Argentinian police raided the Buenos Aires hotel where Liam Payne died last week amid an ongoing investigation into the singer’s death, according to a government official who spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday.
The raid at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel was conducted on Wednesday and carried out by a police special investigations unit, which was dispatched on orders from the public prosecutors’ office, per the AP.
Computer hard drives and security footage from the hotel’s cameras were among the items taken by authorities, the government official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told the outlet.
The former One Direction singer died at age 31 on Oct. 16 as a “result of the fall he suffered from the balcony of the third floor room of the hotel in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo where he was staying,” according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 16, temporarily headed by Marcelo Roma.
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Authorities confirmed Payne died after 5 p.m. at the hotel. An employee called the emergency line to ask for help for a guest who was “under the influence of drugs and alcohol who had destroyed some objects in the room.”
Upon arrival, officials discovered that “Payne had already fallen from the balcony of his room and died at the scene as a result of the severity of his injuries.” The singer’s body was found in the hotel’s internal courtyard.
A preliminary autopsy report released last week revealed that the One Direction singer died from “polytrauma” and “an internal and external hemorrhage.”
Circumstances surrounding Payne’s death are still being investigated as a “dubious” death, although it appeared as though Payne had been alone when the fall occurred and that the musician was “going through some type of outbreak resulting from substance abuse,” according to the report.
The U.K. native 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 with the case. Definitive results aren’t expected to be made public for several weeks.
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The CasaSur Palermo 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.
Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, arrived at the hotel last Friday and took time to read through cards, speak to fans and join in a moment of silence for the late singer.
Geoff has remained in Buenos Aires to arrange the repatriation of his son’s body, which is expected to be released around Oct. 28.
Payne was father to son, Bear, 7, whom he shared with ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole.
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Members of Payne’s family, including his mother, Karen Payne, and his two sisters, Ruth and Nicola, have expressed their devastation over the loss.
Payne’s former One Direction bandmates, Cole and other celebrities have also shared heartfelt tributes to Payne following his death.
In 2008, Payne was discovered by Simon Cowell while auditioning for “The X Factor” when he was 14. Despite being cut, he returned to the show two years later and joined Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form a supergroup that later placed third in the competition.
One Direction signed with Cowell after “The X Factor” and became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
