5 charged in death of One Direction star Liam Payne in Argentina

An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for allegedly having supplied him with drugs.

A judicial officer confirmed Monday the judge's decision and said that one of the two people ordered to be put under preventive prison — a form of pre-trial detention — was an employee of the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne was staying when he died, after falling from the balcony of his room in October.

The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met in a restaurant. The officer, who requested not to be identified as a condition to talk about the ruling, said that both face charges for allegedly supplying drugs and need to present themselves before the judge.

The judge also charged three other people with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two managers of the hotel. The official said that they were not ordered to be held under preventive prison.

WATCH | 911 call made by hotel employee just before the singer fell from balcony: 

911 call sheds light on Liam Payne’s death as fans pay tribute

3 months ago

Duration 2:06

Police have released new details about former One Direction singer Liam Payne’s death in Buenos Aires, including a recording of a 911 call made by a hotel employee just before the singer fell from a third-floor hotel balcony. Autopsy results confirm that Payne died from that fall.

In November, prosecutors filed initial charges against three people, but they didn't reveal their names.

Payne fell from his room's balcony on the third floor of the hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo, in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.

Prosecutors also said that Payne's toxicological exams showed that his body had "traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant" in the moments before his death. His autopsy showed his injuries weren't caused by self-harm or by physical intervention from others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious.

Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.

One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne — like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — pursued a solo career.

WATCH | Bandmates, fans remember Liam Payne: 

One Direction bandmates, fans mourn Liam Payne as he's laid to rest

1 month ago

Duration 1:40

A funeral for One Direction singer Liam Payne was held in Amersham, England, on Wednesday, more than a month after the 31-year-old fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina. While some fans remembered Payne outside the church where his bandmates attended the memorial, people in his hometown of Wolverhampton were disappointed the ceremony wasn't held there.