Argentine Judge Charges 5 People Over Death of Liam Payne

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – An Argentine judge has upheld charges against five people in connection with the Death of Liam Paynea former member of the musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for supplying drugs.

A judicial official confirmed the judge’s decision on Monday and said one of the two people ordered to be placed in pretrial detention – a form of pretrial detention – was an employee of the Buenos Aires hotel where Payne was staying until that he died after falling from the balcony of his room in October.

The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met at a restaurant. The official, who asked not to be identified as a condition of speaking about the decision, said both were facing charges for supplying drugs and were due to appear before a judge.

The judge also charged three other people with the murder, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two hotel managers. The official said that they have not been ordered to be kept in pre-trial detention.

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In November, the prosecutors presented initial charges against three people, but did not reveal their names.

Payne fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of his hotel in the neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died of multiple injuries and external bleeding.

Prosecutors also said Payne’s toxicology tests showed her body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before her death.

Payne’s autopsy demonstrated that his injuries were not caused either by self-harm or by the physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex to protect himself in the fall, which suggests that he may have been unconscious.

Prosecutors in Argentina have also ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.

One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. He announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne, like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, pursued a solo career.