'Shaken' eye-witness recalls meeting Liam in final hours before tragic fall as she reveals star's 'erratic' behaviour

18 October 2024, 14:59 | Updated: 18 October 2024, 15:07

An eye-witness staying in the same hotel as Liam Payne on the day of his tragic death has recounted her unsettling final encounter with the star.

'Rebecca', not her real name, was staying at the same hotel as Liam Payne, the Casasur hotel in Argentina, on the afternoon he fell to his death.

The 28-year-old encountered Liam in the lobby of the hotel on Wednesday afternoon and took photos of him at 4.26pm local time - shortly before he tragically fell from the third-floor hotel balcony.

During their encounter, Rebecca, from Washington DC, shared that Liam had told her: "I used to be in a boy band - that's why I'm so f**ked up".

Rebecca shared that something seemed "desperate" about his behaviour.

Rebecca shared with The Sun that staff at the hotel were "a little on edge" as Liam didn't check out of his suite as he was due to that morning.

She said when she entered the lobby area, Liam was waiting by the lift and "wanted someone to recognise him."

"When the lift came he suddenly said to us without any prompting: 'Yes, I'm Liam!' really drawing it out, and then said 'All right come on you lot, get in the elevator with me, I love a cuddle.'

"I decided against it and waited for the next one, but some of the other girls got in with him and half way up, he started saying 'Oh, you're Americans, I live in West Palm Beach.'

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She also said that she felt "shaken" after hearing the news of Liam's death after speaking to him only moments before.

The police were called before his fall due to Payne's erratic behaviour and had to be escorted back to his hotel room.

The Sun shared that at 5:04pm police were called after Liam fell, and an ambulance arrived at 5:11pm when he was pronounced dead.

In a statement, Alberto Crescenti, head of the Buenos Aires’ public emergency medical services, said that he fell around 14 metres and suffered “very serious injuries incompatible with life.”

Police have confirmed that they found "what appeared to be narcotics, alcohol, destroyed objects and furniture" in his room.

Forensic teams announced that a whiskey bottle, lighter and mobile phone were also discovered by his body, alongside alleged narcotics.

Payne has been extremely open about his struggles with mental health and alcoholism.

“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,” he had previously said.

He also said in a previous interview with YouTuber Logan Paul: "There was one moment where there was an argument backstage and one member, in particular, threw me up a wall.

"So I said to him, ‘If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again'," he recounted.

A full toxicology report is currently pending and is yet to be confirm whether the drugs played a part in his death.