Nearly one month after Liam Payne’s fatal fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, three people — including a friend of the One Direction alum — have been charged in the ongoing investigation into his death, according to reports.
Within the past two weeks, authorities had completed a series of raids at the unidentified friend’s home, the hotel where Payne died and the homes of two hotel employees, reported Argentine newspaper Clarin.
The “friend” was allegedly in the room with Payne prior to his fall from the balcony, but left at some point before he died, according to TMZ. Clarin identified the friend only as an Argentine businessman. He was reportedly charged with abandonment of a person before death.
A hotel staffer was also charged Thursday with delivering Payne the drugs, likely in a soap box, and a third person was charged as the supplier, TMZ reported. Neither of those suspects were publicly identified.
Following his death on Oct. 16, Payne’s autopsy revealed he had a number of controlled substances in his system including pink cocaine, a drug cocktail typically made up of ketamine, methamphetamine and MDMA.
Authorities also found “substances inside the room that at first glance, and pending confirmation from the experts, would be narcotics and alcoholic beverages,” according to an Oct. 17 press release from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office.
Investigators were led to the three suspects after searching Payne’s phone to uncover who may have provided him with the drugs. Security cameras at the hotel also show two employees interacting with Payne.
The 31-year-old fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. While his full toxicology report is still pending, Payne’s official cause of death was ruled as polytrauma, or injuries to multiple body parts and organ systems resulting in death.
Payne’s body on Wednesday was released to his family to be flown back to his native U.K., according to the BBC. The date of his funeral is currently unknown.
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