Liam Payne, a British singer and former member of boy band One Direction, died Wednesday evening after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel.
The circumstances of the pop star's death, however, remain unclear.
Here is what we know so far:
Multiple trauma, haemorrhaging
Almost three hours after his death on Wednesday, Payne's body was removed from the hotel at around 8.30pm and sent for an autopsy.
It established that Payne suffered "multiple traumas" and "internal and external haemorrhaging," the public prosecutor's office said in a statement.
A preliminary report noted "25 injuries consistent with a fall from a great height."
First responders said there was "no possibility of resuscitation" at the scene, according to Alberto Crescenti, head of the Emergency Medical Care System (SAME) in Buenos Aires.
The results of toxicological tests are still pending.
Drugs, alcohol use
Liam Payne was staying at the CasaSur hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
Hotel staff had called emergency services to respond to a hotel guest shortly after 5pm, according to leaked audio of the call run by several media outlets.
"We have a guest who is overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol, and destroying his room, we need you to send someone!" a voice identified as a hotel employee said on the call.
"I don't know if the guest's life is in danger. But he has a room with a balcony and we're a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening," said an employee who identified himself as the hotel's front desk manager in a second call.
Payne was in a room on the third floor, with a balcony overlooking a rear patio that was about 10 to 14 metres high.
He had been in Argentina for several days, after attending a concert by former bandmate Niall Horan at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires on October 2.
Until two days before his death he had been accompanied in Argentina by his girlfriend, US influencer Kate Cassidy, who had recently left the country.
Trashed room
Local media published photographs purportedly of Payne's room, showing a chaotic scene.
A TV with a broken screen, multiple bottles, cans with burn marks, candles and traces of white powder on a table, thought to be cocaine, are visible. There was also a half-full glass of champagne.
Also found were matches, a lighter, the remains of burnt tins, foil paper and melted candles.
The public prosecutor's office corroborated the depiction of drugs and alcohol, saying "substances were seized in the musician's room which would accredit a previous situation of alcohol and drug consumption."
A telephone, a computer and the musician's papers were seized, as well as, according to local media, drugs such as the anti-anxiety medication Clonazepam.
The results of medical and toxicological tests on Payne's body were not immediately available.
Payne had in the past spoken of his difficult relationship with fame and his problems with alcoholism.
Was it an accident?
The courts said they were officially investigating the death but did not suggest foul play was suspected.
"Everything seems to indicate that the musician was alone at the time of the fall and that he was going through an episode of substance abuse," authorities said.
The prosecutor's office has taken statements from at least five witnesses, including three hotel employees and two women who had earlier been in Payne's room.
Police are still investigating, but the lack of defence wounds on the victims arms indicate that he did not shield himself from the fall, either by choice or inability to react.
From the position in which the body was found and the injuries sustained, “it is presumed that Payne did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself and that he could have fallen in a state of semi- or total unconsciousness,” wrote forensic experts.
– TIMES/AFP
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