Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

2 Colombians indicted in woman’s death after botched surgery

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Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas

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Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez

A Clark County grand jury has indicted two Colombian nationals on second-degree murder charges in the death of a woman after a botched buttocks enhancement surgery.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, were formally charged with conspiracy to commit practicing medicine without a license, practicing medicine without a license, second-degree murder, performance of an act or neglect of duty in willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons or property, and robbery.

The couple were arrested at McCarran International Airport on April 9 in connection with the death of 42-year-old Las Vegas resident Elena Caro as they were trying to catch a flight to Medillin, Colombia.

The incident began when police responded at 5:58 p.m. April 9 to 3310 E. Charleston Blvd. to investigate reports of a missing woman under suspicious circumstances, officials said.

Caro's daughter had dropped her off at the location — a two-room office in the back of Tiles & More — earlier in the day to undergo the cosmetic surgical procedure for a buttocks enhancement, according to a police arrest report.

The daughter watched Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez give Caro an injection in the buttocks area before she left and was told to return several hours later, police noted in the report. Caro called her daughter later in the day to say the procedure wouldn't be done for at least another three hours, according to the arrest report.

When she returned later to pick up her mother, however, the business was abandoned and Caro was missing, authorities said.

Police said Caro had been taken by ambulance from a location several miles away, in the 3500 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard, to North Vista Hospital.

After his arrest, Matallana-Galvas allegedly told detectives he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia but not a licensed doctor in Nevada. He said Caro walked out of the office after he injected gel into her.

Clark County suspended the tile shop’s license, which was reviewed by the Clark County Commission earlier this month.

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