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Three people charged in Liam Payne’s death, including hotel worker: accuser

Three people have been arrested and charged in Argentina in connection with the death of Liam Payne on October 16, authorities announced.

The suspects are accused of abandonment of a person followed by death, and of supplying and facilitating narcotics, Argentina’s National Prosecution Service said in a press release on Thursday, November 7. The suspects have not been named by authorities.

The One Direction star died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

According to the release, “Payne was not fully conscious or experienced a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”

After Payne fell from the balcony and died, “illegal conduct was discovered and three people were charged with the crimes,” the release said.

Authorities conducted nine raids this week, the release said.

One of the suspects “is the person who accompanied the artist daily during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires.” A second suspect is a hotel worker accused of supplying Payne with cocaine, and a third is an alleged “drug supplier.”

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According to the release, prosecutors attempted to “reconstruct the days in which Payne stayed at the ‘Casa Sur’ hotel on Costa Rica Street” in Buenos Aires between October 13 and 16.

Prosecutors said in the news release that “self-harm of any kind and/or physical intervention by third parties were ruled out” as contributing factors to his death.

The Nov. 7 release by Argentine authorities states that Payne had “polydrug use of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system” in the moments before his death and during at least his last 72 hours.

This is a development story.