Woman who caused death of 22-year-old exotic dancer by giving her illegal butt injections is jailed for five years - as victim's sisters say she was desperate for the 'perfect TV body'
A Dallas woman has been sentenced to five years in prison after causing the death of a nightclub dancer by performing illegal butt injections on her.
Nitica Deonte Lee, 49, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after she injected a silicone substance into the buttocks of 22-year-old Daysha Phillips in St. Louis, Missouri in 2015.
Prosecutors said that Lee had travelled from her Dallas home to a hotel in the suburb of Edmundson where she performed the illegal cosmetic procedure. Phillips died four days later after the silicone entered her bloodstream and became trapped in her lungs.
Three other women had accompanied Phillips to the Drury Inn near St. Louis' main airport, but one backed out, and the two others who received injections didn't appear to suffer any ill effects from the procedure.
Nitica Deonte Lee (left), 49, has been sentenced to five years in prison for causing the death of 22-year-old exotic dancer Daysha Phillips (right) in Missouri through illegal butt injections
Investigators said that Phillips had trouble breathing after the injections and relatives rushed her to the hospital, but her condition quickly deteriorated and she was taken off life support four days later.
Phillips' sister Kimberly Sanders told FOX2now: 'She was basically dying a slow death when she left there.'
Phillips was an exotic dancer at the Pink Slip nightclub in Brooklyn, Missouri, where she performed under the stage name Milani Mulan. Her sisters said she also spent two years in the US Navy Reserve.
Following the sentencing on Thursday, Sanders and Philips' other sister Tereesha Patterson revealed that Lee had written the family a letter in which she she said she wanted to attempt to convey her 'deepest regret and sympathy over the death of Daysha'.
The letter obtained by FOX2now went on to read: 'I had a brief opportunity of meeting Daysha and I can truly appreciate why she was beloved by her family and friends.
'I had no intentions on bringing harm to Daysha's life… There is nothing I can do or say to undo this tragedy.'
Phillips's sisters say she had been trying to achieve the sort of body that is idolized on television when she went to the hotel in St. Louis seeking a butt enhancement
Lee had previously served a four-year prison term on convictions for robbery, burglary and theft, the St. Louis Dispatch revealed.
She was charged shortly after Phillips died, but evaded authorities for five years before being arrested in her hometown of Dallas in July 2020. Prosecutors said she spent some of her time as a fugitive in Mexico.
Patterson and Sanders said their sister had been trying to achieve the sort of body that is idolized on television when she went to the hotel in St. Louis seeking a butt enhancement.
'I think you need to be very careful – women, who they hang around with, and who influences them,' Patterson told FOX2Now.
Tereesha Patterson said Daysha Phillips had been trying to achieve the sort of body that is idolized on television when she went to the hotel in St. Louis seeking a butt enhancement
Investigators said that Phillips had trouble breathing after the injections and relatives rushed her to the hospital, but her condition quickly deteriorated and she was taken off life support
'We have a lot of stars and actresses and actors, I don't want to say any names because it's not fair to them, but they're out there, in the music industry. It's glamorized.'
Butt augmentation, which averages roughly $4,000 when done legally, typically involves using implants, sculpting by using fat from elsewhere in the patient's body, or a combination of both, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons website.
Black market practitioners sometimes use silicone sourced from hardware stores and deaths from such illegal procedures have occurred around the U.S.
In Dallas, 34-year-old Wykesha Reid died in February from what authorities said was a blocked lung artery linked to illegal silicone injections meant to expand her butt. Two salon workers, Denise Rochelle 'Wee Wee' Ross, 43, and Jimmy Joe 'Alicia' Clarke, 31, were charged with murder.
Phillips (pictured) was an exotic dancer at the Pink Slip nightclub in Brooklyn, Missouri, and her sisters say she also spent two years in the US Navy Reserve
Prosecutors in North Carolina charged a man with second-degree murder in January in connection with a butt injection that led to a woman's death in March 2014.
The man, Vinnie Taylor, also was indicted on federal charges alleging he sold and injected food grade liquid silicone into people. Prosecutors allege he injected seven women with silicone between September 2013 and September 2014.
In June, a former Philadelphia madam who performed illegal 'body sculpting' was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison in the death of a dancer whose heart stopped after nearly half a gallon of silicone was injected into her buttocks.
She testified that her clients called her 'the Michelangelo of buttocks injections,' but prosecutors said she had no medical training and used deadly products on vulnerable women, including fellow members of the transgender community who wanted curves.
No comments