Pop star Liam Payne the former One Direction member was found to have multiple drugs including crack cocaine and methamphetamine in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina according to preliminary toxicology reports cited by US media. The British singer died at the age of 31 after plunging from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires last week.
Reports from ABC News and TMZ indicate that a mix of substances known as “pink cocaine,” which contains methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA was detected during a partial autopsy. Additionally, crack cocaine and benzodiazepine were found. An improvised aluminum pipe, likely used for drug ingestion was also discovered in the hotel room.
Staff had called emergency services twice, reporting a guest who was “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” and causing destruction in the room. Prosecutors revealed that Payne was alone at the time of his fall and was experiencing a substance abuse episode. The post-mortem examination indicated that he sustained “multiple traumas” and suffered “internal and external hemorrhaging.”
Photos published by the Clarin newspaper showed the interior of his room with white powder on a table, alongside aluminum foil and a lighter amid broken furniture and a damaged television.
A hotel employee, suspected of supplying drugs to Payne on the day of his death has been questioned by authorities but has not been arrested or charged. Payne rose to fame as part of One Direction, a globally successful pop group formed in 2010 on “The X Factor,” before going on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
He later achieved solo success, but openly discussed his struggles with alcoholism and the pressures of fame. He was also a father to a seven-year-old son with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.
