New photos from the hotel where Liam Payne died from an apparent suicide reveal why an employee told police they were concerned his room had a balcony ... one that would not be difficult to fall over.
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00:00So, we are following, obviously, the latest on the investigation into Liam Payne's death
00:07in Argentina, and there are new details and things that the police are looking into.
00:13Things involving the drug paraphernalia that was found in his room, and wondering what
00:22exactly, again, led to whatever happened once he was in that room, and we've heard a lot
00:28about what people in the hotel heard while he was in the room, but we don't know for
00:34certain what was happening in the room, other than, like we said, police say they have found
00:39the drug paraphernalia within the room.
00:40Right.
00:41Remember, the manager said he speculated drugs and alcohol, possibly.
00:45But there's also something else the manager said on that 911 call, obviously speculating
00:50about the drugs and the alcohol.
00:52They said they heard lots of loud noise and things being broken, and he also said they
00:57were very concerned because he'd been in and out of consciousness around the hotel
01:03that day, and they were concerned about the balcony in his room.
01:07Well, we now have a better look of what this room, the room that he was staying in, this
01:13is, what we're about to show you is not Liam's room itself, but it is a similar, it's the
01:18same room in the hotel.
01:21And it shows you the layout in there, and it is easy to see what they were concerned
01:26about because, again, this is on the third floor, but the balconies are not, there's
01:32nothing, like, in an American hotel, often, that railing is going to be higher.
01:37Right.
01:38Right?
01:39A lot of times, windows don't even open in a hotel.
01:40Or the windows don't even open, but this one, they clearly knew.
01:43Right.
01:44It's not a very high railing.
01:45It looks like waist height on an average size person.
01:47On an average size, and Liam was about 5'10".
01:52Right.
01:53So, you understand what their concern was, if you have someone who is in and out of consciousness,
02:00perhaps using drugs, drinking alcohol, and then they're in that condition, and they're
02:07angry about something, we know that.
02:09Right.
02:10Again, the police have said that, from their investigation at this point, they believe
02:15that he did jump, but there are people just wondering, again, we don't know what happened
02:20inside the room before he went over that railing.
02:24Right.
02:25It doesn't, looking at the photos, it doesn't look out of the question that you could be
02:27out there, and there could be a terrible accident where you even fell over the railing.
02:32And another new development that we've learned is, we've obtained pictures this morning of
02:36his father arriving there in Argentina.
02:39He flew in overnight from the UK, so we've seen those images.
02:42We also got pictures of his former bandmate, Louis Tomlinson, obviously we know all of
02:47the band has now-
02:48And I want to say, before we get to Louis, his father being there, obviously he's lost
02:55a child, but now he's also down there while they're still trying to figure out what happened.
03:01And there are so many things that are unanswered so far in the investigation.
03:07I would think, Charles, being a dad, just losing your child is devastating, but then
03:13not having answers to these questions.
03:15You want to know, how did this happen to my boy?
03:19He is sitting there, I imagine, meeting with police, trying, as they try to piece this
03:23together, who saw Liam that day in the hotel, and what the hotel staff knows.
03:31Now, I'll be honest here, look, we've been reporting on this for several days now.
03:35We have tried to make contact with people at the hotel.
03:39Understandably, I think, they're not very forthcoming with any details, and they're
03:44probably only speaking to the police.
03:47But there are things that they definitely saw over the three days that he was staying
03:53at this hotel that are going to be relevant to this investigation and what happened leading
03:58up to that moment that Liam was in the hotel room.
04:01Right.
04:02Did they see something?
04:03I mean, I would never blame them, but was there a sign?
04:05No, not blame them, but just that they may have information that's going to help move
04:10this investigation forward.
04:11The other thing that'll be interesting in this investigation is, we had mentioned the
04:15other day, the day he had passed, we had talked about that we had had reporting that he, you
04:20know, several minutes, like less than 30 minutes before he had fallen off the balcony, that
04:25he had been in the lobby of the hotel and was acting erratic, and that there were hotel
04:30workers that were concerned about his behavior in the lobby, and the person that we spoke
04:34to described it as they kind of got him out of the lobby and then sent him back in the
04:38direction of his room.
04:40You have to assume that is now a part of the investigation here.
04:44You know, the hotel let him go back to his room, knowing that he might not have been
04:48in the best mental state and knowing that that balcony was up there.
04:52I mean, that's kind of a concern.
04:54Right.
04:55The other thing, and you heard that in the 911 call that the hotel manager made, surveillance
05:00videos all over that hotel are going to be really key because they're going to be looking
05:05at those to find out who he was interacting with.
05:08And the police have said that part of their investigation is trying to figure out who
05:12supplied the drugs that were found in his room.
05:16That's going to be a big part of this.
05:18So now we move to, as we were saying, you know, a lot of his bandmates, actually all
05:23of them now have released statements, the most recent being Niall.
05:29And Niall is interesting because Niall is the last member of One Direction who saw Liam
05:35alive.
05:36Isn't that why he was there, right, Charles?
05:37Right.
05:38He was there on October 2nd, went to Niall's show down there and seemed to be having a
05:42good time.
05:43As you saw there in that photo, they reunited.
05:46And this is what Niall had to say about that final interaction.
05:49He said, I feel so fortunate that I got to see him recently.
05:53I sadly didn't know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that evening, I would be saying
05:58goodbye forever.
06:00It's heartbreaking.
06:02And that you just got to feel for Niall in particular because that's a different experience
06:07than from the rest of the members who certainly, and we've seen this now in the things that
06:12they've said about Liam, they had, there were issues that, you know, they weren't exactly
06:18tight at that moment.
06:20But at this moment, they had issues, I think.
06:24But there was a brotherhood there, obviously.
06:27Exactly.
06:28It's kind of bittersweet with Niall.
06:29You're happy, like he said in his statement, that they got to spend some time together.
06:33But yeah, not knowing that was going to be the last time you'd ever see him.
06:35So listen to what Zayn had to say, Zayn Malik.
06:39This was the statement that he released, saying, speaking of Liam, even though you were younger
06:44than me, you were always more sensible than me.
06:47You were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no blank about telling people when they were
06:52wrong.
06:54Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you
06:58for it.
06:59So look, there was an interview that Liam had done a few years ago, where he kind of
07:07called out some of the other members of One Direction.
07:10And so there was a bit of a rift, certainly, between them.
07:16But you feel badly that a lot of them did not get to patch that up.
07:19I don't think it does anything to diminish the relationship.
07:22They accomplished so much together.
07:23And I think the guys all loved each other, despite the differences they might have had.
07:26Right.
07:27The problem is that they didn't get to.
07:28And Niall, at least, did get to see him.
07:32But for the others, it's really, really sad.
07:35Kate Cassidy, we should say, his girlfriend, Liam's girlfriend, who was there and left
07:40on, I believe it was Monday, when she left to come back to the States.
07:46She has now, just a little over an hour ago, released this statement.
07:51And she talked a lot about the things that they didn't get to do.
07:55But she said at the end of her statement here, Liam, my angel, you are everything.
07:59I want you to know I loved you unconditionally and completely.
08:02I will continue to love you for the rest of my life.
08:05I love you, Liam.
08:06And they were down there for two weeks together.
08:09She had just been with him there and had just left and returned here, as you said, to the
08:13States.
08:14I think she went to Florida, where they were kind of living temporarily.
08:17But they were on this romantic trip.
08:19She had shared those snaps when they were horseback riding and all of that.
08:22So you can't even imagine what's going through her mind to think that, you know, her now
08:26knowing that he was obviously not maybe in the best of mental state and was going through
08:30something, you know, having that meltdown in the hotel and all of that, to think now
08:34that she couldn't have been there for him has to really be taking a toll on her.
08:39Difficult for her.
08:40It's got to be extremely difficult.
08:42We should talk about the guy who brought One Direction together in the first place, Simon
08:47Cowell.
08:48We told you that he is in the middle of taping.
08:51Britain's Got Talent, when Liam died and he had canceled the next day the taping.
08:56But now he's released his first words about this tragedy.
09:01And he said, Liam, I'm truly devastated, heartbroken, and I feel empty.
09:06I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you.
09:11It's just unimaginable how many lives One Direction has touched and all the members.
09:17And for them to have lost Liam this way, everyone is still wrestling with this.
09:22By the way, speaking of Simon, a little later in the show, we're going to speak to someone
09:27who has been a vocal coach on X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent.
09:32Talk about the challenges that young singers like Liam Payne and the other members of 1D
09:38are now dealing with that are so much different from the music industry in the past.
09:43And clearly, there may be things that need to change in the industry.
09:47We're going to get into that with her a little bit later.
09:49Hey, thanks for having me.
09:51This is Lee from Pennsylvania.
09:54And I just want to say first, those pictures of Liam's dad were absolutely heartbreaking.
09:59And knowing he's away from home and his friends and family in another country, it's just so sad.
10:05But agreed, I cannot imagine what Kate is feeling or going through at this moment.
10:12So I wish them true peace and healing.
10:16Yeah, it's going to take some time.
10:20Still settling for a lot of people.