Friend of Liam Payne who was with singer before his death says loved ones ‘tried really hard to help’ him with his sobriety

(CNN) — 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 an “extremely unfortunate” series of events.

Payne fell to his death from the third floor of a hotel he was staying at in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October, local police told CNN at the time. He was 31.

Five people were charged in connection with Payne’s death in January, according to local prosecutors. Nores was one of those individuals, but his charges and those of two others have since been dismissed. A hotel employee and a local waiter were detained on charges related to supplying Payne with cocaine during his stay at the hotel.

Nores told CNN en Español’s Cecilia Dominguez in an interview Tuesday that when he left Payne around an hour before his fall, “he was doing ok, he was being Liam.”

Nores never could have imagined that Payne would’ve died that day. “It was very hard to see it coming,” he said.

Nores and Payne had traveled to Buenos Aires together for what he described as a personal trip and so Payne could see his former band mate Niall Horan’s concert.

“He was just a guy who enjoyed life and he liked traveling to places and seeing people and honestly, he was happy. It’s not like he was sad or depressed,” Nores said. “What happened was extremely unfortunate.”

The two, along with Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy, spent time together having fun and doing “normal” activities like bowling and seeing movies, Nores said. Payne “had stayed sober” during the trip, according to Nores. Days before Payne fell, Cassidy left Buenos Aires to return home.

Prior to Payne’s death, someone provided him with drugs, Nores said. It was later determined that the singer had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system before his death, according to Argentinian prosecutors.

“I don’t think the drugs killed him,” Nores said. “I think this was really unfortunate and a proper accident.”

Nores and Payne met in 2020 and quickly developed a close friendship. Now, he says he is focused on moving forward in grieving Payne, who he described as “one of the best friends I ever had in my life.”

Ongoing investigation

An investigation into Payne’s death was launched in October.

Nores, along with the manager of the hotel where the incident occurred and the head of reception, were dismissed of charges after they were investigated for negligent homicide, according to court documents reviewed by CNN en Español.

The hotel employee and local waiter who remain detained could face up to 15 years in prison, according to court documents. The local waiter’s attorney said in December that his client was not guilty and that they’d be appealing the charge, according to the New York Times.

Payne spoke openly about his struggles with substance abuse and his mental health. The singer marked six months of sobriety in the summer of 2023 after completing treatment in a US facility. He was gearing up to kick off a new South American tour in September of that year but postponed the scheduled dates after suffering a kidney infection.

“He was smart enough to surround himself by a really healthy environment, and the family and the people around him, they tried their best,” Nores said. “They tried really hard to help but at the end of the day, this was Liam’s decision.”

Prior to his death, Payne had also already filmed his turn on Netflix’s “Building the Band,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, a singing competition show on which he served as a judge alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland. While the streamer has not yet announced a release date for the upcoming season of the show, Netflix is reportedly planning to move forward with streaming it.

Payne’s death shocked the music industry and his millions of fans around the world, sparking a global outpouring of grief for the singer who brought joy to many through his music.

He rocketed to global stardom as part of One Direction, one of Britain’s biggest boybands, which was created on the British X Factor in 2010. The group announced an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016.

Payne was laid to rest during a funeral in England which his former bandmates – Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Horan and Louis Tomlinson – attended.

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