One of the defendants in connection with Liam Payne's death investigation is now speaking out. Three people have been apprehended and charged with abandonment of a person followed by death and supplying the former One Direction singer with drugs, one of them being a 24-year-old man named Braian Nahuel Paiz.
According to Buenos Aires newspaper, La Nacion, Paiz is now speaking out and denying giving Payne drugs in a new interview with Telefé Noticias. He said, "The truth is that I didn’t give him drugs. He contacted me in what is my job. We exchanged contact information and we saw each other that night. Normally. He came to look for me downstairs because I was lost, I didn't know how to get to the hotel and he came to look for me."
Paiz said that Liam had reached out to him while he was staying at a different hotel — the Park Hyatt Hotel in Palermo. He added, "We met there. He showed me a little of his music, which he was going to release."
Elsewhere in the interview, Paiz had explained that Liam was allegedly already high when meeting and "in fact he didn't even eat," but that he was aware Payne had been in treatment for addiction.
Also charged in connection with Payne's death is the singer's friend and a business man Rogelio Nores, and Ezequiel Pereyra. Nores has also denied "abandoning" Liam, and stated to the Daily Mail, "I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel 3 times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened. There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen. I've given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven't spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since. I wasn't Liam's manager he was just my very dear friend and please refer to the email I sent to Liam and his team on August 23. I'm really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I've been missing my friend every day."
Payne was found dead at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina after falling from the balcony of his third floor room into the courtyard. According to CNN, a preliminary autopsy report shows that the former One Direction singer died from multiple injuries causing "internal and external hemorrhage." Drug paraphernalia was found in Liam's hotel room, and a toxicology report shows that "pink cocaine" was found in his system — a very dangerous drug cocktail.
Payne was just 31 years old, and leaves behind his seven-year-old son Bear, who he shares with ex Cheryl Cole.