Calif. ‘Butt Lady’ Is Convicted After Jury Finds ‘ER’ Actress Cindyana Santangelo Dies from Her Silicone Injections

A California woman, known as the “butt lady,” has learned her fate following the death of model and actress Cindyana Santangelo, according to reports.

On Thursday, Oct. 9, Libby Adame, 55, of Riverside County, was convicted of second-degree murder and of practicing medicine without a certification by a Los Angeles jury following the death of Married with Children and ER actress, Santangelo, 58, at her Malibu home on March 24, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Santangelo died from silicone injections Adame had administered, the outlet stated, citing authorities. She’d suffered a fatal embolism after being given an injection.

Adame’s conviction comes after she and her daughter, Alicia Galaz, were convicted in March 2024 of involuntary manslaughter following the Oct. 15, 2019 death of Karissa Rajpaul, 26, per NBC4 Los Angeles. They were acquitted on the more serious charge of murder.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Rajpaul died after undergoing an unauthorized butt-implant procedure performed by Adame and Galaz, authorities said. Rajpaul’s cause of death was listed as homicide due to acute cardiopulmonary dysfunction and intramuscular/intravascular silicone injections.

Investigators believed that, during the procedures, Adame and Galaz — who allegedly presented themselves as specialists — injected Rajpaul with substances used by qualified cosmetic physicians but combined them with dangerous chemicals, ABC7 reported at the time.

Both Adame and Galaz were sentenced to prison following Rajpaul’s death, but were released after a judge determined they earned credit for time served in custody and time under electronic monitoring for their 2021 arrest, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. This put Adame out of prison and working within a year of her sentencing.

In her closing argument during Thursday’s trial, L.A. County Deputy District Attorney, Lee Cernok, said that Adame had been warned at her 2024 trial that she could be charged with murder if another client died, NBC4 Los Angeles reported.

“Did she know better?” Cernok questioned jurors of Adame, insisting the answer was “a resounding yes,” according to the outlet.

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said his client “did not do it,” and claimed there were “no injections this time by her,” per NBC4 Los Angeles. 

The lawyer noted that Adame had still been on probation at the time of Santangelo’s death and knew she wasn’t able to perform “butt work” in California, alleging she’d been working as a “consultant” on behalf of doctors who could legally do the injections in Tijuana, Mexico, the outlet stated.

Flanagan argued that Santangelo had already had bandages on her buttocks when Adame had a consultation with her in the “beauty room,” alleging that somebody else had previously performed the procedure, which resulted in the actress’ death, NBC4 Los Angeles reported.

Adame denied she was the one who gave Santangelo the injections as she testified on Monday in her own defense, claiming she didn’t know who did, but it wasn’t her, per the outlet.

Santangelo’s husband, Frank Santangelo, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Adame, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Santangelo claimed his wife was “killed in the prime of her life in her own home after being unlawfully injected with unsafe and unapproved substances by Libby Adame, an unlicensed individual falsely holding herself out as qualified to perform cosmetic procedures,” the paper noted, citing the civil complaint.

“Tragically, her death not only could have, but should have been prevented,” he added in the documents, per the outlet.

Mr. Santangelo testified during the trial that his wife of 24 years seemed to have been breathing normally before her meeting with Adame, but was later “struggling to breathe” on the massage table, and “had blood coming from each butt cheek,” according to NBC4 Los Angeles.

He testified that Adame had told him, “This has never happened to a client of mine before,” before telling him she might have something in her car that could help, the outlet stated. However, he alleged she then packed her bag and never came back into the house after this.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.  

Adame is set to be sentenced on Nov. 5, per the Los Angeles Times. 

Second-degree murder has a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in California, while practicing medicine without a certification could land you in jail for up to three years, the outlet stated. 

Adame was also found guilty of a special allegation of causing great bodily harm, meaning she could face an extra three to six years in addition to her sentence, per the paper.

The Los Angeles County courts and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.