A preliminary autopsy sheds light on Liam Payne’s harrowing final struggle before his death at the age of just 31.
The One Direction star plunged to his death from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Liam had been visiting the country with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, but at the time of his death on October 16, he was completely alone.
Hotel staff had become concerned for Liam’s welfare that afternoon and called emergency services for help after the popstar was observed “acting erratically in the hotel lobby” and “had to be carried back to his room”. Meanwhile, CCTV footage captured shortly before Liam’s death shows him visibly intoxicated and creating a disturbance before staff intervened.
The coroner ruled out suicide or foul play, although disturbing details in the preliminary autopsy report point to the singer’s mental state at the time of the horrific fall.
Liam died due to ‘multiple traumas’
The preliminary autopsy indicated that Liam died due to “multiple traumas,” resulting in “internal and external bleeding” after the 40-foot descent. Forensic experts determined that “the 25 injuries described in the autopsy are consistent with those caused by a fall from a height.”
They also stated that Liam did not have any “defensive-type” injuries and that the wounds were “vital and produced at the same time as each other,” so they concluded that “third-party intervention is ruled out,” according to the Argentine newspaper La Nación.
Meanwhile, on November 7, a report by the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office concluded that traces of “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” had been detected in Liam’s body. Explaining why suicide had been ruled out, officials revealed that “in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing and could not understand it.”
According to the report, Liam, the father of a child whose tragic death has been linked to a substance-induced “psychotic episode,” “failed to adopt a reflexive stance to protect himself from the fall, so at this stage it can be inferred that he may have fallen in a state of semi- or total unconsciousness.”
It was therefore concluded that Liam was not fully conscious or was in a “state of markedly diminished or abolished consciousness” at the time of the fall. Investigators determined: “For the prosecution, this situation would also rule out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act on the part of the victim since, in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing and could not understand it.”
A witness has broken his silence
Image:
ITV)
This comes as a witness to the fall broke his silence in a controversial TMZ documentary, which some have branded “invasive”. TMZ Presents: Liam Payne: Who’s to Blame?, which aired on Sunday, December 15 in the US, heard from hotel guest Bret Watson, who revealed he had been left “haunted” by the tragic incident.
Bret dijo: “Estábamos mirando por la ventana de nuestro hotel hacia la zona de la piscina para mostrarle [a la organizadora] la vista desde el hotel. Vimos a Liam caer… así que inmediatamente salimos al balcón para ver qué era, y cuando miramos hacia abajo, pudimos ver que era Liam tirado en el suelo”.
Entre los investigados en relación con la tragedia se encuentran Roger Nores, Braian Paiz, el empleado del hotel Ezequiel Pereyra, el personal de seguridad del hotel Esteban Reynaldo Grassi y la gerente Gilda Martín. La semana pasada, la jueza Laura Bruinard ordenó que se revisaran las imágenes de CCTV de la caída, ocho semanas después de la muerte de Liam. Las autoridades examinarán ahora el video que no se había compartido anteriormente.
