One Direction star Liam Payne spent his last days on holiday in Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy, where their intended five-day trip rolled into two weeks with a tragic ending
911 call released moments before Liam Payne’s death
Liam Payne, who has died at the age of 31, spent his final days hundreds of miles from home, in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.
Social media posts offer a heartbreaking timeline of the One Direction star’s last trip, which he had taken with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, 25. The pair had only initially intended to spend five days in the South American country, but this ended up snowballing into an unexpected two-week stay.
By the time Liam fell to his death from a third-floor balcony, Kate had already flown home 48 hours earlier, having been “ready to leave”. Liam chose to stay on, although it’s unclear why. The trip had started out eventfully, with Liam turning up to the gig of an old friend to cheer them on. But it ended in tragedy…
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Ex bandmate reunion
In his final weeks, Liam spoke about wanting to ‘square up a couple things’ with bandmate Niall Horan during his time in Argentina, while Niall has been touring. In a clip captioned ‘We’re going to Argentina to see Nialler’, Liam told Snapchat followers: “Niall Horan is playing down there and I think we might just go to say hello. It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about. And I would like to square up a couple of things up with the boy.” He added: “No bad vibes or anything like that. But just … we need to talk.”
Liam was able to get his wish on October 2, when he and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy attended Niall’s gig at the Movistar Arena, declaring it to be a ‘lovely show’. Documenting the evening with plenty of pics and videos, and appeared thrilled to be spending time with his old bandmate as he sang and danced the night away.
In one bittersweet snap, captioned ‘Reunited’, Liam and Niall could be seen posing together, with the pals appearing delighted to be spending time together. In the text of another pic, Liam praised his 1D alum, writing: “So happy I got to see Niall in concert.” A number of One Direction fans expressed excitement over the images, with some even speculating the the band could be getting back together.
Holiday plans
Not long before his tragic death, Liam shared photographs on Snapchat of him and his girlfriend Kate sharing a holiday breakfast and making plans for the day ahead. Liam told fans: “This is the breakfast table, just enjoying breakfast and coffee even though it’s 1pm.”
He then revealed they’d been staying at a friend’s home, while Kate could be heard joking in the background that they were ‘losers’ for laying in. Liam said: “Today, we ride. I think I’m going to be playing polo again, which is going to put me out of action for about six weeks. Honestly, polo, out of everything I’ve ever done sports-wise, not that I’m taking up polo professionally, by the way, I’m just like, I had a go for some fun.
“It’s so hard to do, number one. Number two, my back and my neck from swinging that hammer around, or mallet, I think it’s called, if you’re in the know, it’s polo language.”
On October 12, Kate flew back home to Florida, telling her TikTok followers: “I was so ready to leave. Love South America, but I hate staying in one place for too long and we were supposed to be there for five days, turned into two weeks and I was just like, ‘I need to go home.'”
Final photo
A heartbreaking final photo shows Liam entering the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aries’ upmarket Palermo district, where mere hours later, he would fall to his death from a third-floor balcony. According to reports, it’s been claimed that Liam had checked into the deluxe hotel suite alone on October 10, and that Kate hadn’t been in the country at the time of his death.
It’s believed the 31-year-old had been under the influence of drink or drugs, local media reports. In a desperate call made to emergency services, hotel staff requested ‘urgent’ support, with a receptionist telling the phone operator: “We have a guest who’s off his head on drugs and is destroying everything in his room. We need someone to come.”
After the line disconnected, the receptionist continued: “I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger. The room has a balcony and we are afraid he might do something.” Then just seconds later, the receptionist made the following heartbreaking clarification: “Just send an ambulance. Only an ambulance.”
Doomed hotel room
Photos purporting to show inside the hotel room where Liam Payne spent his final hours have been confirmed by news outlets including La Nacion and Clarin. The pictures show traces of a white powder believed to be cocaine, burnt aluminium foil, empty champagne glasses and a smashed TV.
If tests show that items found inside Liam’s room are in fact narcotics, then police intend to investigate who supplied them to him. Liam Payne’s preliminary autopsy findings reveal he died from “multiple traumas” that caused “internal and external bleeding”.
Liam had always been open about his health concerns, including his problems with alcohol and drugs. Speaking candidly with Men’s Health Australia in 2019, Liam admitted to using alcohol to cope with the pressures of fame. He shared: “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on. I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”
In May 2023, he revealed he had been sober for more than 100 days, and felt ‘amazing’. The popstar told iFL TV: “I’m sober now, over 100 days. I feel amazing, I feel really, really good and the support from the fans has been really, really good, so I’m super happy.”
*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
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