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Strippers testify in 'Black Madam' trial

They wanted bigger butts to make more money, but were not happy after one became ill.

Padge Victoria Windslowe, who calls herself "the Black Madam."
Padge Victoria Windslowe, who calls herself "the Black Madam."Read more

PADGE Victoria Windslowe, a/k/a "Black Madam," sashayed into the courtroom yesterday wearing a hot-pink cardigan, black pants and black high heels.

When the fourth witness of the day, Sharnell Saunders, took the stand before the Common Pleas jury, she smiled at Windslowe, who smiled back.

But after a while, it was clear that Saunders, 29, wasn't happy.

Saunders, who worked as a stripper, hosted "butt parties" at her house on Pastorius Street near Baynton in East Germantown, during which she invited Windslowe to inject her and her girlfriends' butts with silicone to make them bigger.

"Her results were fabulous," Saunders said of Windslowe's work on other women. "From the outside looking in, her results were good-quality."

But now, a few years later, Windslowe, 45, is charged with third-degree murder in the February 2011 death of Claudia Aderotimi, 20, who flew from London to Philadelphia to receive silicone butt injections from Windslowe at the Hampton Inn near Philadelphia International Airport.

Windslowe also is charged with aggravated assault in a February 2012 injection she gave to Sherkeeia King, a strip-club dancer who had her butt injected at Saunders' house.

King, 26, testified yesterday that she went to Saunders' house on Dec. 31, 2010, for a butt party.

After news stories of Aderotimi's death on Feb. 8, 2011, King and Saunders were concerned, they separately testified.

Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega, Saunders said she tried calling Windslowe, but "she dropped off the face of the planet."

Then, about a year later, Windslowe resurfaced. It was in early 2012 when, Saunders said, she set up another appointment with Windslowe for injections. She figured Windslowe had not been arrested after Aderotimi's death, so things must have been OK.

King was also at Saunders' house on Feb. 19, 2012, when Windslowe returned. She testified that Windslowe said that Aderotimi died of a cocaine overdose and didn't follow Windslowe's aftercare instructions.

On this day, while getting injected by Windslowe, King said, "my legs started shaking." Later, in a cab, she felt herself getting "hot, cold, hot, cold," then went home and found that she had a fever. She eventually went to Lankenau Medical Center. "I'm throwing up blood," she said. "I couldn't breathe."

She needed a machine to help her breathe, and when she was discharged days later, she had to go home with an oxygen tank.

King, like Saunders, said she had wanted to make her butt bigger because it would help her make more money dancing. But ever since her hospitalization, King - who goes by the nickname "Cherry" - said she no longer can climb the 14-foot poles at the strip club where she works.

She is now "a girl that walks around on the floor" or "shakes my ass" for a customer, she said.

King said she helped police find Windslowe on Feb. 29, 2012, by setting up a fake "appointment" with her at Saunders' house.

Saunders testified that on that day, police raided her house while she and Windslowe were inside.

"I was duped all this time by the defendant," Saunders said loudly. "Her name, who she was, what she was putting inside me."

In cross-examining Saunders, defense attorney David Rudenstein asked her: "What happened to the ropes?"

After she appeared confused, he explained his question by sarcastically asking if she were forced and tied down by Windslowe to get butt injections.

She said that she wasn't forced.

He questioned why she would get her butt injected again by Windslowe after Aderotimi died.

"She was never arrested, only questioned," Saunders said.

But, she said, "I was enraged when I figured out she was putting crap in my butt."