Police in Argentina investigating the death of Liam Payne have raided the homes of two hotel employees and a “friend” of the former One Direction singer, it has been reported.
The raids were carried out on Tuesday night, while the lockers of workers at the hotel where the 31-year-old man died were also searched, Buenos Aires police sources said. TMZ.
Police believe employees had been in contact with Liam before he plunged to his death from a third-floor balcony at Hotel CasaSur Palermo last month.
According to TMZ’s report, police identified Liam’s ‘friend’ by looking at messages on his phone to see who was selling him drugs.
However, it is understood the person officers were seeking to speak to was not at home during last night’s raid.
Liam Payne (pictured) died last month after falling from the balcony of his third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.
Aerial view of the hotel where British singer Liam Payne died in Buenos Aires
Payne had been on holiday in South America with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy (left)
Liam Payne’s last Snapchat post before falling to his death from the third floor of a hotel
This comes after police raided the same hotel late last month and seized electronic and paper records.
Argentine officers were following up on allegations that staff had sold drugs to Liam in the hours before his death.
A post-mortem examination following his death determined that the 31-year-old man’s cause of death on October 16 was due to head injuries sustained during the fall.
Prosecutors have since explored the theory that Liam was in “a state of semi- or complete unconsciousness” during an apparently drug-fueled episode on the morning of his death.
A hotel reception worker made a distressing 999 call requesting “urgent” assistance after Payne was acting erratically and was escorted back to his hotel room.
The hotel employee made two calls and on the first one said, “We have a guest who is crazy on drugs and is destroying everything in his room.” We need someone to come.
He then called again after the line went dead and said, “I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger.” The room has a balcony and we are afraid that he might do something.’
Forensic police arrive at the hotel where Liam Payne died in Buenos Aires
Liam rose to fame with the band One Direction. He is pictured with his bandmates (left-right) Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.
Liam Payne in the lobby of the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires minutes before his death
Payne was said to have been “acting erratically in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop” before he “had to be taken back to his room”, according to local media.
Seconds later the employee, who identified himself as Esteban, added: ‘Just send an ambulance, just an ambulance.’ Workers had heard a loud sound in the yard before the singer’s body was discovered shortly after 5pm local time (9pm UK time).
The singer had traveled to Argentina earlier last month for his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.
His girlfriend Kate Cassidy had been with him on the trip but left two days before his death.
She posted a heartbreaking tribute saying she had been “completely lost” after his death.
Kate continued: ‘Thank you for all the kind words and love you have sent my way. I have been completely lost.
‘Nothing that happened in the last few days has seemed real. I ask and pray that You give me the grace and space to navigate this privately.
‘Liam, my angel. You are everything. I want you to know that I loved you unconditionally and completely. I will continue to love you for the rest of my life. I love you Liam.’
