Woman convicted of second-degree murder in trial over deadly silicone oil buttocks injections

A Riverside County woman accused of injecting silicone oil into a Malibu woman’s buttocks was convicted Thursday at her murder trial in Los Angeles.

A Riverside County woman accused of injecting silicone oil into a Malibu woman’s buttocks just over a year after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter involving another woman’s death was convicted Thursday at her murder trial in Los Angeles.

Libby Adame, 55, was convicted of second-degree murder and practicing medicine without certification in connection with the March 24 death of 59-year-old Cindyana Santangelo of Malibu. Santangelo died after being rushed from her home to a nearby hospital in Ventura County, with authorities subsequently determining that her cause of death was an embolism caused by a silicone injection, the prosecutor noted during the trial.

A jury began deliberations late Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. Adame faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 5.

Libby Adame.via KNBCIn March 2024, Adame and her daughter, Alicia Galaz, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter -- but acquitted of the more serious charge of murder -- stemming from the Oct. 15, 2019, death of 26-year-old Karissa Rajpaul following buttocks injections administered at a Sherman Oaks home. Adame was also found guilty last year of three counts of practicing medicine without a certification, while her daughter was convicted of two counts of practicing medicine without a certification.

Adame was sentenced in April 2024 to four years and four months in state prison, while her daughter was sentenced to three years and eight months in state prison, with Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli subsequently agreeing with an argument by Galaz’s attorney that the two were entitled to additional credit for the time they underwent electronic monitoring while out of custody following their August 2021 arrests at the Riverside home they shared.