Woman's Death After Getting Silicone Buttocks Injection Is 'Murder,' Family Claims

The family of a woman, who died just weeks after undergoing a buttock enhancement surgery, is calling the death of the 31-year-old a "murder." Latesha Bynum's family said they wanted answers as to how the Harlem mother of two died after getting silicone injections at a local clinic.

“My daughter was murdered,” Bertie Bynum, 51, told the New York Daily News on Monday. “I want to know: Why did they kill my baby? Why did they do that. They wasn’t supposed to do that.”

She added, “You killed a mother, you killed a sister!”

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No details have been provided by the police about the clinic where Latesha got her injections July 15. An investigation is currently underway into the incident. However, police sources told Daily News the injection was given to the mother of two in a residential building on E. 21st St. by First Ave., across the street from Stuyvesant Town.

After receiving the injections, Latesha reportedly complained of dizziness and chest pains, sources said, following which she was rushed to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Medical Center, where doctors declared her brain-dead. Latesha died Thursday after doctors removed her from life support, just three days before her 32nd birthday.

Authorities reportedly said that autopsy results from the city medical examiner’s office is pending, following which more details about the incident may come to light. So far the cause of death remains unknown.

Latesha's brother, Tymel Bynum, also responded to her sister's death saying her feet turned blue after the procedure at the clinic, which has not been named.

“Why wasn’t she taken to medical care? That probably could’ve saved her life,” he said. “That’s murder. Just because the person didn’t pull a trigger, it’s still murder.”

Just a day before the procedure, Latesha shared a photo of herself with a friend on Facebook. One of her friend commented: “U look beautiful boo!!” to which she replied, "Thank you so much."

As the investigation into her untimely death continues, the family's lawyer, Jack Yankowitz, said the injection was given to Latesha by someone “representing himself as a doctor.”

“This is some sort of underground type of procedure — this is not something that’s done by professional doctors,” he said, adding that the family is awaiting more information from police and the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Bynum’s brother, Tymel, said Latesha was confident that the procedure was not risky. “If she had high confidence in it, I don’t think she felt like it was a risk that would’ve took her life. I don’t think she would’ve jeopardized that for her daughters,” he said.

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Over the past few years, several deaths have been reported among women and transgender people who opt for illegal “pumping parties” where they pay to have industrial-grade silicone injected into their breasts or their buttocks at a lower rate.

In 2015, two botched buttocks enhancement procedures were said to be homicides after those taking the injections died. A Maryland woman died after getting injections in a Queens basement by a phony surgeon who fled the scene after the procedure went awry. The same year, in August, a 40-year-old was found dead in her Bronx home after getting “cosmetic silicone injections.”