An unlicensed Bronx spa operator accused of killing a patient during an anti-aging treatment has been charged with murder, the NYPD announced Tuesday, after the city’s medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
Luis Rojas Cabrera, 55, now faces depraved indifference murder in the death of Elizabeth Baron, 27, a Bronx resident. Prosecutors say Rojas Cabrera accidentally injected Baron with air during a NAD+ treatment at his Riverdale business, Bereshit Lifestyle Center, on July 19.
Baron went into cardiac arrest immediately after the injection. Court documents allege Rojas Cabrera told a police officer at the scene, “I made a very big mistake.”
Bereshit Lifestyle Center advertised itself online as offering “natural medicine” and therapies aimed at “making healthy living easy.”
Rojas Cabrera was initially charged with reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of a profession while prosecutors waited for autopsy results to determine whether the injection caused Baron’s death. The medical examiner ruled in late September that she died of a cardiac air embolism, with no underlying conditions noted in the report.
At his initial arraignment in July, Assistant District Attorney Ethan Reisbaum told the court, “Administering NAD+ via an IV requires a prescription from a medical professional.” Rojas Cabrera pleaded not guilty to the original charges, which were not bail-eligible, and he had remained free since that court date.
Reached last month, Rojas Cabrera gave a different account of the air found in Baron’s heart. He said the air resulted not from the injection but from manual CPR he performed after she went into cardiac arrest, a measure also used by responding medics.
“When I investigated with other doctors, they told me it was a possibility. The prolonged CPR can produce air in the heart chambers,” he said.
He also suggested underlying health conditions may have contributed to Baron’s death, though the medical examiner’s report made no mention of any.
NAD+ has become popular in wellness circles and among celebrities, including models Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber, who have publicly described using the treatment for its purported anti-aging effects.
