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Police search home in fatal-injection case

Authorities on Thursday searched the Lower Merion residence of the person believed responsible for the buttocks injection that apparently led to the death of Claudia Seye Aderotimi, a 20-year-old London tourist.

Authorities on Thursday searched the Lower Merion residence of the person believed responsible for the buttocks injection that apparently led to the death of Claudia Seye Aderotimi, a 20-year-old London tourist.

Evidence was recovered, but the individual has not been located. Police did not release the person's name or the location of the property that was searched.

"We know who this person is," said Philadelphia Police Capt. Ben Naish, who declined to name the individual. "We would be glad if this person came to talk to us."

Though police at first said they were seeking to question a woman in the case, Naish on Thursday described the individual as "this person." Police would not comment on reports that the person they are looking for is transgender.

The person has no medical training but may have administered the shots to others besides Aderotimi, police said.

Aderotimi, a student and aspiring actress and dancer, came to Philadelphia on Saturday with three friends. She and a friend were injected in a hotel room near Philadelphia International Airport. Aderotimi was taken to a hospital around 1:30 a.m. Monday with chest pains and later died there.

The case is not a criminal investigation, police said, pending a medical examiner's ruling on what killed Aderotimi, which awaits toxicology tests that could take several weeks.

"We believe that as a result of what occurred inside the hotel, that is why [Aderotimi] likely experienced medical complications," Naish said.

Meanwhile, the woman police say they believe helped Aderotimi arrange the procedure has been identified in a news report as her cousin Scheffee Wilson. Wilson, 30, an actress who lives in Saddle River, N.J., did not return messages left at her home.

When contacted by London's Daily Mirror newspaper, she said, "I need to speak to my attorney."

Police, who have not released Wilson's name, have said they searched a home in Saddle River and interviewed a woman they consider a witness. They said that the woman functioned as a recruiter who recommended the injection service to Aderotimi and that she received injections herself in another hotel room.

"She has cooperated with us in this investigation," Naish said Thursday. "She's been very helpful."

Buttocks injections, which are not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, have been promoted on the black market as less risky than surgical implants. Investigators do not know what material was injected into Aderotimi, but silicone gel or a material called Hydrogel is often used.

The procedure has been known to result in complications that include infections, kidney impairment, and death.

The injections have also gained popularity in the transgender community in recent years, according to some news reports. Andre D. Jeter, a transsexual in Atlanta, died in 2008 after receiving injections at a "pumping party," an event organized around the injections, and similar deaths have been reported elsewhere in the country.

News of Aderotimi's death has brought grieving from her friends and family in England. Through social networking sites and newspapers, a picture is emerging of a vibrant, fun-loving woman who had dreams of stardom, but also insecurities about her body.

A British talent agent said "the problem was she didn't have a butt, and she wanted a butt."

"She went to audition for one video shoot wearing fake booty pants," said the agent, identified in the Sun, a London tabloid, as Tee Ali. "But when they found out it was fake she didn't get asked back."

Ali cited the influence of media images. "She's a victim of all these girls trying to be perfect. She thought if she had a big booty, she would have been in better videos and been more famous."

Friends posted poems and messages online. "I thought it was a prank when they told me you were gone," one man wrote.

A poster on a Facebook page created in her memory said: "I still can't believe it. Claudiyah you told me you wouldn't do this . . . ."

On YouTube, Aderotimi appears in a video dancing with a friend to hip-hop music, wearing padded pants, with the caption "just having a laugh." In another, she dances to Congolese music, billing herself as "Claudiyah Carmell."

"Funny, helpful & kind is what she was," friend Audrey Mark told The Inquirer in an e-mail "We are human & we all make mistakes. She'll be missed."