Jurors in San Mateo County have convicted a Florida cosmetologist in the death of a Bay Area model who built a social media following as a Kim Kardashian lookalike, closing the book on a high-profile trial over a botched cosmetic injection that prosecutors say led to rapid respiratory collapse. The case has put an unflattering spotlight back on underground body-contouring procedures carried out far from any licensed medical office.
According to CBS San Francisco, 53-year-old Vivian Alexandra Gomez of Royal Palm Beach was found guilty yesterday of felony involuntary manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license after a 15-day jury trial. Prosecutors told jurors that Gomez flew to the Bay Area in April 2023 and administered an illegal gluteal silicone injection that left the victim gravely ill. The jury returned its decision after roughly three hours of deliberations.
Prosecutors say Gomez met the victim at San Francisco International Airport, then carried out the injection in a room at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront in Burlingame on April 19, 2023. The model, Christina Ashten Gourkani, was rushed to Mills-Peninsula Medical Center and died the next day. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Gourkani’s cause of death was listed as respiratory failure and a pulmonary embolism, and prosecutors say the injected substance was silicone. Case records and trial testimony walked jurors through how silicone can travel through the bloodstream and create fatal blockages…