The Argentinian police are investigating several different leads connected to Liam Payne’s death. The One Direction singer tragically died on 16th October. He fell from a balcony in the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires. The police are no longer treating his death as a suicide.
Here’s an explanation of all the different leads which we know the police are following around Liam Payne’s death.
The missing rolex
The Argentinian police still haven’t found Liam Payne’s watch, almost a month after his death.
So, Liam Payne owned a Rolex watch, which some media outlets have reported was worth $60,000 (£47,800). Witnesses spotted him wearing it on the afternoon he died. But, we don’t know yet what happened to this watch. The police didn’t find the Rolex on his body, or in his room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, or anywhere else.
A source linked to the investigation told the Argentinian paper La Nacion, “We know from images that have been analysed that Liam had the watch on the day of his death. He had it in one of his hands and he had it at least two to three hours before his fatal hotel fall.
“We looked for it in his hotel room and couldn’t find it. The watch was searched for in the homes of the three people being investigated on suspicion of abandoning Liam and the supply and facilitation of drugs, as well as in the homes of the two women who were with him in his room the afternoon he died.
“The room is still sealed off by court order and no-one can enter. Searching for the watch in the homes of the people Liam had contact with before his death was the initial priority but now another inspection will take place to see if it remains somewhere in his room.”
The police did search Liam Payne’s hotel room in the days following his death. Police found “narcotics and alcoholic beverages” scattered around the room. There were lots of over-the-counter medicines, including Clonazepam, which is used to treat panic attacks. The police are going to search the room again in case they missed the Rolex watch.
The police are investigating three main suspects
This week, the National Prosecutor’s Office for Criminal and Correctional Matters in Argentina released a very detailed statement about what they’ve discovered so far in the investigation. The prosecutor’s office revealed the police are formally investigating three people in connection to Liam Payne’s death.
The statement said, “Unlawful conduct was discovered, as a result of which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.”
One of the suspects is a friend of Liam Payne’s who may have abandoned him before his death.
“The first of the accused is the person who accompanied the artist on a daily basis during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires, who is charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death – contemplated in article 106 of the Penal Code and which provides for a prison sentence of 5 to 15 years -, as perpetrator, in ideal concurrence with the supply and facilitation of narcotics.”
The other two people have been accused of supplying drugs.
“The second defendant is an employee of the hotel who is charged with two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the period he was at the hotel, and the third, also a supplier of narcotics, is charged with two other clearly proven supplies at two different times on 14 October. Both were charged with the offence of supplying narcotics.”
People have been speculating about who fits these descriptions. But the Argentinian police haven’t officially revealed who the three suspects are yet.
So far, two of Liam Payne’s acquaintances have denied these criminal charges.
Rogelio Nores, a friend of Liam Payne’s who spent lots of time with him in Argentina, has denied being a suspect in the case. He claimed he left Liam Payne surrounded by at least 15 other people about 40 minutes before he died.
A waiter called Braian Nahuel Paiz admitted on the Argentinian news to taking drugs with Liam Payne twice. However, he denied supplying the singer with drugs.
The police have searched nine homes so far
The statement from the prosecutor’s office revealed the Argentinian police raided nine people’s homes. It seems that three belong to the people suspected of criminal activity. Two of the homes might belong to the women who were with Liam Payne on the day he died. We don’t know anything about the other four homes.
Police have also watched 800 hours of security footage from the CasaSur Hotel and the surrounding area. They’ve searched Liam Payne’s phone and laptop. Dozens of witnesses have been interviewed.