Family Of Woman Who Mysteriously Died After Salon Visit Speak
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — The family of a woman who mysteriously died this week after going into cardiac arrest at a Long Beach salon expressed their shock on Friday.
"We have so many questions and we don't have any answers. I don't know. We got to deal with it," Hamilet Suarez's cousin, John Hernandez, told KCAL9's Dave Lopez.
Suarez died Wednesday after being transported from Areli's Beauty Salon to an area hospital in medical distress. The 36-year-old mother to a young child was declared dead at the hospital.
"She was receiving a procedure to augment a certain type of her body by injection," said Sgt. Megan Zabel of the Long Beach Police Department.
The masseuse who allegedly administered the injection was identified as 45-year-old Sandra Perez Gonzalez, a recently licensed massage therapist.
Police said Gonzalez has been arrested and is currently in a holding cell at a downtown Los Angeles jail. Her bail has been set at $2 million.
Gonzalez, however, has not been charged in Suarez's death. Authorities say they're awaiting the results of Suarez's autopsy.
The salon was closed Friday. But, according to detectives, Gonzalez rented a backroom from the owner where she gave massages.
Evidence recovered from the scene, however, suggests that other procedures were also being done, such as buttock and lip augmentations, Lopez reported.
"There were several items of medical equipment and the substances that were taken from the salon are being analyzed at this time," Sgt. Zabel said.
Neighboring business owners declined to comment on camera. Off-camera, Lopez was told that the salon experienced a lot of foot traffic.
One female hairstylist told Lopez that she had an appointment with Gonzalez scheduled for next Tuesday to have some work done on her face, specifically to remove some wrinkles around her mouth. She said she made the appointment following a recommendation from a good friend who had a buttocks augmentation done days ago allegedly by Gonzalez.
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