[Recording Studio, Credit to Pixabay]

Liam Payne, a singer-songwriter known for his time in former boy band One Direction, tragically fell to his death from a third-floor balcony in an Argentinian hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16. 

Liam Payne initially gained fame as a vocalist in the band One Direction and later pursued his own solo projects.

Following the hiatus of One Direction in 2015, he released several solo tracks, with the latest being his song “Teardrops,” which he referred to as “born from many tears, not all mine” on his Instagram. 

Payne has frequently expressed his desire to reunite as a band with fellow ex-members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson many times. 

Payne traveled to Argentina with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy to see Niall Horan and reportedly posted jokes and updates regularly on his Snapchat story, even meeting with fans prior to his untimely death; the fans he met with say that he had hugged them and joked with them as per usual. 

CCTV footage from the hotel—which was not released to the general public—has revealed that Payne did not jump from the balcony as many believed he did, but instead fell due to loss of consciousness; it is said that if he were by his bed, he would have fallen onto his bed instead. 

The singer died immediately on impact, and autopsy results show that his body did not at all react to the fall due to his state of unconsciousness. 

He allegedly fell at 17:07, local time. 

Argentinian investigators found evidence of narcotics and alcohol strewn across an array of broken furniture and broken objects in his hotel room, which led the prosecution—who had initially ruled out all explanations for his death except for the 42-foot fall from his balcony—to speculate this case is as a result of a substance abuse-induced breakdown. 

Photos of a smashed-in TV and white, snow-like powder on a table have been revealed to the public by a local media. 

The hotel manager purportedly called 911 to report an under-the-influence guest acting aggressively in his room prior to Payne’s death. 

Police authorities also found a pack of clonazepam, a central nervous system depressant, and over-the-counter medications in his belongings. 

Initial toxicology reports from his partial autopsy have yielded evidence of drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine being present in his system when he fell.

The partial autopsy reported the detection of the drug “pink cocaine”—a recreational drug consisting of methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA, crack cocaine, and benzodiazepine; Payne reportedly created an improvised aluminum pipe to smoke crack cocaine in his suite. 

Authorities are looking into a Dove soap box found in his Buenos Aires hotel room beside remnants of drug use, including white powder and his makeshift tin foil pipe.

There are speculations that hotel employees provided him with the drugs he used before his death and hid it using the Dove soap box; investigators are further looking into the involvement of an employee who may have given Payne anti-anxiety medicine and other drugs.

The late singer’s father Geoff Payne flew to Argentina to meet with prosecutors and other local officials in regards to Liam's death and assured them of his “willingness to testify about everything he knows about his son’s life that could help the investigation.”