Liam Payne death: hotel worker and two others charged

As part of the ongoing investigation into One Direction singer Liam Payne's death, three suspects have been charged over their alleged involvement in the pop star's sudden death last month.

Argentina's penal and correctional prosecutor's office said in a statement distributed in Spanish on Thursday that it had found evidence of “illegal behavior” by three people – including an employee of the hotel where Payne fell to his death. The charges included abandonment of a person resulting in death and supply and distribution of narcotics. The unidentified suspects were charged last Friday in a 180-page indictment sent to Judge Laura Graciela Bruniard, the statement said.

Payne, an “X Factor” alum who also pursued a solo music career after his One Direction days, died Oct. 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel. He was 31.

In a preliminary autopsy released a day after the singer's death, Argentine officials said authorities found substances that appeared to be drugs in the singer's room, as well as evidence of alcohol and narcotics use .

Officers conducted nine raids and heard “several dozen” testimonies from people including hotel staff, Payne's family and friends, medical professionals and other experts, Thursday's announcement said. Police analysts also reviewed more than 800 hours of surveillance footage from the hotel and its surrounding area, combed through the contents of Payne's phone (including calls and messages on various messaging and social media apps), and assessed the singer's guest list and commands from the hotel bar and the restaurant to understand his drinking and eating habits.

Officials from the cybercrime department also extracted information from the cell phones of the hotel receptionist and volunteer witnesses to corroborate the statements.

Prosecutors allege that one of the defendants accompanied Payne daily during his stay in Buenos Aires. Payne died two weeks after arriving in Argentina, where he attended a concert by former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan on October 2. This defendant was charged with abandonment of a person resulting in death as well as the provision and distribution of narcotics, the statement said. The two remaining defendants were accused of supplying narcotics.

One defendant is a hotel employee who allegedly supplied Payne with cocaine during his stay. The other is a suspected drug supplier who has previously been accused of drug trafficking in various incidents, Thursday's statement said.

The investigation into Payne's death is ongoing and prosecutors said they were considering ruling out the possibility of suicide because “Payne, in the state he was going through, neither knew what he was doing nor could understand it.”

In October, officials determined that Payne died from multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. He “did not take a reflexive stance to protect himself and … he may have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness,” officials said last month.

Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system shortly before his death, Thursday's statement said. Prosecutors confirmed Payne's body had been returned to his father, Geoff Payne.

Payne's remains will reportedly be flown back to his native London, one of the cities where One Direction fans gathered last month to celebrate the singer's life and music.

Payne's track “Do No Wrong” was set to be released posthumously last week, but plans were quickly shelved after fan pushback.

“Today I decide to withhold 'Do No Wrong' and give these freedoms to all family members,” Payne's aide Sam Pounds said in a since-deleted tweet last week. “I would like all proceeds to go to a charity of their choice (or whatever they wish).”

Pounds added: “We are all still grieving for Liam and I want the family to grieve in peace and prayer. “We will all wait.”

Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.