"She had all of these plans, man, all these plans," her son, Gavin Easley, told 13 Investigates when we spoke with him at his farm in Arkansas.
In 2024, when Gavin's mom, Susan Easley, was between USAID assignments, she went in for liposuction with Dr. Dare Ajibade at a facility in Virginia.
Gavin said his mom has previously had liposuction with a different doctor.
Prior to Susan's surgery with Ajibade, the medical malpractice lawsuit said Easley had a physical exam with another doctor who documented that she was in "excellent health."
Gavin said he spoke to his mom after she had surgery on a Friday. He said he could not get a hold of her on Saturday but became increasingly concerned when he could not reach her Sunday, which was Mother's Day.
"Hindsight is always 2020, because everything that's happened since then I still ask myself how I didn't worry more," Gavin said.
By Monday, the lack of communication left him extremely worried, so Gavin said he and his wife tracked down where his mother was staying post-surgery.
When they arrived at the hotel, he said he found the door to her room ajar and "it really dawned on (him) what was probably going on."
"Amanda and I found her there dead in her bathroom. You know, I'll probably remember and think about it every day for the rest of my life."
He said he called 911 and started doing CPR, but his mother was pronounced dead that day. Gavin says May 13, 2024, is the single worst day of his life.
"It's really, really painful," he said.
At first, Gavin said he accepted the tragedy as an anomaly.
The medical examiner in D.C., where Susan died, ruled that she suffered a "sudden cardiac death in the setting of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease following laser-assisted liposuction with autologous fat transfer."
But after an attorney reviewed her files, Gavin said what he found out made it feel like he lost her all over again.
Attorney Peter Anderson filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of the family claiming Susan's "surgery started at 8:30 a.m. and did not finish until 3:04 p.m. - more than 6.5 hours later, which is highly unusual."
The suit also alleges she was given a dose of lidocaine, a numbing agent used during the procedure, that "exceeded safe dosing parameters for a patient with Decedent's medical history and cardiovascular condition."
The lawsuit also claims Susan was "prematurely" discharged following the procedure.
Susan called the clinic, according to the lawsuit, hours after getting home from surgery and complained of nausea and vomiting. The suit said there is no evidence that Dr. Ajibade or the clinic's staff told her to go to the emergency room or seek treatment.
"Now it does feel like it's somebody's fault. It's not a stroke of fate," Gavin said.
13 Investigates made numerous attempts to ask Ajibade and the attorney representing him in this civil lawsuit about the allegations. Neither responded to our requests for comment.
In a response filed in civil court, Ajibade "denies that he performed negligent surgery," and generally denies the allegations.
While the Easleys continue to fight their lawsuit in Virginia, Ajibade has moved on.
A 13 Investigates review of state licensing information found that throughout his career, he has been licensed in nine states to practice medicine, and seven of them are currently active. Most recently, Ajibade was licensed in Florida and is practicing in Miami, according to social media.
He has a clinic, DVA Plastic Surgery, in Houston's Montrose neighborhood and is facing additional claims by patients.
After 49-year-old Adebola Britt underwent a liposuction procedure with Ajibade at his Montrose clinic, she suffered cardiac arrest in the recovery room, according to her family's attorney.
"We need an ambulance. We need an ambulance," according to a 911 call made Nov. 7, 2025, from DVA Plastic Surgery at the corner of West Gray and Montrose. "We have a patient not breathing."
Britt died five days later on Nov. 12, 2025.
The Harris County medical examiner ruled her cause of death as "sudden death following surgical abdominoplasty and liposuction procedures."
13 Investigates reached out to Ajibade with questions about Britt, but he did not respond.
Her family has retained attorney Donna Aversano but has not filed a civil lawsuit at this time.
Junis Maldonado's family hired attorney Beth Janicek, who filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in San Antonio against Ajibade on June 23.
The lawsuit alleges 27-year-old Maldonado suffered multiple seizures and cardiopulmonary arrest during her liposuction procedure in May and had to be resuscitated.
The lawsuit alleges Maldonado suffered a brain injury from a lack of oxygen and now has a tracheostomy and uses a feeding tube.
"Her treating physicians have concluded that she faces a grave neurological prognosis and is expected to suffer severe and permanent cognitive, neurological and functional disabilities for the remainder of her life," according to the lawsuit.
A spokesperson representing both Ajibade and the clinic where Maldonado's procedure took place sent 13 Investigates a statement saying they can't comment on pending litigation and that patient safety is their highest priority.
In total, 13 Investigates found four malpractice lawsuits filed against Ajibade in the last year.
As part of the medical malpractice suit filings, state code in both Texas and Virginia requires another doctor not related to the case to review the claims and provide a written report.
Rosa Caldera, a bartender who traveled to Houston from Fort Worth for her procedure, filed a lawsuit against Ajibade last month.
"I was just so traumatized by the experience," she told 13 Investigates.
Caldera paid $15,000 for liposuction with Ajibade in 2024.
"It seemed a little bit pricey, but I felt like he was a good doctor," Caldera said.
Caldera, who is represented by attorney Lennie Bollinger in her medical malpractice lawsuit, claims her surgery lasted 10 hours.
When she woke up, she said she was screaming in so much pain that her cousin, who was with her at the Montrose clinic, called 911, and she was transported from the facility to the hospital by ambulance before she was discharged.
"I remember kind of waking up more and then me just saying, 'I'm hurting, please! I'm hurting," Caldera recalls. "The doctor just saying, 'It's normal. It's normal. You just had liposuction. It's normal that you're hurting like this.' I was like, 'No, it's not normal.'"
Caldera said she was initially admitted to the ICU and was released from the hospital two days later.
When Caldera returned home to Fort Worth, she had skin graft surgery with another doctor for a third-degree burn on her stomach, according to her lawsuit.
"At first, I was just like, 'OK, I want to live. I want to feel better.' But then when I started feeling better, I started seeing how bad my body looked," she said.
Caldera's surgery took place in 2024, two months after Susan Easley died in D.C.
She had no idea.
"That makes me feel real sad, because I feel like that could have been me," Caldera said.
While physical recovery took a year, Caldera said the psychological scars are still with her.
"It's really hard-just like, to try to even shop for clothes or even to start a new relationship. Just having all this stuff that I'm uncomfortable with that I don't like myself or have to show to someone else," Caldera said.
On Google, Ajibade's Houston clinic has 5.0 stars, we found.
The Texas Medical Board website lists one public document under "current board action" in his profile, citing a liposuction procedure that "did not conform to the standard of care."
13 Investigates is not familiar with the patient in that case.
We did not find any board action against Ajibade in any other state he is licensed in.
The disciplinary action in Texas wasn't posted until after three of the four patients we looked into had already gone under his knife.
Ajibade settled the complaint with the Texas Medical Board with a fine and continuing education.
In addition to the malpractice lawsuits, Ajibade has two additional civil suits filed against him in Harris County District Court for not making payments on medical equipment, according to court records.
His attorney in one of those cases said they had no comment.
He's also being sued by a business partner, who, among other claims in her suit, accuses him of allegedly "(failing) to maintain accurate medical records" and "engaging in unsafe medical practices that resulted in patient harm."
His attorney in that suit told us that he is eager to resolve the dispute in litigation where he can debunk the claims.
13 Investigates called, emailed, texted, and sent certified mail to two clinics where Ajibade works with a list of questions about all four claims. We never heard from him directly, but the clinic sent an unsigned email that said they cannot comment due to patient privacy.
We also told the Texas Medical Board about all four patients we profiled and asked if the board planned to take action. They said they can't comment on pending or potential litigation.
13 Investigates pulls back the curtain on the Texas Medical Board to show you how little information is available to you as a patient, and the steps you can take to vet your physicians, at 10 p.m. Tuesday on ABC13.