Prosecutors charge three people in connection with the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne

Almudena Calatrava
| Associated press

Buenos Aires – Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of music group One Direction who subsequently died fell from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires last month, Argentine prosecutors said this on Thursday.

Prosecutor Andrés Madrea charged the three suspects, whose identities were not revealed, with the crimes of “abandonment of a person followed by death” and “supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics,” the prosecutor’s office said . Madrea also requested their arrest before Judge Laura Bruniard, who ruled that the three could not leave the country.

Payne fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of his hotel in the posh Palermo district of the Argentine capital. According to the autopsy, he died of multiple injuries and external bleeding.

Prosecutors also said Payne’s toxicology tests showed his body showed “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant” in the moments before his death.

Investigators said hours after Payne’s death that he was alone when he fell. According to the Public Prosecution Service, one of the defendants was often with the singer during his stay in Buenos Aires. The second is a hotel employee who allegedly gave Payne cocaine during his stay between October 13 and 16. And the third is a drug dealer.

The charges bear some similarities to the US cases arising from the death of ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry a year ago. The actor’s personal assistant and a longtime friend are among those charged with helping provide him with ketamine in the final months of his life, prior to his anesthetic overdose.

Three young men were similarly charged in the 2018 opioid overdose death of rapper Mac Miller.

One Direction was one of the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne – like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson – pursued a solo career.

The singer had posted on his Snapchat account that he had traveled to Argentina to attend Horan’s concert in Buenos Aires on October 2. He shared videos of himself dancing with his girlfriend, American influencer Kate Cassidy, and singing along in the stands. Cassidy had left Argentina after the show, but Payne stayed behind.