LAS VEGAS: With her smooth skin and wavy, honeyed hair, Elena Caro was celebrated as a beauty by her husband and teenage daughter, who often told her that she didn't need cosmetic surgery. But at 42, Caro wanted firmer skin and a younger figure, so she secretly booked an appointment with a medical office recommended by a close friend. The quest for perfection might have ended her life, police said. Caro was found walking the streets of Las Vegas in agony Saturday after buttocks enhancement surgery that authorities say was performed by two Colombian nationals in the back room of a tile business. She was pronounced dead minutes later at North Vista Hospital in North Las Vegas. Las Vegas homicide chief Lt. Lew Roberts said backroom clinics can be found across Sin City. But he said there hadn't been any deaths involving unlicensed physicians in at least six years.
