The Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) in California announced on Monday that it had arrested a 49-year-old suspect for allegedly injecting a man's buttocks in 2013, causing fatal complications.

According to a press release, police believe the suspect, Alejandra Aguilera Ortega, gave 22-year-old Diego Lopez “illegal silicone injections in his buttocks” before fleeing to Mexico.

CHPD said the suspect was “unlicensed” and had recently returned to Citrus Heights, where detectives arrested Aguilera-Ortega on suspicion of murder at a local apartment. (Related article: Missouri man kills hospitalized wife over depression and medical bills)

Police investigators allege Aguilera-Ortega gave Lopez a “non-medical grade” injection that caused “multiple organ failure, cardiac arrest and ultimately death,” according to a CHPD press release. readPolice said Lopez and the suspect were friends before the investigation began, and that when police tried to arrest Aguilera-Ortega in connection with Lopez's death in 2013, he had “already fled somewhere in Mexico.”

Police also alleged that Aguilera-Ortega was a transgender woman, was employed as an escort and ran an adult page in 2014, CBS News reported. Reported.

Citrus Heights woman arrested for allegedly having fatal silicone buttock injections in 2013 https://t.co/VReBTLiZpv

— CBS Sacramento (@CBSSacramento) August 22, 2024

“I'm scared. I'm very, very scared,” an unnamed woman who lives in the apartment where Aguilera-Ortega was arrested told CBS News. “How did she get here? How long has she been living here?”

During Wednesday's court appearance, a Spanish interpreter read out the charges against Aguilera-Ortega and a public defender was appointed, CBS News reported.