Liam Payne was seen arguing with a woman about money in the lobby of his hotel just hours before he died falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, a fellow guest has claimed.
The 31-year-old former One Direction singer plunged 45ft from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentinian capital on Wednesday, sparking a wave of grief around the world.
In the wake of the tragedy, hotel guests shared their chilling recollections of the moments before his death, including hearing ‘violent noises’ and a ‘scream’.
One guest claims Payne had made a shocking admission just minutes before he plunged to his death claiming: ‘I used to be in a boy band – that’s why I’m so f**ked up’.
Michael Fleischmann, from the United States, was also staying in the luxury hotel and claims just three hours before Payne’s death the singer seemed ‘a little wild’ as he argued with an unnamed woman about money.
He claimed the former boy band star kept repeating to the woman: ‘I’ll give you $20,000 dollars just because I can. I have $55 million and I like to help people.’
Liam Payne was seen arguing with a woman about money in the lobby of his hotel just hours before he died (Pictured in the Casa Sur Hotel lobby at 4.28pm on Wednesday)
Liam Payne looks at his laptop in the Casa Sur Hotel lobby in Buenos Aires on Wednesday at 4.26pm The alarm was raised at 5.04pm following his fall
A table surface covered with tin foil, white powder, a lighter and scorch marks on the wooden surface in Payne’s room
During the ‘very tense situation’ the woman is said to have spoken in Spanish with the hotel manager translating the conversation to Payne at around 2pm local time.
Mr Fleischmann told the Buenos Aires Herald that he only recognised that the man ‘with an English accent who seemed to be causing a disturbance’ in the lobby was Payne until after news of his death broke.
He added that the singer had ‘seemed very upset, agitated, a little wild, walking around and pacing’ and ‘seemed very energized’.
Mr Fleischmann’s mother Toni added: ‘It just looked like she was extremely uncomfortable with him, and a little apprehensive.
‘It was just my son, me, Liam Payne, the woman and the staff. The manager was trying to politely intervene or calm him down. There was a feeling of anxiety in the area.’
The mother and son ended up getting in the same lift as Payne. They later left the hotel and the woman seen arguing with the star was outside the building on the phone.
Payne was found dead by police who say they found the popstar’s medicines including clonazepam – a drug which is used to control epilepsy, involuntary muscle spasms and panic disorders.
Photos inside the luxury suite, published by Argentinian magazine Clarin, appeared to confirm the troubling report about Payne’s mental state.
On a table, the surface was covered with tin foil, white powder, a lighter and scorch marks on the wooden surface.
A blackened aluminium drinks can lid appeared to have been heated and a smashed TV screen on a shelf bore the signs of a heavy impact whilst a half-empty Champagne flute was nearby.
Another guest named Rebecca was one of the last people to speak to the popstar and claimed that Payne:
- Showed ‘disturbing and weird behaviour’ as he smashed his laptop on the floor;
- Grabbed a young woman and pretended to choke her in the hotel lift; and
- Was accompanied by an ‘entourage’ of two women and a British man.
Rebecca, not her real name, a 28-year-old IT consultant from Washington DC, took these haunting photographs of Payne in the lobby shortly before his death.Â
She said his bizarre behaviour and its horrific aftermath had left her ‘shaken’. As tributes continued to pour in for Payne, including from his former bandmates:
Rebecca’s surprise 30-minute long encounter with Payne took place in the foyer of the hotel, where she was staying for a wedding. Payne had been due to check out on Wednesday morning, but still had not done so by late afternoon, she claimed.
Rebecca took her photos from 4.26pm local time (8.26pm UK time) – which is also when Payne made the ‘boy band’ comment. Just 36 minutes later, hotel staff raised the alarm at 5.04pm following Payne’s fall. An ambulance arrived at 5.11pm and Payne was then certified dead.
Liam Payne in the Casa Sur Hotel lobby in Buenos Aires just minutes before his death
Liam Payne shakes hands with a woman in the hotel lobby in Buenos Aires on Wednesday
The woman also took this picture at 5.40pm of the early emergency response outside the hotel
Rebecca told MailOnline in an exclusive interview:Â ‘One of my friends was due to get his suite, so the hotel staff were a little on edge because he still hadn’t checked out at 4.30pm, but also because of his behaviour.
‘I came into the hotel, and he was waiting by the elevator, and it was so clear he wanted someone to recognise him, there was something a bit desperate about him.
‘I was with my friends and we did know who he was, but none of us were that bothered.
‘When the lift came he suddenly said to us without any prompting: ‘Yes, I’m Liam!’ really drawing it out, and then said ‘All right come on you lot, get in the elevator with me, I love a cuddle’.
‘I decided against it and waited for the next one, but some of the other girls got in with him and half way up, he started saying ‘Oh, you’re Americans, I live in West Palm Beach.
‘I know Americans. You guys are f***ing crazy! You guys are f***ing dangerous!
A drone view shows the balcony on the Casa Sur Hotel from where Payne fell to his death
‘And then he grabs a girl who I think was with him and starts fake choking her, only lightly, but the others thought it was really disturbing.’
Rebecca said she returned to the lobby ten minutes later and shortly afterwards, Payne arrived back, dangling his open laptop nonchalantly from one corner.
He then began reading emails after flopping onto a sofa, wearing a white vest, cargo pants and trainers.
‘I have a blind relative and I realised he had the laptop on its accessibility setting, for some reason, so that each time he moved the mouse, hovering over something the machine spoke out loud to say where the cursor was,’ said Rebecca.
‘I assumed he was doing that for the attention too. Then he opened his emails and saw one which obviously upset him. Suddenly he took the computer, shouted ‘f**k this s**t mate!’ and started bashing the computer on the ground.
One of Liam Payne’s final selfies in Buenos Aires was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’Â
Payne said he was ‘happy to have some time away’ less than an hour before he fell to his death
Payne was seen contemplating a Forest Gump Halloween costume in a social media post
‘Everyone, especially the staff was really shocked. It’s a high-end hotel and his behaviour was so out of place – people were just chilling.
‘I went over, asked ‘are you OK?’ But he just kind of grunted. Then he said ‘I used to be in a boyband. That’s why I’m so f**ked up.’
‘I couldn’t believe he’d just come out and said something like that. There was a lot more swearing and he took the laptop over and went to get back in the lift.Â
‘After he’d gone, the British guy from his entourage, who I think was called Roger, came over and apologised on his behalf, saying ‘I’m sorry, he just gets so high sometimes’.
‘I did wonder what these people with him were doing to help him, but maybe they had tried and failed. The hotel staff were freaking out and watching him really nervously. I could see one of them was on the phone to what I assumed was security or the police.
‘I’ve never taken cocaine, but he was behaving exactly as I’d imagine someone would on the drug – he wasn’t focusing, and his pupils were dilated, and he was behaving in aggressive way – though not to anyone in particular.’
Meanwhile the hotel manager later reportedly told guests ‘we have a guest who’s out of it because of drugs and alcohol. And when he’s conscious, he’s breaking everything in the room’.
Last night, prosecutors investigating the death confirmed they had spoken to two women who had been with the singer the night before he died.
A picture of Payne’s hotel room was published by Argentinian press showing a smashed TV
Pieces of aluminium foil scattered on a desk and traces of white powder in Payne’s hotel room
A burnt candle and more aluminum foil are pictured in a bathtub in Payne’s suite at the hotelÂ
Police had been searching for the duo having identified them as ‘key witnesses’. They have now provided statements alongside three hotel staff members.
There is no indication that the women could be involved in his death, but police hope they can help piece together Payne’s final moments before he plunged to his death at around 5pm local time.
Argentina’s prosecutor’s office said ‘everything indicates’ the singer was alone when he died, but an investigation is looking into the ‘possible involvement of third parties in the events prior’.
A post-mortem confirmed yesterday Payne died instantly after suffering multiple injuries that led to ‘internal and external haemorrhaging’.
It comes as MailOnline revealed that the father-of-one had told a hotel guest, ‘I used to be in a boy band – that’s why I am so f***ed up’, just minutes before he died.
The woman, referred to as Rebecca (not her real name), said he showed ‘weird and disturbing behaviour’ before smashing his laptop on the floor.
