Liam Payne’s father in Argentina to collect his son’s belongings, make arrangements for the remains

The father of former One Direction star Liam Payne arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday to arrange the return of his son’s body to England two days after the famous boy band singer fell from a hotel balcony.

After arriving at Buenos Aires International Airport in the early hours of the morning, Geoff Payne was photographed in a blue suit leaving a city center hotel accompanied by British embassy officials. He was rushed by the police to get into a luxury van with tinted windows.

Payne visited a mortuary in Buenos Aires to identify his son’s body before heading to the local prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the case as a compromise, to arrange the return of his son’s remains, Argentine authorities said. He later stopped at the Casa Sur Hotel where Payne died to pick up his son’s belongings, where crowds of distraught Argentines had gathered for the third straight day. respect them.

The crowd swarmed Payne as he approached, but a group of young supporters with linked arms maintained effective crowd control as Payne pressed past the flowers, photos and handwritten cards piled outside the hotel in honor of his son. He paused in a momentary recollection, leaning in to take a picture of Liam before thanking everyone and disappearing from the hotel.

“I felt sick to my stomach because I couldn’t say goodbye to him,” said Mara Dorf, one of the fans who was at the scene.

It’s the first time any members of Payne’s family have appeared in public since the star’s sudden death, prompting an outpouring of grief and emotion from pop industry stalwarts and diehards alike. One direction followers. The shock hit home hard, and hers the family said in a statement hours after his death that they are “sad.”

“Liam will live in our hearts forever and we will miss him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” it said. “We are supporting each other as best we can as a family and are asking for privacy and space during this difficult time.”

His sister, Ruth Gibbins, shared a personal statement on Instagram, calling her brother a “best friend.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he wrote in part, alongside a series of photos taken over the years. “One last thing I need you to know, I’m here if you need anything, I would drive to the end of the universe to bring you back.”

In interviews with the media over the years, Payne has expressed gratitude and love for his auto mechanic father and nurse mother, describing them as hardworking and supportive. Both parents made cameos in “One Direction: This Is Us,” a 2013 concert documentary about the popular boy band.

“When I see him on stage, I get goosebumps, but we miss him so much,” Payne’s mother, Karen, says at one point in the film.

The 31-year-old singer’s final hours at the Casa Sur hotel in Palermo, a stylish Buenos Aires area, remain shrouded in mystery as Argentine prosecutors say it appears she may have overdosed on drugs and alcohol. The prosecutor cited investigators who found Payne’s hotel room littered with what appeared to be drugs and alcohol along with broken items and furniture.

It is not clear whether Payne jumped on purpose or accidentally fell from the third floor. An autopsy conducted hours after her death showed she died of drowning, which caused “multiple trauma” and “internal and external bleeding” to the skull, chest, abdomen and organs. Results of toxicology reports are pending.

Investigators said there were no signs that anyone else was involved in his death, pointing to the lack of self-defense wounds on Payne’s body, indicating that he did not try to defend himself from the fall. The prosecutor’s report said Payne may have been unconscious or unconscious.

In a media frenzy over the case, gossip and celebrity news site TMZ drew widespread criticism for publishing a cropped photo that purportedly showed Payne’s body, with his identifying tattoos, lying on a wooden deck after his fall.

The site later pulled the photo under a flood of criticism. But the outburst continued on Friday when Girls Aloud singer Cheryl – Payne’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his son, Bear – posted a powerful statement on Instagram in an indirect response.

“What worries me the most is that one day Bhere will reach the disgusting reports and exploitation of the media that we have seen in the past two days,” he wrote. “Please give Liam the little dignity he left after his death so he can finally rest in peace.”