A local transgender woman suspected to be responsible for the death of a British tourist more than a year ago was arrested this week, although she does not yet face murder charges.
Police arrested Padge Victoria Windslowe, known as the “Black Madam,” before a “pumping party” she was slated to host last Wednesday night in Germantown.
She is charged with aggravated and simple assault after a 23-year-old woman whose buttocks Windslowe allegedly injected with silicone late last month became ill. After the woman’s family contacted police, she identified Windslowe as the woman who administered the injection and an informant later tipped off police to the location of the party.
In addition to the assault charges, Windslowe, an aspiring hip-hop artist, also faces counts of conspiracy, theft, reckless endangerment and other charges.
As investigators believe she could be tied to as many as 14 injections in the past few months, her bail was set at $10 million. She is next due in court March 13.
Police say Windslowe, 42, is a “person of interest” in the death of Claudia Aderotimi last February.
Aderotimi traveled to Philadelphia for the buttocks injection and allegedly paid Windslowe $1,700 for the procedure, but died shortly after.
Toxicology results from the Food and Drug Administration in that case have not yet been completed, which has prevented the Delaware County Medical Examiner from issuing a final manner and cause of death and halted the filing of murder charges.
Police say the woman who was hospitalized last month had silicone in her lungs. They believe Windslowe hit a blood vessel during the injection and the silicone entered the bloodstream, traveling to the lungs.
Police say that since the Aderotimi incident, Windslowe cut her prices, selling one Solo cup of the silicone for about $700 at the pumping parties. Among the items investigators collected from the Germantown home were gloves, needles and glue.
A police spokesperson said it did not appear that many of the individuals who sought the injections were transgender.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].
