‘Black Madam’ charged with murder in lethal butt injection

Authorities on Tuesday charged Philadelphia's "Black Madam" with murder for administering a series of fatal silicone buttock injections to a 20-year-old British tourist at an airport hotel last year.

Padge Victoria Windslowe, 42, was charged with third-degree murder, conspiracy, reckless endangerment, and other violations in the February 2011 death of Claudia Seye Aderotimi.

Windslowe faces up to 44 to 88 years in prison if convicted. She is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 8.

The death of Aderotimi, an aspiring dancer from London who traveled to Philadelphia with friends and paid $1,800 for the buttock-enhancement injections, drew international attention and led reporters from the United Kingdom to flock to Philadelphia.

"Padge Windslowe's arrogance and blatant disregard for human life is shocking," District Attorney Seth Williams said Tuesday. "Her conduct cost one young woman her life and placed countless others in danger."

Windslowe's attorney, Chris Mannix, said he had not yet seen the medical evidence.

"Speaking only to the medical evidence, it looks like the authorities had about a year and a half of reasonable doubt," he said.

Windslowe, who has recorded gothic hip-hop songs and videos under the stage name "Black Madam," has been jailed since February, when she was arrested on charges of assault in a separate case in which she allegedly performed a black-market buttock-enhancement procedure on a 23-year-old exotic dancer from Philadelphia.

The woman became gravely ill after doctors said the silicone lodged in her lungs, and she was on oxygen for months.

That case led authorities to arrest Windslowe at a "pumping party" in East Germantown, where they found several additional women waiting to receive injections.

Silicone buttock injections are not approved by any medical authorities, but the demand for the black-market procedure, particularly among exotic dancers and in the transgender community, has led to botched operations and several high-profile deaths around the country in recent years.

In the more than 16 months since Aderotimi's death, police have repeatedly stated that Windslowe was responsible. Hours after Windslowe performed the procedure, Aderotimi started having chest pains. Windslowe, Williams said, told her to drink more water and to call an ambulance if needed.

"Instead of making sure that Ms. Aderotimi was OK, the defendant then used that time as her opportunity to escape," Williams said.

Aderotimi died soon afterward at a Delaware County hospital.

Authorities questioned Windslowe, but the case stalled because of complications surrounding the medical examiner's report.

The unusual circumstances called for a number of tests, said Assistant District Attorney Bridget Kirn, and some silicone samples had to be analyzed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As investigators awaited those test results and an official cause of death ruling, Williams said Windslowe continued performing the buttock-enhancement procedures and even bragged in online videos about her customers.

The Delaware County medical examiner ultimately ruled that Aderotimi died "needlessly" as a result of silicone that traveled from the injection site into her bloodstream. Since silicone injections are not contained, as with an implant, the material can make its way into vital organs.

Kirn characterized the silicone used in Aderotimi's injections as closer to food grade rather than medical grade.

Aderotimi "came here, as so many people, seeking just to be more beautiful," Kirn said. "And to feel better. And instead, she came to our city and she was killed."

Authorities said there is evidence to suggest Windslowe told clients she had some medical training.

"She does hold herself out to be a pseudo-medical personnel," Kirn said. "She certainly doesn't tell them that she is someone that has no medical training."

Kirn said Windslowe had likely been performing the procedures for some time.

The victim in the February case testified in court this year that she paid Windslowe $1,000 for the procedure, but later went to the hospital with symptoms of heart failure. Her condition has improved, the woman said, but she was on oxygen for months and remains at risk for further health problems.

Williams urged anyone who has had injections given by Windslowe to contact authorities.

Windslowe also could face charges pending investigations by other agencies.

A New Jersey woman told The Inquirer this year that she was hospitalized after getting injections from Windslowe, and that she slipped into a coma that lasted three months. And law enforcement sources have said Windslowe may face federal charges related to the FDA, which investigates sales of unapproved drugs, fraud involving unapproved treatments, and crimes involving unapproved FDA-regulated products.