Liam Payne's Body to Be Transferred to Funeral Parlor in Next 48 Hours

One Direction star Liam Payne's body will be transferred to a funeral parlor and embalmed "in the next 48 hours," Argentinian media reported. 

Payne, 31, 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 of flying 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.

Argentinian news portal Infobae reported last week 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.'

US media outlets also claimed 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 pop star 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 permitted to enter the third-floor suite the former One Direction member was staying in with his partner 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 star after his shocking death. 

Thousands of grieving fans have signed a petition calling for a memorial in the form of a permanent "structure or mural" to be built in his home city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.