Nearly a month after his shocking death following a fall from a third-story hotel balcony, Liam Payne‘s body has been released to his family in order to repatriate his remains to the singer’s native U.K. for burial.
According to Reuters, an unnamed senior cemetery source in Buenos Aires told the news service that Payne’s body was taken from the city’s British cemetery on Wednesday (Nov. 6) in the first leg of its repatriation journey. The 31-year-old singer’s body had been held by local authorities since Payne’s Oct. 16 death in order to complete toxicology and other lab tests.
BBC News also reported that Payne’s body had been released to his family according to a public prosecutor in charge of his case.
Two weeks ago, the luxury Argentinian hotel where Payne died was raided by police, who reportedly took away a number of items, including hard drives and CCTV footage. An autopsy report revealed that Payne died from a number of injuries, including internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. In addition, investigators reportedly found a number of illicit substances in his body at the time of death, including a recreational drug called “pink cocaine,” a mixture of substances that often contains ketamine combined with MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and/or psychoactive substances.
The first planned posthumous single from Payne, “Do No Wrong,” was slated to drop on Nov. 1 before Grammy-winning producer Sam Pounds announced that he’d decided to hold off on releasing the song until the late singer’s family felt comfortable with issuing it. “I want all proceeds go to a charity of their choosing (or however they desire),” Pounds wrote on his socials on Oct. 29. “Even though we all love the song it’s not the time yet. We are all still mourning the passing of Liam and I want the family to morn [sic] in peace and in prayer. We will all wait.” No updated release date has been announced.
