The transgender woman accused of giving illegal silicone injections was this week charged with murder in connection with the death of a British tourist last year.
Padge Victoria Windslowe, who calls herself the “Black Madam,” was charged with third-degree murder Monday night. She was arraigned Tuesday and will face a preliminary hearing Aug. 8.
Windslowe, 42, is accused of performing an illegal buttocks-enhancement procedure that led to Claudia Aderotimi’s death in February 2011.
In addition to the murder charge, she faces additional counts of conspiracy, reckless endangerment, possessing an instrument of crime and the unauthorized practice of medicine.
Windslowe, who describes herself as a gothic hip-hop artist, has been in prison since March on a number of charges related to another injection case, in which the victim survived.
Investigators identified Windslowe as a suspect shortly after Aderotimi’s death but couldn’t charge her in that case until the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, which it did this week.
That finding had been delayed until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration completed its toxicology analysis.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office this week said the “lengthy investigation” included cooperation by detectives from Philadelphia’s Southwest and Homicide divisions, the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office and the FDA.
Aderotimi, a 20-year-old aspiring hip-hop dancer, traveled to the United States to receive the injection at a hotel near the Philadelphia International Airport. Investigators say Windslowe injected silicone — which is only approved for enhancement when used in a sealed implant and administered by licensed practitioners — into Aderotimi’s buttocks and sealed the site with Super Glue. She paid $1,700 for the procedure.
An hour afterward, however, Aderotimi began experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing and died in a hospital about 12 hours later.
The ME determined Aderotimi died of a pulmonary embolism stemming from silicone in her bloodstream.
“Padge Windslowe’s arrogance and blatant disregard for human life is shocking,” said Philadelphia DA Seth Williams. “Her conduct cost one young woman her life and placed countless others in danger.”
Windslowe reportedly performed the same procedure on the victim and a friend the year before, and investigators believe she performed similar procedures on at least a dozen other women after Aderotimi’s death.
She was arrested earlier this year, right before a scheduled “pumping party.” Investigators say that at such parties, Windslowe sold silicone in Solo cups to guests and performed the same procedure that killed Aderotimi.
The arrest came, however, after a 23-year-old exotic dancer became ill following a silicone injection allegedly administered by Windslowe. In that case, the silicone had traveled to the woman’s lungs after Windslowe allegedly nicked a blood vessel during the injection.
She is charged in that case with aggravated and simple assault, conspiracy, deceptive business practices, possessing an instrument of crime, reckless endangerment, theft and unauthorized practice of medicine. A trial date has yet to be scheduled.