Liam Payne, the former member of the boy band One Direction, died from trauma and internal and external bleeding. That's according to an autopsy carried out in Buenos Aires following his death after falling from a hotel balcony in the Argentine capital on Wednesday, according to the local prosecutor, who announced that the incident was being investigated as a “doubtful death” as per protocol.

Payne died at 5:07 p.m. Wednesday after falling from the balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel, and his body was taken to the city morgue, where medical examiners conducted the autopsy that night. Shortly before midnight, doctors determined that “the macroscopic cause of death of Liam James Payne was polytrauma and internal and external bleeding,” according to a statement The Hollywood Reporter by the Argentine Prosecutor's Office No. 14 for Penal and Correctional Institutions.

An outpouring of support and love for the British singer flooded social media as news of his death spread on Wednesday evening.

The prosecutor's office said in its press release that the circumstances surrounding Payne's death were being investigated as a “doubtful death” for protocol reasons, even though it appeared the musician was alone when the fall occurred. The office said Payne “experienced some sort of outburst due to substance abuse.”

In Payne's hotel room, substances that were “narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as several destroyed objects and furniture” were discovered, according to the Mobile Criminalistics Unit of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Police, which examined the crime scene. The public prosecutor's office noted that confirmation by experts is still pending as to whether the substances found are actually narcotics.

According to the local prosecutor's office, five witnesses were interviewed on site. Three of the people who gave statements to local police were hotel workers and two women who had been in his room with the musician in the hours before but had already left the hotel when Payne fell to his death.

“In addition to reconstructing the circumstances of the musician's death, the investigation also aims to determine the possible involvement of third parties in the events before the victim's death,” says the public prosecutor's press release.

Minutes before Payne's death at the hotel in Argentina's posh Palermo district, the hotel manager called 911 and asked for help for a guest who was “under the influence of drugs and alcohol and had destroyed some items in the room,” prosecutors said Thursday. The Associated Press received the audio recording and reported that the manager's voice became more concerned as the call progressed, noting that the room had a balcony.

Prosecutors said Thursday that given the position in which the body was left and the injuries from the fall, “it is suspected that Payne did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself and that he entered a state of semi-suppression.” “Complete unconsciousness.” On Wednesday, Pablo Policicchio, communications director for Buenos Aires' security ministry, told the Associated Press that Payne “jumped from the balcony of his room.”

The medical experts in Buenos Aires said free histopathological, biochemical and toxicological studies were needed and that they could confirm or refute their original conclusions.

“At this time, analysis of the stomach contents, alcohol and toxins in the blood, vitreous humor, bile, nasal swab and urine for the determination of alcohol and toxins was requested,” the prosecutor's office said in its press release on Thursday.

Payne has been outspoken about his battle with alcoholism, posting a video on his YouTube channel in July 2023 revealing that he was sober for six months after treatment.