New police files released two years after Liam Payne's death have revealed haunting images and documents from his final hours. The One Direction star, 31, died in October 2024 after falling 46ft from a third-floor balcony of his hotel suite in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Final Day Details
Payne had been in Argentina for 16 days waiting for his US visa renewal. He spent much of the trip with girlfriend Kate Cassidy and businessman Rogelio “Roger” Nores, and was reportedly sober for the first two weeks. After Kate returned to Miami on October 14, Payne checked out of the luxury Park Hyatt following an alleged confrontation with staff and moved to the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
Heartbreaking CCTV images show Payne stumbling through the corridors just one hour before his death. His father, Geoff, gave a sworn statement saying: "He was not in control with what he did. He was not Liam."
Hotel Interactions
Hotel manager Gilda Martin wrote in a WhatsApp group: "This person is going to be very intense throughout his stay. It’s important that we tell him 'no', always kindly and with excuses. This is to stop him from continuing to be aggressive. Or at least not so much."
Payne contacted two escorts, who arrived at the hotel at around 11:30am. They said they had consensual sex with him once, and he wore protection. When they asked for payment, he offered his Rolex, which he later smashed when they refused. One woman said: "We told him we only wanted money so he took it and smashed it. He told us he didn’t care about the money. And then he broke the TV, he punched it. He made us understand that he could smash everything because he knew he could pay for it."
Room Condition and Investigation
Photos from Room 310 showed sheets pulled off the bed, blood streaks on the bathroom sink, and drug paraphernalia including burned Coca-Cola can lids, a blackened spoon, and half-burned candles. Police believe Payne heated powdered cocaine into a liquid 'crack' form.
The escorts left at 3:30pm, and Roger Nores arrived at 4pm. After talking, Nores said Payne did not seem impaired and left. Forty minutes later, Payne was dead. Nores was initially charged with 'abandoning' Payne but all charges were dropped. Three of the five initially charged had charges dropped by 2026; two defendants accused of selling cocaine are in plea negotiations.
New Theory
A grainy photo from the police files shows Payne swinging around a pole outside the hotel at 3:21am. A source close to the investigation said police consider the picture 'highly significant' because it showed Payne's upper body strength. This suggests he may have been trying to climb out of his hotel room, confident he could hold his weight, before losing his grip.
Payne's death left his family, friends, and millions of fans heartbroken, and his son Bear without a father.
