According to preliminary toxicology reports cited by US media on Monday, pop star Liam Payne had several drugs in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina, including crack cocaine and methamphetamine.
After jumping from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires, the British singer and former member of One Direction passed away last week at the age of 31.
Citing anonymous sources familiar with the preliminary tests, ABC News and TMZ reported that a mixture of drugs known as “pink cocaine”—which included methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA—had been discovered during a partial autopsy.
Benzodiazepines and crack cocaine were also mentioned.
An “improvised aluminum pipe to ingest drugs” was also found in the room, ABC reported.
Payne — who was found dead after staff called emergency services twice to report a guest “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” was “destroying” a hotel room — had spoken publicly about struggles with substance abuse and coping with fame from an early age.
Post-mortem results indicated that he was alone at the time of the fall and “was going through an episode of substance abuse,” prosecutors had previously said.
The singer suffered “multiple traumas” and “internal and external hemorrhaging,” they said.
Last week, pictures of what appeared to be Payne’s room were published in the Clarin newspaper. They showed white powder on a table near a lighter and a piece of aluminum foil. A television with a broken screen was also depicted in the images.
Substances that looked like “narcotics and alcoholic beverages” were discovered in the room among broken furniture and other items, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Local police told ABC News that although authorities have interviewed a hotel employee suspected of giving Payne drugs on the day of his death, the employee has not been taken into custody or charged.
Payne was a member of One Direction, the hugely successful pop group whose fame began in 2010 on the British television talent contest “The X Factor.”
One of the highest-grossing live acts in the world, the group went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Payne went on to enjoy solo success, but in recent years spoke openly about struggles with alcoholism and fame.
He was the father of a seven-year-old boy shared with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.
