Woman, daughter plead not guilty to murder in woman's death during buttocks augmentation

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A woman and her daughter pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder involving an alleged buttocks augmentation procedure on a woman who died in a hospital emergency room.

Libby Adame, 52, and her daughter, Alicia Galaz, 24, are charged with murder in the Oct. 15, 2019, death of 26-year-old Karissa Rajpaul.

Adame and Galaz are also charged with three felony counts of practicing medicine without certification.

The two were arrested in August 2021 in Riverside in connection with the woman's death.

She died from acute cardiopulmonary dysfunction and intramuscular/intravascular silicone injections, according to records from the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said in a statement released after the two were arrested that the cosmetic procedure in a non-medical facility involved injecting an uncontained liquid silicone substance directly into the buttocks to make them look bigger, noting that injecting uncontained silicone into the body can cause it to enter the bloodstream and create embolisms that can result in serious illness or death.

(Getty Images)

"The suspects fled the scene without identifying or informing the paramedics of the cosmetic procedure for proper life-saving protocols to be initiated. As a result, the victim died in an emergency room with tending physicians unaware of the silicone injection," police said.

"Suspect Adame and Galaz are a mother and daughter team that performed these inherently unsafe, FDA-unapproved, cosmetic buttocks augmentations. Neither are a licensed medical provider in California and their clients were recruited through Instagram," police added.

The two are free on bond.

They are due back in court Nov. 3, when a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against them to proceed to trial.