By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s police raided the Buenos Aires hotel where ex-One Direction singer Liam Payne stayed before dying last week after falling from a third-floor balcony, a government official said Thursday.
A police special investigations unit went to the Casa Sur hotel Wednesday night on orders from the public prosecutors’ office. Officers seized items including computer hard drives and footage from hotel cameras, a government official told The Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The singer died Oct. 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony in the up-market, touristy Palermo district. According to the autopsy, Payne died from multiple injuries as well as both internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. His body was found in the hotel’s internal courtyard.
Initial investigations suggest that the musician was alone and experiencing a “breakdown” due to consumption of substances that have not yet been determined. Following Payne’s death, police found substances in his hotel room, as well as several destroyed objects and furniture, according to the public prosecutors’ office.
The British boyband star had cocaine in his system, according to a preliminary toxicology report published by local press Monday and confirmed to the AP by a source familiar. Definitive results aren’t expected to be made public for several weeks.
The Casa Sur hotel has become a place for Payne’s fans to pay their respects. They have left flowers, candles and photos of the singer in a makeshift shrine around a tree at the hotel’s entrance.
The singer’s father, Geoff Payne, is in Buenos Aires arranging the repatriation of his son’s body, which is expected to be released around Oct. 28.
Payne’s family — which includes his mother Karen Payne and his two sisters Ruth and Nicola — have expressed their devastation over the loss, as have his former bandmates. Artists and celebrities from various countries continue to share their grief.
One Direction was among 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 traveled to Argentina to attend Horan’s concert in Buenos Aires on Oct. 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.
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