In his final days, Liam Payne was making big plans for the future. “A few weeks ago, we sat outside on a beautiful evening manifesting our lives together,” his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, wrote on Instagram on October 23, along with a picture of a note he had written. It read: “Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged & together forever.”
It’s one of many heartbreaking, untold secrets his family and friends are sharing in the wake of his tragic death at 31 on October 16. “Most of the people close to Liam knew about his addiction and mental health struggles, but they want to remind people of his goodness, as well,” a source says of the former One Direction singer, who died after falling 40 feet from the balcony of his room at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since then, chilling new details – like the drugs that were in his system, the mystery women who were with him in his last hours, and the unexplained deletion of an official statement — “seem to emerge almost every day,” adds the source. “He was living a double life, but there are still so many unanswered questions — and his loved one wants the real story.”
Geoff Payne Is Leading the Investigation of Liam’s Death
His father is leading the charge. Geoff Payne arrived in Argentina on October 18, and after emotionally thanking fans for their support, he identified his son’s body. He then met with representatives from the prosecutor’s office who are handling the investigation. Geoff won’t be able to leave the country with Liam’s body until all toxicology and other postmortem tests are complete, nor would he want to. “He expressed his desire for knowledge of what happened,” the office said in a press release, “and expressed his willingness to testify about everything he knows about his son’s life, which can help the investigation.”
Those close to Liam, who completed a 100-day rehab stint in 2023, believed him to be sober in the days leading up to his death, In Touch has learned. “But he seems to have spiraled after Kate left,” the source says of the influencer’s return home to Florida on October 14. (In Touch has learned that Liam couldn’t join her because of issues with his American visa.) Preliminary testing reportedly found a lethal cocktail of drugs — including ketamine, methamphetamine, crack cocaine, benzodiazepine and designer “pink cocaine” containing MDMA — in Liam’s system. And photos of his hotel room show a smashed TV, traces of white powder and pieces of burnt aluminum foil. Prosecutors believe this concentration of drugs combined with alcohol triggered a psychotic episode.
According to the autopsy report, “he did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself, [indicating] that he could have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.” Curiously, an official statement that there was no “third-party involvement” in Liam’s death has now vanished from the website for the prosecutor’s office, “which sparked whispers of a police cover-up,” says the source.
A week after his death, police were trying to determine who may have provided him with the drugs, indicating they now believe there may have been someone else involved after all. The hotel was raided on October 24, with cops combing through documents and surveillance videos, reportedly operating under the theory that the drugs may have been smuggled in via a Dove soap box (which was found in Liam’s room) by a staffer.
Authorities zeroed in on three hotel workers and two women identified as sex workers, In Touch has learned. Three hours before a manager called emergency services to report Liam’s erratic behavior, sources say a woman was seen with the agitated singer in the lobby as he bragged about how much money he had. In the minutes before he died, Liam also reportedly told one guest he was “so f—ed up” from being in a boy band.
Liam Was Known to Have Problems With Addiction
Liam had long grappled with the pressures of fame — which he’s said led to his alcohol abuse — as well as post-One Direction life. “I’ve suffered a bit of a dark time at the moment,” Liam, who was reportedly dropped by his record label, admitted last year. He also confessed that he had disparaged his former bandmates in a 2022 interview out of “frustrations with my career.” On Instagram, his sister Nicola revealed the family “never wanted [him] to feel like [he was] in a room full of fans,” so they hardly ever took pictures. She also hinted at his more recent setbacks: “Unfortunately, this cruel world is always quick to judge someone from a few five-second clips.” His sister Ruth echoed the sentiment in her Instagram post: “I don’t feel this world was kind enough to you, and quite often over the last few years you’ve had to really try hard to overcome all that was being aimed at you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
Could he have been saved? “Of course, everyone is wondering that now,” says the source, noting reports that at least one friend reached out to try to help him on the day he died. “There had been talk of an intervention, but this all happened so quickly that everyone is truly shocked. His loved ones won’t stop until they find out exactly how this happened—and who might be responsible.”
