When pop sensation Liam Payne died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, he was high on crack cocaine and methamphetamine, according to preliminary toxicology findings quoted by US media on Monday.
The British musician and former One Direction member died last week, aged 31, after falling from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.
ABC News and TMZ reported that a combination of substances known as “pink cocaine” containing methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA was discovered during a partial autopsy, citing anonymous sources acquainted with the early findings.
Crack cocaine and benzodiazepines were also included.
An “improvised aluminum pipe to ingest drugs” was also discovered in the room, ABC claimed.
Payne, who was discovered dead after staff called emergency services twice to report a visitor “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” was “destroying” a hotel room, had spoken publicly about his issues with substance misuse and coping with celebrity at a young age.
According to post-mortem results, he was alone at the time of the fall and “was going through an episode of substance abuse,” as previously stated by prosecutors.
The musician was subjected to “multiple traumas” as well as “internal and external hemorrhaging,” according to reports.
Last Monday, the Clarin newspaper published images of what it claimed was the interior of Payne’s room, showing white powder on a table next to a piece of aluminum foil and a lighter. The images also depicted a television with a damaged screen.
The prosecutor’s office stated that drugs like “narcotics and alcoholic beverages” were discovered in the room, among pieces of damaged furniture and other objects.
Officials interviewed a hotel employee suspected of giving drugs to Payne on the day he died, but he was not detained or charged, local police said.
Payne was a member of One Direction, a massively popular musical group whose fame began in 2010 on the British talent show “The X Factor.”
The ensemble, one of the world’s highest-grossing live performers, announced an indefinite break in 2016.
Payne went on to achieve solo success, but in recent years has spoken candidly about his troubles with alcoholism and celebrity.
He was the father of a seven-year-old son with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.