The 49-year-old Brazilian woman was accused of damaging the derrieres of more than 10 women, injecting industrial silicone and other harmful chemicals as she carried out illegal, aesthetic surgeries. Clients referred to her botched procedures as a “blow to the butt.”
She publicized her buttocks enlargement treatments on social media, posing as a doctor and performing the black market surgeries in Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. Authorities arrested the faux doctor, named Marcilene Soares Gama, on two different occasions, but she continued to provide cosmetic treatments to clients, Brazilian newspapers reported.
Over the weekend, Gama was found dead in a vacant lot a few yards from her home in Recreio, on the west side of Rio. Local police said Gama was abducted and shot at point-black range in a killing they believe could have been an act of revenge.
Advertisement
Speaking to Brazilian news outlets, the chief homicide detective in the case, Fábio Cardoso, said a male suspect entered Gama’s apartment early Saturday morning, tied her hands, and shoved her into her car, a Kia that was in a garage. The suspect allegedly drove away to a site nearby, where he shot Gama in the face and threw her body out of the vehicle, Cardoso told Brazilian newspaper O Dia.
Gama was found dead wearing only her underwear.
“It was a cowardice and barbarity what they did to her,” Cardoso said. “The murderer committed the crime with a lot of anger, vengeance. A shot in the face with an intent to deform it.”
But Rio police told The Washington Post that homicide detectives continue to investigate the death, analyzing forensic evidence and footage from local security cameras.
Authorities on Monday released a blurry photograph of the suspect captured by surveillance cameras, and said they believe Gamas knew the man. The woman’s Kia was located by detectives near the scene of the crime.
Advertisement
Police could not yet confirm that Gama’s death was connected to any of her clients. The belief that the killing was an act of revenge “is obviously not definitive,” Cardoso said.
But the possibility of such a killing underscores the prevalence of the market for illegal, dangerous cosmetic treatments in Brazil, which ranks as the world’s leading country for cosmetic buttock procedures.
Based on data from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, in 2015, Brazil came in second only to the United States for most cosmetic procedures in the world. But Brazil came in first for procedures to the buttocks, with 67,870 performed in 2015.
The country is associated with the “Brazilian butt lift,” an increasingly popular trend in which fat is taken from other parts of the body and deposited into the butt. It was invented by Brazil’s pioneer of plastic surgery, Dr. Ivo Pitanguay, according to Forbes.
Advertisement
But in the black market for buttocks augmentation — particularly in parts of the U.S. and South America — procedures done by faux doctors can have lethal consequences. In unauthorized clinics, fake doctors may pump cheap liquids such as silicone, cooking oil, cement or even bathroom caulking and tire sealant into women’s bodies.
Marcilene was accused of botching cosmetic treatments that led at least 10 women to suffer serious injuries and health concerns. A Facebook page was created to bring together victims of the faux doctor, known on social media as both Lenny Gama and Lene Soares. The page is currently followed by more than 250 people.
Gama was arrested in 2013 and 2015 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, respectively. In the 2015 arrest, police also arrested her daughter and found that the two were treating clients at hotels in the area, according to O Globo newspaper.
Advertisement
She was facing court action for these charges at the time of her death, the BBC reported.
Share this articleShareHer brother-in-law, Daniel Mofacto, 53, told O Dia newspaper that Gama was a beautician who worked in a clinic, but “never said she was a surgeon.”
“People knew the risks but they went ahead anyway,” Mofacto said. Procedures were thoroughly explained to her patients, he said.
Gama had two children, a 31-year-old daughter who lives abroad and a 25-year-old son. She was on her way to becoming a grandmother.
“Her mother is 67 years old and suffers from heart problems,” Mofacto said. “She knows about the death, but she thinks it was an accident. We’re still seeing how to deal with it.”
More from Morning Mix
Ex-executive says he was ‘scapegoat’ for Fox News sexual harassment in $48 million lawsuit
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLumw9JopKiqnp67qHnMoq9or6Bkf3F9lmhncGdia3yiecGrmLOhnJ6ur3nFmqyxZZSksLW70WaYnJulqLKlec6fZJunpJi1prCMm6ytrF2eu6uxwq2gqKajYra0ecqio6WdlGK2r3nPqKqsoZKhsm6%2BxK%2Bcp5%2BVYrGmrdOhZKmnnJ6wpnnSmrBo