Pop star Liam Payne had multiple drugs, including crack cocaine and methamphetamine, in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina, according to the first toxicology reports cited by US media on Monday.
The British singer and former One Direction member died last week at the age of 31 after jumping from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.
ABC News and TMZ said a cocktail of drugs called “pink cocaine” — containing methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — was found during a partial autopsy, citing anonymous sources familiar with the preliminary testing.
Crack cocaine and benzodiazepine were also mentioned.
A “makeshift aluminum pipe for taking drugs” was also found in the room, ABC reported.
Payne – who was found dead after staff twice called 911 to report that a guest ‘overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol’ was ‘destroying’ a hotel room – had spoken publicly from an early age about battling substance abuse and dealing with fame.
Post-mortem results showed he was alone at the time of the fall and was “experiencing an episode of substance abuse,” prosecutors had previously said.
The singer suffered “multiple traumas” and “internal and external bleeding,” they said.
The Clarin newspaper last week published photos of what was said to be the interior of Payne’s room, with white powder visible on a table next to a piece of aluminum foil and a lighter. The photos also showed a television with a broken screen.
The prosecutor’s office said substances resembling “narcotics and alcoholic beverages” were found in the room, among broken furniture and other items.
A hotel employee suspected of supplying Payne with drugs the day he died has been interviewed by officials but not arrested or charged, local police told ABC News.
Payne was a member of One Direction, the hugely successful pop group whose fame began in 2010 on the British television talent competition “The X Factor.”
The group, one of the highest-grossing live acts in the world, went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Payne enjoyed solo success but has spoken openly about struggles with alcoholism and fame in recent years.
He was the father of a seven-year-old boy whom he shared with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.
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