Security footage shows that Liam Payne fainted before accidentally falling to his death on October 16, according to Argentinian journalist Paula Varela.
Varela claimed during an appearance on Socios del Espectáculo, a program on the Buenos Aires-based TV station Canal 13, that CCTV footage captured Payne’s fall and the moments leading up to it.
“There is footage that is not being released to the media with the balcony scene where you see that Liam faints, and tragically because of where he is, falls from that balcony. If he had been beside his bed, he would have fallen on his bed,” Varela said on the show, per The Mirror and GB News. “It’s not that he jumped deliberately. This footage is in the official case files.”
Varela’s claims back up the findings from Payne’s preliminary autopsy, which stated that Payne “may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness” as the position in which the 31-year-old’s body was found and his injuries suggested that he “did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself” during the fall.
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Buenos Aires emergency services chief Alberto Crescenti said that Payne suffered “serious injuries” that were “incompatible with life” after falling from a third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
“Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death,” Crescenti said. “The team could do absolutely nothing. There was no resuscitation because it was confirmed that he had died.”
A partial autopsy showed that Payne had “pink cocaine” — a recreational drug that is typically a mix of ketamine, MDMA and methamphetamine — in his system when he died, along with cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack.
While Payne’s initial preliminary autopsy stated that “no injuries were observed that would suggest the involvement of third parties,” Varela claimed that there is someone being investigated in connection with the One Direction alum’s death: an employee at the hotel.
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“He struck up an excellent relationship with Liam. He disobeyed an order from the hotel management. … It was not to take anything into Liam’s room,” Varela said of the worker. “Because of the good relationship he had with Liam, he requested a car through one of these taxi apps we all use because Liam wanted something. He did him that favor, a massive error because he’s being investigated, and they’re seeing what was transferred in that vehicle.”
Varela added that the hotel worker has been suspended.
Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Cole. Cole, 41, reacted to Payne’s death via Instagram on October 18.
“As I try to navigate this earth-shattering event and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being,” Cole wrote via Instagram alongside a photo of Payne with a then-infant Bear. “Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7-year-old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.”
