After Liam Payne fell 46ft to his death from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, an autopsy revealed he had died instantaneously, having suffered ‘multiple traumatic injuries’ which led to ‘internal and external haemorrhage’.
And yet the Argentinian prosecutor has described the death of the former One Direction singer, 31, as ‘undetermined’. Authorities remain puzzled as to the exact sequence of events leading up to his fall.
Indeed, my subsequent investigations have exposed the true complexity of this extraordinary case, and the cast of characters involved. Yesterday, two employees at the CasaSur hotel were formally named as persons of interest, taking the number of those being questioned up to five
And so – just eight weeks on from that fateful day – here are ten unanswered questions at the heart of a tragedy that has gripped and horrified the world.
1. Who left the mysterious brown bag?
On October 18 – two days after Payne’s death – an unnamed hotel employee came across a brown leather bag on the second-floor balcony immediately beneath the singer’s room.
Inside the bag was a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whisky and a number of unidentified pills. Most shocking of all, the bag contained a scrawled note reading: ‘For Liam’.
It is not known when the bag was placed there, but it seems possible that the singer tossed the large hold-all on to the balcony beneath him before attempting to climb down and recover it. It also suggests that someone with access to the hotel was passing the singer alcohol and narcotics.
So who placed the bag there, and why?
2. What happened to his gold Rolex?
When Payne’s body was recovered, there was no sign of the £30,000 Rolex watch the star had been photographed wearing earlier in the day. Rumours began to swirl about its whereabouts after police failed to recover the timepiece in a sweep of his hotel room.
One theory is that Payne may have used the watch to pay two escorts said to have visited his room. Argentine Press named the two women as Aldana Serrano, 31, and Lucila Goitea, 27.
The pair said they arrived at the hotel at 11.30am and left shortly before 4pm. They had planned to leave earlier but alleged there had been a dispute over payment, according to reports. It is not clear how the women were eventually paid or who organised the transaction – leading some to speculate that Payne’s watch may have been used as payment.
The girls gave sworn statements to the authorities and their homes were searched – where police found no sign of the missing gold watch.
Where did it go – and why was it taken?
3. Why did he smash his laptop?
One of the last photos of the singer alive was taken at 4.26pm – some 30 minutes prior to the fall – when he was pictured using his laptop in the hotel lobby. However, shortly after this picture was taken, Payne appeared to receive an email that caused him to fly into a rage.
One 28-year-old female witness told the Mail that Payne ‘suddenly took the computer, shouted ‘f**k this s**t mate!’ and started bashing the computer on the ground’.
So just what had caused the singer to erupt?
When Payne entered the hotel shortly after 4:00pm, he appeared in good spirits, chatting with fans about his life in Florida, where he was staying in a $12,000-a-month house with his girlfriend, American influencer Kate Cassidy.
Minutes later, one source told us that his behaviour became increasingly erratic. She adds that at one point he exclaimed: ‘I used to be in a boy band – that’s why I am so f***ed up.’
4. What happened at his first hotel?
Prior to checking into the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, Payne stayed at the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires hotel, where one-bedroom suites go for more than £1,000 a night.
The Palacio Duhau is one of the most exclusive hotels in the city and crucially boasts a front gate with added security to prevent those not staying at the hotel from entering the lobby. In other words, it was accommodation far better suited to Payne’s privacy needs than the more relaxed CasaSur.
So why did the star swap hotels?
While the Hyatt has released no official confirmation, one insider at the hotel revealed that the singer had been ‘kicked out’ of the hotel. Speaking two days after his death, they claimed he ‘appeared intoxicated’.
If this is true, then why didn’t those around Payne spot the warning signs that the star was spiralling out of control, and intervene?
5. What caused his girlfriend to leave?
This week, Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy released a video tribute to the late star – three weeks after attending his funeral in Buckinghamshire.
Ms Cassidy had been with Payne in Buenos Aires, travelling from Florida with him last month. And yet, four days before his death, the US model flew home without him.
The question is why? On October 12 – the day she returned to Miami – the 25-year-old said on TikTok: ‘I was so ready to leave. Honestly, love South America but I hate staying in one place for too long.’
However, a source told the Mail that Ms Cassidy had become disillusioned by the singer’s relapse into drug-taking, prompting her return to Miami.
Following his death, his girlfriend wrote on Instagram: ‘My heart is shattered in ways I can’t put into words. I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond, carrying our dreams and memories with me everywhere I go.’
6. Was Payne trying to flee?
Writing in these pages last month, I raised the prospect that Payne had been attempting to escape the CasaSur Palermo Hotel by climbing from his balcony before slipping and falling to his death.
Payne’s body was found alongside his black cap – which he wore in public to avoid being recognised – as well as the small bag he used when out and about. These were not items he had on him when he was taken up to his room minutes before the fall. It appears that, between being taken to his room and falling to his death, Payne got dressed to go out.
What’s more, Payne had a long history of climbing from hotel balconies – a practice that dated back to his days in One Direction when the boys wanted to evade management.
In a further twist, I also revealed that Payne had climbed from a balcony in Florida just a month prior to his death to bypass his bodyguard who was attempting to prevent Payne heading into the city to score drugs.
Was Payne’s fall actually a tragic slip as he sought to leave the hotel? And if so, why did he feel he could not leave via the elevator, as he had throughout his three-day stay at CasaSur?
7. What drugs had he taken?
Payne’s body was found to contain ‘traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant’, according to the toxicology report. But this seems insufficient to explain his behaviour.
One witness described seeing Payne ‘convulsing’ on the hotel lobby floor around ten minutes before his death, while the autopsy found the singer made no attempt to break his fall and concluded he was therefore likely unconscious.
So exactly which[itals] antidepressant had Payne taken? And what quantity of cocaine and alcohol could possibly have made him ‘convulse’ on the floor and fall unconscious?
Previous reports suggested Payne may have ingested so-called ‘pink cocaine’ – a psychoactive party drug popular on the Ibiza club scene made up of ketamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin. Whatever the truth is, the exact cocktail of mind-altering substances in Payne’s body remains unclear.
8. Why didn’t the hotel staff send help?
After Payne supposedly ‘convulsed’ in the hotel lobby, staff did not call an ambulance immediately.
Instead, chief receptionist Esteban Grassi was one of three members of staff who took the troubled singer to his room, leaving him beside the open balcony from which he would subsequently fall.
We know that Grassi was aware of the potential danger the balcony posed. When he called 911 minutes after taking Payne to his room, he told the operator: ‘I don’t know whether his life may be in danger, the guest’s life. He is in a room with a balcony and, well, we’re a little afraid that he might do something.’
While the hotel has not responded to requests for comment, it would appear that staff made a catastrophic misjudgment in not seeking immediate medical assistance.
Two of the three men pictured carrying Payne to his room – Grassi and head of security Gilda Martin – were only yesterday named as suspects in the ongoing investigation. It appears they may finally be asked to account for their treatment of the star.
9. Why did his best friend leave him on his own?
One man who has been widely accused of failing to save Payne from himself is the singer’s friend, Argentinian-American Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores.
The energy magnate was photographed with Payne in Buenos Aires, including at the concert for his former bandmate Niall Horan. Hours before Payne’s death, the pair were seen together in the hotel – but Nores left 40 minutes before he fell after apologising to staff for Payne’s behaviour, according to one of our sources.
The 35-year-old remains a ‘person of interest’ in the ongoing criminal investigation, with the prosecutor’s office accusing him of ‘abandonment of a person before death’.
Was Nores the man who should have been looking after Payne?
He has staunchly denied the prosecutor’s accusation, telling the Mail: ‘I never abandoned Liam. I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.’
The Mail has also been shown a letter signed by Payne’s US lawyer – a former attorney general – confirming there was no formal agreement between Payne and Nores. ‘To my knowledge, Mr Payne did not have any contact arrangement with Mr Nores,’ the letter concluded.
While this would seem to put to bed the suggestion that Nores was formally responsible for the star – why did he leave him at all?
10. Who are the other two mystery men?
As well as Roger Nores, the two other ‘persons of interest’ to police are Braian Nahuel Paiz and Ezequiel David Pereyra.
As I revealed last month, 24-year-old waiter Paiz met Payne on October 2 when the signer dined at the exclusive Cabana Las Lilas restaurant in the upmarket financial district of Puerto Madero.
Fans had accused Paiz, an aspiring model and actor, of supplying the singer with drugs – which he strongly denied in an interview on November 9.
Paiz said he and Payne ‘took drugs together’ but added: ‘I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.’
Paiz claimed he had spent two separate evenings with the star and that ‘something intimate happened’ on their second night at the CasaSur hotel on October 13. He even said that Payne offered him items of clothing – namely grey jogging bottoms and a T-shirt – as mementoes of their friendship.
Paiz later clarified that the pair did not have sexual relations, posting on Instagram: ‘I never said I had sex with anyone.’ Regardless, the question remains as to what exactly was exchanged between the pair.
Very little is known about Pereyra, a 21-year-old CasaSur employee, who was questioned by police on suspicion of dealing Payne drugs. Last month, leaked CCTV footage from the hotel basement showed a man – believed to be Pereyra – shaking hands and exchanging words with Payne.
For now, Pereyra has avoided all media attempts to contact him.