Former One Direction singer Liam Payne died after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires Security Ministry communications director Pablo Policicchio said the 31-year-old late singer “had jumped from the balcony of his room” on the third floor of CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
Now officials report that the 31-year-old late singer had spent the last 2 hours leading up to his death with two women he had reportedly met through an “escort” website. The women, both 25 years old, told local authorities that they had been drinking alcohol with Payne in his hotel room at the CasaSur hotel before an argument about payment erupted. They left the room about an hour before Payne’s fatal plunge, as reported by La Nación.
“They left prior to 4 p.m. from Payne’s room [and] left the actual hotel around that time because there was a problem, as Payne did not want to pay them,” an unnamed official involved in the investigation told La Nación news. The women also noted that the singer seemed “normal” before they left.
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The two prostitutes were very cooperative with the authorities
The women (names have not been disclosed) were cooperative with the investigation and even handed over their cell phones to law enforcement. “The witnesses were cooperative. Not only with their declarations, but they also gave us access to their cell phones,” a source shared with the outlet.
The escort connection was revealed in an autopsy report released Thursday, though initially, the women had not been identified as sex workers. Notably, the singer was travelling in Argentina with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.
Just before the fatal fall around 5 p.m., Payne was seen in a heated argument with a woman, believed to be one of the escorts, in the lobby of the hotel around 2 p.m. An American tourist, Michael Fleishmann, who witnessed the scene, told the Buenos Aires Herald, “’I’ll give you $20,000 just because I can. I have $55 million and I like to help people’,” the singer reportedly kept repeating during the confrontation.
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“He seemed very upset, agitated, a little wild, walking around and pacing,” Fleishmann added. “He seemed very energized.”
Following Payne’s fatal fall from the balcony, authorities described his hotel room as trashed and filled with champagne glasses and drug paraphernalia.