The number of suspects under formal investigation over Liam Payne’s death recently reportedly jumped to five.

On October 16, the One Direction singer died aged 31 after plunging from a third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An autopsy ruled that Liam had died instantly after his fall which caused “multiple traumatic injuries” and subsequently led to “internal and external haemorrhage.”

The reports of two additional suspects came as three people are already under formal investigation and were summoned for questioning. They were identified locally as Liam’s close friend and two former hotel workers. One man, a waiter, is accused of being the singer’s ‘drug dealer’.

He claimed last month that he consumed marijuana and Liam took cocaine during their second hotel rendezvous shortly before the singer’s tragic death. The other man has protested his innocence after being named locally as one of the trio under investigation. Responding to the reports which identified him as one of the suspects linked to the drug accusations and allegations he abandoned Liam before his death, the businessman who has been described as the singer’s manager, said in a statement: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.

Liam Payne
Liam died aged 31 on October 16 ( 
Image:
Getty Images for The ATC)

Liam Payne
An additional two people have reportedly been charged ( 
Image:
Mike Marsland/WireImage)

“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,” he said.

The other worker has yet to make any public comment. And now, in a twist to the investigation, two more people were reportedly named as suspects. According to documents seen by Page Six, the hotel employee who called 911 moments before Liam fell to his death is now being charged.

Receptionist manager Esteban Reynaldo Grassi is being charged after the judge assigned to the singer’s case weighed his involvement in Liam’s death. The documents filed this week also reportedly named Gilda Agustina Martín, the operations manager at the trendy hotel in the capital city.

The judge called for the two individuals to be notified of their charges. However, it is still unclear what they’re being charged with. “Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they have participated in the investigated act, we ask that the following people give a statement,” a section of the docs, obtained by Rolling Stone, read. The two new suspects will be facing the court on December 19.

After his death, Grassi’s 911 call was released. The manager was heard saying: “We have a guest who is [allegedly] high and drunk; and when he is conscious, he is destroying his room and we need you to send someone, please. We need you to send someone urgently because I don’t know if his life is in danger. He is in a room that has a balcony and we are scared he might be endangering his life.”