Two hotel employees, ‘friends’ of Liam Payne, watched the death investigation

Two hotel employees and a ‘friend’ of Liam Payne are now at the center of Argentine authorities’ investigation into the pop star’s death last month.

On Tuesday evening, authorities conducted raids on the homes of two employees of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, who they believe had contact with the One Direction alum, 31, before his death on October 16, law enforcement sources in Buenos Aires told TMZ . The lockers of the hotel staff were also searched.

Payne fell to his death from one of the hotel’s third-floor balconies that day, just moments after a hotel receptionist called emergency services and requested help for a guest who allegedly “destroyed” the room while “high on drugs.” drugs’. The receptionist at the time said he feared the guest was in danger because of the room’s balcony.

The “friend,” who authorities identified from text messages on Payne’s phone, was not found during the most recent raids.

Officials said last month they were focusing on determining who sold Payne the drugs found in his system, which according to a toxicology report included cocaine, benzodiazepine, crack and a drug cocktail with the street name “pink cocaine.”

A preliminary autopsy revealed that Payne’s fall caused multiple traumatic injuries, resulting in internal and external bleeding, and that he “may have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness.” Instead, authorities said he “jumped off the balcony.”

In the days following Payne’s death, a source within Argentina’s National Prosecution Service told People that charges may be appropriate because there was evidence that “a hotel employee had purchased the drugs for Payne.”

A week after Payne’s death, the hotel was raided, with sources close to the investigation telling Us Weekly that CasaSur “must provide” additional security camera footage.

Local authorities subsequently told TMZ that they were focusing on both the drugs found in Payne’s system and small items in his hotel room, specifically a soapbox believed to have been used to conceal the substances.

Late last month, an Argentinian reporter said that CCTV footage showed Payne fainting “and tragically because of where he is, falling off that balcony.

“It is not that he jumped deliberately,” Paula Varela told Canal 13’s “Socios del Espectáculo” at the time. “These images are in the official files.”