Liam Payne’s father Geoff in limbo as he waits for son’s body to be released.

The investigation continues into the death of former One Direction member Liam Payne, who died on October 16 in Argentina, as his father Geoff Payne awaits the go-ahead to return his son’s body back home.

One Direction star Liam Payne’s body is set to be transferred to a funeral parlor and embalmed “in the next 48 hours,” according to Argentinian media outlets. The former boy band member died on October 16 from injuries he sustained after falling from the third story balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires.

Geoff Payne, Liam’s father, is dealing with the logistics of the repatriation process after flying 7,000 miles in hopes to fly back home with his son’s coffin by the end of the week.

Thousands of grieving fans have signed a petition for a permanent memorial to be erected in the pop star’s honor.

In the days and weeks following Liam’s death, investigations have been underway to determine the exact cause of death and to piece together what happened in the moments leading up to the singer’s fatal fall. Investigators have linked the death to a substance-induced ‘psychotic episode,’ saying they do not suspect any foul play or ‘third-party’ involvement.

Liam Payne’s father Geoff visits a makeshift memorial for his son at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires. ( 

Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)
Last week, Argentinian news portal Infobae reported that forensic experts had discovered traces of cocaine in Liam’s body, however tests on a mysterious white powder pictured in several leaked photographs of the inside of his hotel suite have proved ‘inconclusive.’

Unconfirmed reports out of the US have made claims that a cocktail of drugs, including a designer drug known as “pink cocaine,” a mixture of MDMA, ketamine, and methamphetamine, had been found in his system during a partial autopsy along with benzodiazepine and crack cocaine.

Police swarmed the boutique hotel where Liam had been staying last Thursday to conduct examinations of computers and paperwork in what is speculated to have been a part of a search for a potential drug dealer amid rumors that someone from the hotel was supplying the 31-year-old singer with narcotics.

Prosecutors have yet to confirm any results from the toxicology and tissue tests that would need to be completed before Geoff Payne would be able to finally bring his son home. During his visit to the hotel, Payne was given permission to enter the third-floor suite the former One Direction member was staying in with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who returned to the US just days before the tragedy, to collect his son’s clothes and belongings that were no longer needed in the investigation.

Payne also visited a makeshift memorial outside of the hotel that included photos, candles, flowers, and notes to honor the pop star after his shocking death. Thousands of grieving fans have signed a petition calling for a memorial in the form of permanent “structure or mural” be erected in his home city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.

More answers are sure to come as the investigation continues. For now, Geoff Payne eagerly waits for his son’s body to be released into his custody.