Fans seeking to make sense of the shock death of former One Direction star Liam Payne at the age of 31 turned to his final social media posts hoping to find answers.
Just hours before he was found dead after falling from the third floor balcony of the hotel in which he was staying in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Payne was on Snapchat, sharing with fans selfies, photos and videos with his girlfriend.
In one photo he was shirtless and smiling alongside his influencer girlfriend Kate Cassidy. It’s understood the photo was posted just hours before his death but it would seem it was taken some days earlier and elsewhere in Argentina as Cassidy was reportedly back in Florida when he died.
In others, Payne talked about eating breakfast at 1pm, captioned a photo of him with Cassidy with the words “quality time”, and said he looked like the Joker as he attempted to fix his hair which was “a bit cray”. He also posted a photo of luxurious grounds where he indicated he was going to ride horses and play polo.
The mostly happy photos and positive messages now seem at odds with reports about his final hours.
According to TMZ, witnesses saw Payne acting erractically in the lobby of the CasaSur Hotel, smashing his laptop, and had to be carried back to his room.
Argentinian authorities told People that Payne’s room at the CasaSur Hotel was found in “total disorder” after he died.
Just minutes before Payne fell from his room’s balcony, it emerged that a hotel staff member made an emergency call requesting assistance because a guest was “trashing” their room.
The worker presumed that the guest in question was “under the influence of alcohol and drugs”.
“What I’m asking is for someone to come urgently,” the worker said on the call, indicating they were worried that there was a danger to life because the guest was in a room “with a balcony”.
Another guest, who was staying at the same hotel as Payne, told People they heard a lot of noise and later a “really loud, violent scream” on the night.
“I thought it was construction. I thought they were working on the room,” the hotel guest said of the noises they heard.
Police later found a prescription drug as well as energy supplements and various over-the-counter drugs in Payne’s room, along with “various broken items”.
Other items recovered from an internal courtyard, where Payne’s body was discovered, included a whiskey bottle, lighter and mobile phone, People reported.
Photos widely circulated by media and purporting to show Payne’s hotel room appeared to show other drug paraphernalia in the room and a smashed TV screen.
Payne had arrived in Argentina with girlfriend Cassidy on September 30. They took in Payne’s former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan’s concert at Movistar Arena, sharing video of them dancing and singing from the stands. “So happy I got to see Niall in concert,” he posted
Cassidy reportedly returned home on October 14 and Payne checked ino to the Palermo hotel.
Payne, who has a son, Bear, 7, had faced many struggles this year as his relaunched solo career failed to take off.
His long-awaited second album was put on hold after his single ‘Teardrops’, released in March, only made it to Number 43 on the UK charts.
He had parted ways with a member of his management team and friends told The Sun newspaper they were concerned that there was no one close to him to watch out for him.
“Things are tough for Liam at the moment,” a friend was quoted as saying.
“Things have started to seem slightly erratic, with plans being made before they are cancelled last minute.
“Liam had been doing really well on his second album but now it’s completely on pause. Liam is telling people now he has no idea if it’ll ever be released.”
