Police investigating the balcony hotel fall death of Liam Payne have spoken to three hotel staff and two escorts. Prosecutors have also been questioning three employees at the Casa Sur hotel to reconstruct the incident, according to the Argentine outlet Clarin.
Police in the capital said Payne’s hotel room had been ‘in complete disarray’ with ‘various items broken’ – adding that a whiskey bottle, lighter and mobile phone had been retrieved from the internal hotel courtyard where his body was found.
And in sworn statements to the Buenos Aires prosecutor, the two women, who are both 25 and admit to working in prostitution, said they were booked for a client at the CasaSur hotel through an online escort service.
They arrived at the hotel at 11.30am and left at 4pm.
The pair said the singer did not consume drugs while he was with them and seemed normal. ‘We drank alcohol,’ the two women stated.
They gave their evidence on Wednesday night, just hours after Payne’s body was discovered. A source said: ‘The witnesses were co-operative, not only in their statements but also in offering access to their phones.’
The women said they had expected to leave the hotel earlier, but they hung around as they claimed they had not been paid, according to sources close to the investigation.
One Direction fans and celebrities have paid tribute to Payne while others mourned his death at a vigil outside the hotel where they lit candles and laid flowers.
The singer died of multiple traumas and ‘internal and external haemorrhage’, a post-mortem examination report said.
Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No 16 said it was investigating the incident as an ‘inconclusive death’ following the report.
Meanwhile, staff have revealed they were concerned about the star’s access to a balcony prior to his fall.
Liam Payne’s father has arrived in Argentina following the death of the One Direction star earlier this week. Geoff Payne, who landed in the country yesterday, was pictured in a navy suit exiting the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, where the British star fell from a third floor balcony on Wednesday.
Mr Payne is said to have flown to the country to organise the repatriation of his son, the Associated Press has reported.
Mr Payne was seen visiting tributes laid out by fans outside the hotel, reading letters and pausing around flowers, photographs and candles.
The singer’s family paid tribute to the 31-year-old on Thursday. They said they were ‘heartbroken’ following his death, adding: ‘Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.’
