5 albums and enjoyed the success of selling 50 million albums, 6 Billboard Music Awards and 6 Top Ten Billboard 100 hits, including What Makes You Beautiful and Story Of My Life.