(Source: CNN Entertainment)
Rogelio “Roger” Nores, a close friend of Liam Payne, who was one of the last people to see the former One Direction singer alive, believes that Payne’s death was the result of a series of “extremely unfortunate” events.
Payne fell to his death from the third floor of a hotel where he stayed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October, the local police told CNN at that time. I was 31 years old.
Five people were accused in relation to Payne’s death in January, according to local prosecutors. Nores was one of those individuals, but their positions and those of two have been dismissed. A hotel employee and a local waiter were arrested for charges related to the cocaine supply during their stay at the hotel.
Nores told Cecilia Domínguez de CNN in Spanish in an interview on Tuesday that when Payne left about an hour before his fall, “it was fine, he was being Liam.”
Nores could never have imagined that Payne would have died that day. “It was very difficult to see him come,” he said.
Nores and Payne had traveled to Buenos Aires together for what he described as a personal trip and, therefore, Payne could see the concert of his former bandmate Niall Horan.
“He was just a guy who enjoyed life and liked to travel to places and see people and, sincerely, he was happy. It is not as if it were sad or depressed, ”said Nores. “What happened was extremely unfortunate.”
The two, together with Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, spent time having fun and doing “normal” activities such as bowling and watching movies, Nores said. Payne “had remained sober” during the trip, according to Nores. Days before Payne Cayra, Cassidy left Buenos Aires to return home.
Before Payne’s death, someone provided him with drugs, said Nores. It was later determined that the singer had alcohol, cocaine and an antidepressant prescribed in his system before his death, according to Argentine prosecutors.
“I don’t think drugs would kill him,” Nores said. “I think this was really unfortunate and an adequate accident.”
Nores and Payne met in 2020 and quickly developed a close friendship. Now, he says he is focused on advancing in the Payne duel, whom he described as “one of the best friends I have had in my life.”
Continuous research
An investigation into the death of Payne was launched in October.
Nores, together with the hotel manager where the incident and the reception chief occurred, was dismissed of charges after they were investigated for negligent homicide, according to judicial documents reviewed by CNN in Spanish.
The hotel employee and the local waiter who remain detained could face up to 15 years in prison, according to judicial documents. The local waiter’s lawyer said in December that his client was not guilty and that he would appeal the position, according to the New York Times.
Payne talked openly about his struggles with substance abuse and mental health. The singer marked six months of sobriety in the summer of 2023 after completing the treatment in an American installation. He was preparing to start a new South American tour in September of that year, but postponed the dates scheduled after suffering a renal infection.
“It was intelligent enough to surround himself with a really healthy environment, and the family and the people around him, they did everything possible,” said Nores. “They struggled a lot, but at the end of the day, this was Liam’s decision.”
Before his death, Payne had also filmed his turn in “Building The Band” by Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a singing competition show in which he served as a judge with Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland. While the streamer has not yet announced a release date for the next season of the program, according to reports, Netflix plans to advance with the transmission.
Payne’s death surprised the music industry and its millions of fans worldwide, which caused a large amount of global pain for the singer who brought joy to many through their music.
He triggered global stardom as part of One Direction, one of the largest boybands in Great Britain, which was created in the British X factor in 2010. The group announced an “indefinite parenthesis” in 2016.
Payne was buried during a funeral in England attended by his former bandmates, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
