Washington [US]: Former One Direction member Liam Payne died in Buenos Aires on Wednesday after falling from the balcony of his hotel room.
Now an autopsy has confirmed that the British singer died of trauma and internal and external bleeding, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The report, released by Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14, stated that Payne died at 5:07 p.m. on Wednesday after falling from the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo district of the capital.
Forensic doctors at the city’s judicial morgue conducted the autopsy that night.
In a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, the prosecutor’s office said, “The cause of death of Liam James Payne, determined macroscopically, has been polytrauma, internal and external hemorrhage.”
The circumstances of Payne’s fall are being investigated as a “doubtful death” due to protocol, although it appears he was alone when the fall occurred.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the prosecutor’s office stated that Payne “was going through some kind of outbreak due to substance abuse” at the time of the incident.
Authorities investigating the scene found evidence inside Payne’s room that “would be narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as several destroyed objects and furniture.” Experts are still working to confirm whether the substances found were drugs.
Five witnesses were interviewed, including three hotel staff members and two women who had been with Payne in his room earlier but had left before the fall.
Following the news of Payne’s death, tributes poured out from “The X Factor,” Backstreet Boys, Paris Hilton and more. “Britain’s Got Talent,” the show that former “X Factor” judge and one-time One Direction manager Simon Cowell is currently featured on, also cancelled its auditions on Thursday due to Payne’s death.
Payne was discovered on “The X Factor” in 2010 alongside his One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. The five musicians auditioned for the show solo, but were put together to form a band and eventually came in third place in the competition. Afterwards, One Direction was signed to Cowell’s Syco Entertainment.
The band went on to become one of the highest-selling boy bands in history, selling 70 million records worldwide before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2016, Variety reported.
After One Direction’s hiatus, Payne signed a solo record deal with Capitol Records U.K. and began releasing music in 2017, beginning with the single “Strip That Down” featuring Migos rapper Quavo. His debut solo album, “LP1,” debuted in December 2019 and he put out a new single, “Teardrops,” in March with a second album on the way.