2 substances, broken objects found in Liam Payne's hotel room: Police
The drug clonazepam and a white powder were found in Liam Payne's hotel room, the Buenos Aires Security Ministry and Argentinian State Police confirmed to ABC News on Thursday.
Broken objects were also found in the hotel room, the Security Ministry and State Police said.
According to the State police, the white powder is currently being analyzed.
"Clonazepam is a benzodiazepine drug used for the acute treatment of panic disorder, epilepsy, and nonconvulsive status epilepticus," according to StatPearls, an online library published in the National Library of Medicine.
Police have interviewed an employee of the Hotel Casa Sur Palermo who is suspected of providing Payne with drugs on the day that he died, a source from Argentinian State Police confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
The hotel employee has not been arrested and no charges have been filed against them at this time, the source said.
The desk manager at the hotel where Payne was staying in Argentina pleaded with authorities to "send someone with urgency" in a frantic exchange with emergency services prior to his death, according to a recording of the call obtained by ABC News.
"We need to send someone with urgency because I don't know if the guest's life is in danger because he is in a room with balcony, and we are afraid he could do something that threatens life," the worker told emergency services Wednesday evening.
Payne's body was found in the inner courtyard of the hotel, where he was pronounced dead on the scene, Alberto Crescenti, the director of SAME, Buenos Aires Emergency Medical Services, told ABC News.
"We have a guest drunk with drugs and alcohol," the hotel manager said on the call. "When he is conscious, he is breaking everything in the room."
"You said alcohol and drugs?" the emergency services operator responded.
"This is correct," the hotel desk manager said.
Authorities in Buenos Aires have not confirmed any evidence of drug use present at the time of Payne's death.
Photos from inside Payne's room obtained by U.K. television outlet ITN and shared with ABC News appear to show drug paraphernalia and destruction, including a smashed television. Argentinian authorities confirmed the photos were taken from Payne's hotel room by federal law enforcement after Wednesday's incident.
Payne died of "multiple traumas" and "internal and external bleeding" sustained from his fall, according to a preliminary autopsy report from the Argentinian Public Prosecutor's Office released Thursday. The report found 25 injuries on Payne's body, with the report stating his head injuries were sufficient to cause death, and the cause of death was related to the height of Payne's fall.
The autopsy found no signs of a fight and noted there was no indication Payne wasn't alone in his room at the time of his death. Results from additional tests -- including histopathological, biochemical and toxicological exams -- are expected in the coming days.
The singer, 31, shared a YouTube video in 2023 in which he revealed he had been sober for six months after spending nearly 100 days at a Louisiana rehab facility.
Payne was staying at the hotel CasaSur in Palermo, Buenos Aires, according to police, when he fell about 42 to 45 feet from a hotel balcony.
Emergency services arrived at the scene at 5:11 p.m. local time, seven minutes after they received the emergency services call but said there was no possibility of trying to save the man -- whose identity was only discovered after he was confirmed dead -- due to injuries that were "very serious" and "incompatible with life," authorities said.
Payne joined One Direction at the group's inception in 2010 after appearing on the show "X Factor." The group also included Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.
The band announced its hiatus in 2015, and Payne began a solo career, releasing the song "Strip That Down" in 2017 and the album "LP1" in 2019.
When he was 29, Payne said he had "more of a grip on life" now that he's taken time for himself after becoming "somebody who I didn't really recognize anymore."
The singer said he was channeling his energy into being a better dad for his son, Bear, who he shared with singer Cheryl Cole.
ABC News' Aicha Elhammar contributed to this report.
