(The Houston Chronicle) -- A third person has died from what police suspect are silicone injections, alarming investigators that many in the transgender community are not heeding warnings about the dangers of such body enhancement techniques.

David Harold Reese Jr., 31, died recently at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, two days after receiving silicone injections to enhance his buttocks, said Houston Police Department Homicide Lt. Steve Jett.

Reese lived as a woman and went by the name "Coco," friends said. Police believe Reese asphyxiated, Jett said, but the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has not determined the official cause of death.

Investigators are looking for the person who gave the injections and who could face criminal charges.

The silicone injections are believed to have caused two other deaths and sickened several people since May, police said. In one of those deaths, police have arrested a person they suspect gave the injection.

The liquid silicone, which analysts have likened to brake fluid, is injected under the skin to enhance people's breasts and buttocks. The technique has long been popular in the transgender community because it is cheaper than surgery, offers instant results and enables recipients to perform sexually as males, concerned activists say.

Police have pleaded for anyone who received such injections to seek medical attention immediately, but news of a third death raises concerns the transgender community is ignoring those warnings and taking risks anyway.

Jett said he expects even more deaths.

"The community sentiment is they've been doing this a long time, and they're going to do whatever it takes to make themselves beautiful," Jett said. "It's a lifestyle, and they want to continue that lifestyle."

Few are cooperating with the investigation, which has hampered police's efforts.

"People are not volunteering a lot of information to us or the doctors -- a lot of the people won't even talk to us," Jett said. "Our people are doing everything they can to get out there and develop witnesses."

In one of the other cases, police have arrested a person they suspect injected silicone into a person who later died.

Guadalupe Camarena, 32, who lives as a woman, was charged Aug. 8 with aggravated assault in the death of Delfino Gonzalez, 22. Police say Camarena injected silicone into Gonzalez, who died days later from asphyxiation after the substance entered his bloodstream.

Investigators have recovered a liquid they believe Camarena had bought and have sent a sample to Rice University. Analysts there will determine if it matches the substance found in Gonzalez's body, said police Sgt. Doug Osterberg.

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