The father of Former One Direction star Liam Payne arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday to arrange for the return of his son’s body to England, two days after the famous boy band singer fell to his death from a hotel balcony.
After landing at Buenos Aires International Airport early in the morning, Geoff Payne was photographed emerging from a city center hotel in a blue suit, accompanied by British consular officials. He was pushed by security guards into a sleek van with black-tinted windows.
Payne went to the Buenos Aires morgue to identify his son’s body before going to the local prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the case under protocol, to arrange for the repatriation of his son’s remains , indicated the Argentine authorities. He then stopped at the Casa Sur hotel where Payne died to collect his son’s belongings, where crowds of distraught Argentines had gathered for the third day in a row to pay homage.
Mario De Fina / AP
People swarmed Payne as he approached, but a chain of young fans, arms linked, maintained effective crowd control as Payne weaved past the flowers, photos and handwritten cards stacked outside the hotel in tribute to his son. He stopped in front of the makeshift memorial, leaning down to take a photo of Liam before thanking everyone and disappearing into the hotel.
“I felt sick to my stomach because I couldn’t say goodbye to him,” said Mara Dorf, one of the fans at the scene.
It’s the first time a member of Payne’s family has been seen publicly since the star’s sudden death, which sparked a global outpouring of grief and emotion from major figures in the pop industry and diehards. One direction fans. The shock was particularly hard at home, with its family saying in a statement a few hours after his death, they “are heartbroken”.
Mario De Fina / AP
“Liam will forever live in our hearts and we will remember him for his kind, funny and courageous soul,” it reads. “We are supporting each other as best we can as a family and asking for privacy and space during this horrible time.”
In media interviews Over the years, Payne had expressed gratitude and affection for his auto mechanic father and nurse mother, describing them as hard-working and supportive. Both parents made appearances in “One Direction: This Is Us,” the 2013 concert documentary about the popular boy band.
“When I see him on stage, I burst with pride, but we miss him so much,” Payne’s mother, Karen, said at one point in the film.
The 31-year-old singer’s final hours at the Casa Sur hotel in Palermo, a trendy neighborhood of Buenos Aires, remain murky as Argentine prosecutors say he appeared to have consumed drugs and alcohol excessively. The prosecution cited investigators finding Payne’s hotel room in disarray with what appeared to be narcotics and alcohol scattered on broken items and furniture.
Natasha Pisarenko / AP
It is still unclear whether Payne jumped intentionally or accidentally fell from the third floor. The autopsy carried out a few hours after his death showed that he died following a dive, which caused “multiple trauma” and “internal and external hemorrhages” in the skull, chest, abdomen and limbs. Results of toxicology reports are awaited.
Investigators said there were no signs of anyone else’s involvement in his death, citing the lack of defensive wounds on Payne’s body, which also indicates he did not not tried to protect himself from falling. The prosecutor’s report says Payne could have fallen into a state of semi-consciousness or unconsciousness.
In the media frenzy over the case, the gossip and celebrity news site TMZ sparked a particular reaction by publishing a cropped image purporting to show Payne’s body, with his identifying tattoos, spread out on a wooden terrace after its fall.
The site later removed the image amid a torrent of criticism. But the fallout continued on Friday when Girls Aloud singer Cheryl – Payne’s former girlfriend and mother of his son, Bear – posted a powerful statement on Instagram in implicit response.
“What troubles me most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reporting and media exploitation we have witnessed over the past two days,” she wrote. “Please give Liam what little dignity he has left after his death so he can finally rest in peace.”