How the Musician Spent His Final Weeks in Argentina

Guests from the hotel recall their encounters with the One Direction star, why Liam’s girlfriend left Argentina and his last words with a friend.

The One Direction star was found dead at 31 years old after suffering a fatal fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, local officials told The Associated Press.

Payne fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital, resulting in “extremely serious injuries.” Medics confirmed his death on the spot, with local officials later saying the singer died from “internal and external hemorrhage.”

He had been vacationing there with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.

In videos circulating social media that Payne shared to his Snapchat he gave fans an insight into his trip with Cassidy. The videos initially caused confusion as they were uploaded in the days and hours leading up to his death and it is unclear when or why the videos were uploaded to his account with such a delay.

“So it’s going to be a nice day,” he told the camera as he sat at a table, before Cassidy cuts in to say the pair have been “waking up at 1pm everyday” before referring to themselves as “losers.”

The 25-year-old again interjects in a jokingly singsong voice, “then you’re going home ha ha loser, weirdo,” before noting she’s heading home to Florida to see her dog Nala, prompting Liam to share a message of support regarding the severe weather the area had suffered from the hurricanes.

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“I hope everybody was okay in Milton, as well,” he said. “Quite a scary thing to watch from far away. Hope everybody was okay, and all the little dogs made it out as well. Some quite sad stories about dogs.”

He then added, “Obviously we’re gonna go home and see our dog, Nala.”

In a TikTok video Cassidy shared two days before Payne’s death about her returning to Florida, she revealed that she was “ready to leave.”

“Honestly, love South America but I hate staying in one place for too long. And we were supposed to be there for, like, five days, turned into two weeks.”

Adding, “I was just like, ‘I need to go home.'” In a TikTok video, she showed her airline ticket dated October 12. She arrived in Miami the following morning.

The late One Direction singer was first romantically linked to Cassidy in October 2022, when they were spotted at a Halloween party together dressed as ’90s couple Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, respectively. They made their red carpet debut together at the British Fashion Awards in December of that year.

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Payne attended his former One Direction bandmate, Niall Horan’s concert before his death.

A fan of the singer named Noelia Veron told PEOPLE that leading up to Payne’s death, she had a few interactions with him while he was in Buenos Aires.

“I ran into him by chance. I had found out on Twitter that he was here for Niall’s show,” she told the publication. “We took photos together. I waited for him to approach us, and he took pictures with all the fans. He talked to us, hugged us and even made jokes.”

Payne attended Horan’s Oct. 2 show at the Movistar Arena, which Veron also attended. “When Niall started singing one of the One Direction songs, everyone was looking at Liam,” she recalled. “He seemed to be enjoying himself.”

Fans have been uploading videos online of their encounters with Payne in Argentina days before his death. He was seen taking photos and spending time with his fans. Veron revealed that there was “nothing strange or unusual about his behavior” and he “was always open to it, full of love.”

According to The Daily Mail, Payne was dropped by his music label, Capitol Records — a label owned by Universal — just days before his death. He signed with Capitol when he launched his solo career at 22-years-old.

(Trigger Warning: the following section details reported eyewitness accounts of erratic behavior leading up to and including the moment of Payne’s death)

Guests from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, are recalling their experiences at the hotel leading up to the One Direction star’s death on October 16.

One guest — Bret Watson — described witnessing Payne in the hours before his fatal fall. The Chicago man told ITV that he had “multiple encounters” with the star while staying at the hotel.

“So we’re here with a couple of other guests in the hotel and we were in the lobby just waiting for some people to arrive and that’s when we had multiple encounters with Liam,” the 34-year-old from Chicago told the news outlet.

“Multiple times [Liam] had come down to the lobby, was causing a disturbance, kept being escorted back up to his room,” he added.

“There was an incident where he was very frustrated and was smashing his laptop in the lobby. And then the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby of the hotel, started, looked like [he was] convulsing a little bit and had to be physically taken back up to his room. And that was about five minutes before the eventual incident that happened.”

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Watson also described seeing Payne earlier in the day on his laptop, before describing seeing Payne fall to his death.

“I was in my hotel room, two floors below and directly below and saw the body fall through, looking out the window, saw the body fall and obviously heard the aftermath and could see his body on the ground afterwards.”

Watson called the incident “surreal” and an “out-of-body experience.” He didn’t know it was Payne at first, however said he “had a suspicion” straight away, “just based on the state of mind and the condition he was in earlier…that was my first thought.”

Another guest heard a commotion coming from Payne’s room.

“I thought it was construction. I thought they were working on the room,” the hotel guest told PEOPLE. They told the publication it sounded like “heavy lifting” or “banging,” before adding that they say hotel staff “going in and out” of the room when “more noise” was made around 4:30 p.m. local time.

According to the police statement given to The Associated Press, police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

After the noise started back up, the guest told PEOPLE that they “heard a really loud, violent scream” and then “sirens,” before they “came down the elevator” and saw the “whole street was full of cop cars.”

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CNN reported the manager of CasaSur Hotel in Palermo, Buenos Aire made an emergency call around 5 p.m. Wednesday to get help.

In the moments leading up to Payne’s death, the hotel staffer claimed to authorities that the hotel had “a guest who is intoxicated with drugs and alcohol.”

According to a 911 transcript, obtained by several media outlets, a guest was “breaking everything in the room” when he was “conscious.” He then asked for “someone to be sent urgently” as he was unsure “if the guest’s life is at risk.”

“He’s in a room that has a balcony. We’re a little afraid that he’ll do something that puts him–” the staffer said before the operator interrupted him to find out how long the guest had been staying there.

The phone call then revealed that the guest had been staying in their room for 2 or 3 days.

TMZ shared images from inside Payne’s hotel room which show a smashed television and other evidence of destruction.

Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time, however Payne had already fallen to his death.

The police statement to The Associated Press said Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.”

A close friend of Payne revealed to Sky News that she spoke to the singer just hours before his death.

Jodie Richards — who taught Payne at her performing arts company Pink Productions in Wolverhampton — thought the news about Payne’s death was fake after having just exchanged texts with him.

She shared screenshots of the conversation between the pair with the outlet, showing Payne had reached out to his friend asking if she was “up.” He also allegedly shared a photo of himself sitting on his bed in his hotel room in Argentina with question marks. She replied: “Sorry just home x.” He allegedly wrote back, “Ok.” Richards told the publication that she is “really close to Liam.”

“We’ve been friends for years and he was away yesterday in Argentina and I think he just wanted to touch base and check I was okay, see how everyone was back at home.”

Payne grew to become a worldwide sensation as a member of the boy band One Direction. The juggernaut group — Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik — were put together on the 2010 edition of The X Factor in the UK, going on to a third-place finish before getting signed by Simon Cowell and catapulting to superstardom.

Payne’s journey had many highs and lows — with the late star having spoken out multiple times over the years about his experience with the beloved boy band before his tragic death.

Outside of being a famed musician, Payne was a proud father. He welcomed a son, Bear, in March 2017 with singer Cheryl Cole.

And while the pair went their separate ways just a year later in 2018, Payne remained an active part of Bear’s life, often speaking about his son in interviews and sharing what it was like being a young dad.