Buenos Aires Police Raid Hotel Where Liam Payne Died
Authorities sought documentation, film records, and video on Wednesday
Police and firefighters work the scene at CasaSur hotel. Tobias Skarlovnik/Getty Images
Authorities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, la Policía de la Ciudad, raided the CasaSur Palmero Hotel where Liam Payne fell to his death a week ago. La Nacion reports that six members of the police’s special investigations and the special technological investigations divisions entered the hotel on Wednesday afternoon to seize evidence for their investigations into the former One Direction star’s death. Sources told the paper that they were specifically in search of documentation, film records, and video.
Andrés Madrea, who is leading the case for the public prosecutor’s office, requested the raid, and Laura Bruniard, a judge who oversees criminal and “correctional” cases, ordered the raid.
The authorities made the move after Madrea met with Geoff Payne, the singer’s father, who arrived in Buenos Aires earlier this week. Payne asked Madrea to investigate his son’s death fully, according to La Nacion, and offered to help in any way he could.
At the time, Madrea’s office, which recognized the singer’s right to privacy and promised to deliver the results of its investigations to Payne before the public, was still waiting for the results of toxicology and tissue disease tests from the autopsy. Once completed, Payne would be able to bring his son’s body home to England.
The prosecutor’s office was also conducting forensic tests on cell phones, computers, photographs, and security footage. It was also interviewing witnesses to reconstruct the singer’s final hours.
The investigation follows last week’s ruling that Payne’s fall was officially a “questionable death” worthy of examination by the prosecutor’s office. A post-autopsy report ruled that Payne’s causes of death were multiple traumas, internal and external bleeding, and a cranial injury.
“We are heartbroken,” Payne’s family said in a statement last week. “Liam will forever live in our hearts, and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny, and brave soul. We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”
From Rolling Stone US.
