5 People Charged In The Death Of One Direction Singer Liam Payne

Since former One Direction heart-throb Liam Payne died on Oct. 16, the investigation of his passing has led to five people being charged for “creating a risk that resulted in Payne’s death.”

In the midst of a drug-fueled mania, Payne, 31, fell from the window of a Buenos Aires Hotel. Forensic investigators concluded that Payne was likely attempting to climb from his room’s third balcony when he went unconscious and fell.

Gilda Martin and Esteban Grassi, the hotel manager and receptionist at the Cassatt Palermo hotel where it happened, were charged with manslaughter, along with the singer’s friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores. The three charges will result in one to five years in prison, if convicted.

Grassi and Paiz were reportedly present in the lobby during Payne’s breakdown and administered the conditions that resulted in Payne’s death instead of providing him with medical support. Grassi allegedly “led a group of three people who dragged Payne to his room moments before his death.”

Prosecutors concluded that Nores, Payne’s traveling companion, had “full knowledge” of the extent of Payne’s “intoxications, vulnerability and helplessness” leading up to the time of his death and neglected “duties of care, assistance and aid” for the singer. He was further accused of “abandoning [Payne] to his fate, knowing that he was incapable of caring for himself [due to] multiple previous addictions to alcohol and cocaine.”

Also charged in relation to Payne’s death are the hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra and a waiter at a local restaurant, Braian Paiz, both of whom supplied Payne with the drugs. The two are in custody and face between four and 15 years in prison.

Pereyra allegedly delivered Payne cocaine on Oct. 15 at 3:25 a.m. and on Oct. 16 at 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. He also allegedly went home to retrieve narcotics at Payne’s request. Paiz, who met Payne earlier at a restaurant in town, was also accused of procuring cocaine for the singer at 3:24 a.m. on Oct. 14. He allegedly spent the remainder of the early morning with Payne in his hotel room before he went on another drug run, which he delivered to Payne at 10:03 a.m.

On Nov. 7, authorities revealed that three people had been charged in relation to Payne’s death, one for abandoning the singer in his time of crisis and the other two for supplying drugs, but the identities of the three were not disclosed at the time.

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