Police in Argentina are reportedly investigating a hotel worker who was filmed on CCTV taking Liam Payne to his room minutes before his death.
The suspect has been identified locally as head receptionist Esteban Grassi, who made a 999 call requesting urgent medical assistance for Liam before he fell from his third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires to his death.
He was also among a trio of men photographed carrying him to his room shortly before the tragedy at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo in October.
The photo raised concerns about the behavior of the hotel staff and their decision not to leave the singer in the lobby while they waited for help to arrive.
Another hotel worker, named security chief Gilda Martín, is also being investigated, according to the respected Argentine news website Infobae.
He said Magistrate Laura Bruniard, who is leading the investigation, had told the two men to appoint a defense lawyer so they could be formally questioned under oath.
The date for his first interrogation, which is expected to take place via Zoom, was said to have been scheduled for next week, between December 17 and 19.
Prosecutors have not yet made any official comments, but are expected to do so in the coming days.
Liam Payne’s last Snapchat post before he died from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires in October
The former One Direction singer was staying at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo (pictured) when the tragedy occurred in October.
Payne died after falling from the balcony of his third-floor suite, just minutes after hotel staff escorted the pop star through the lobby.
Infobae did not say what criminal charges the hotel workers could eventually face if the judge concludes there is enough evidence to formally charge them with wrongdoing at a later date in his investigation.
Local reports last week said prosecutors were considering filing manslaughter charges against hotel employees filmed carrying Liam out of the lobby shortly before he fell onto the balcony fueled by drink and drugs.
So far nothing has been said publicly about the third man seen lifting the singer, who was wearing sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt and was identified last month by the Daily Mail as a masseuse at the hotel spa.
Today’s reports of the naming of new suspects came as the three people already under formal investigation were summoned for questioning.
They have been identified locally as Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra and Braian Nahuel Paiz.
Waiter Paiz, accused of being Liam’s ‘drug dealer’, told journalist Guillermo Panizza on Telefe Noticias last month that he had used marijuana and Liam had used cocaine during their second date at a hotel shortly before the singer’s death.
But he insisted: ‘I never took drugs from him or accepted money.
‘I have messages where he offers me money because apparently I was used to offering money for everything but I never accepted anything.’
Fans wait outside the Casa Sur hotel in Palermo following the death of Liam Payne
Nores, who has been described as the singer’s manager, had previously protested his innocence after being named locally as one of the trio under investigation.
Responding to reports identifying him as one of the suspects linked to the drug allegations and allegations that he abandoned Liam before his death, the businessman said in a statement: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and I left.” 40 minutes before this happened.
‘There were over 15 people in the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.
“I never would have imagined something like this would happen.
‘I gave my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and since then I have not spoken to any police officer or prosecutor.
‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my very dear friend.
Ezequiel David Pereyra has not yet made any public comments.
In a lengthy statement released on Nov. 7, prosecutors said the three men they did not identify by name were now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who later died and of supplying and facilitating drugs.
The statement described one as the person who “routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.”
Tests have shown that the singer consumed alcohol and cocaine before he died and also had traces of an antidepressant in his system.
Prosecutors also made clear that the idea that Liam had committed suicide had been ruled out, saying he was in a state of “partial or complete unconsciousness” when he fell from his hotel balcony to his death when he “did not know what was happening.” doing”. .’
People bring tributes to Hotel CasaSur Palermo after Liam Payne’s death
They said of the hotel worker and the alleged ‘drug dealer’: ‘The second suspect is a hotel employee who must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was at the hotel.
“The third is also a drug dealer who is being investigated on suspicion of two other clearly proven cocaine supplies at two different times on October 14.”
Liam’s father Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son’s death and returned to the UK on November 7 with his body to help finalize the funeral arrangements after a second visit to the makeshift shrine set up by the fans outside the singer’s hotel.
His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners at his funeral on November 20 in Amersham, Bucks.
Simon Cowell, James Corden, his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and Liam’s ex-partner Cheryl, mother of his seven-year-old son Bear, also joined their family and other friends at the private ceremony.
The impasse over Liam’s hotel death was resolved last week after prosecutors won their battle to overturn a judge’s decision to rule herself out of the investigation.
Chief prosecutor Andrés Madrea’s victory in the appeals court was expected to pave the way to speed up the investigation.
Judge Laura Bruniard had stated that the case should be investigated by a conventional court in Buenos Aires under Argentine law because one of the allegations was that Liam, 31, had been abandoned before his death on October 16 at the Hotel Casasur Palermo.
Liam attends the Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall on December 5, 2022 in London
Madrea’s claim that his decision was “premature” was accepted last Tuesday by a higher court.
His appeal was his second in two days after he successfully challenged an earlier decision not to send Braian Nahuel Paiz to prison.
It is expected that after his questioning a final decision will be made on whether the 24-year-old is sent to prison pending the ongoing investigation.
Two female companions Liam spent time with before he died are currently being treated as witnesses, but are said to have hired a lawyer to represent them despite not having to do so.
The singer reportedly offered the women $5,000 after contacting them hours before his fatal fall at the hotel, but they are said to have ended up receiving only a fraction of the promised money after Roger Nores stepped in to help.
Argentine media reported that the two prostitutes told prosecutors during questioning that “gentleman” Liam had knelt in front of them during their time together, telling them: “I love you, I love you” and even “promised” “his lost £30,000 Rolex. .
But they alleged he did not deliver the cash as promised in the room or later in the lobby before Nores arrived to “resolve the situation.”
It is understood they voluntarily handed over their mobile phones, although the data stored on them is not yet believed to have been extracted and analysed.
Last month’s raids on a number of properties, including an apartment said to have been used by one of the two sex workers to meet clients, failed to find any trace of the missing Rolex.
The designer watch is said to have gone missing when one of the two women said she had left makeup in Liam’s room after their disagreement in the hotel lobby and the singer walked her back to the room to collect it.