Chelsea Ake-Salvacion

1993-2015

Last update: 2024/09/26

TODO

The Clark County Coroner has determined that 24-year-old Chelsea Ake died from a lack of oxygen.

She was found lifeless inside of the Rejuvenice cryotherapy chamber on October 20 after the business had been closed for the evening.

The Clark County Coroner said the official cause of death is asphyxia in an oxygen-poor environment. Her death was determined to be an accident.

"It could not be determined whether Ms. Ake-Salvacion was standing or not when she became unconscious, and it is not clear how long she was in the chamber before she passed away. It does not appear that she attempted to leave the chamber after she entered," said Clark County Spokesperson, Dan Kulin.

//abcnews.go.com/US/salon-worker-died-cryotherapy-machine-shut/story?id=34775196

A funeral service was held in Honolulu, HI

The company has locations in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County and planned to open a third facility, officials said.

State regulators ordered both locations shut down indefinitely after owners weren't able to provide proof of worker compensation insurance, said Teri Williams, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Business and Industry and the state Division of Industrial Relations. The third location, slated to open soon, was also affected.

"All three locations were issued a stop work order," Williams said. "They have to provide proof that they have a workers compensation policy in order to reopen."

Las Vegas officials also ordered one location closed Tuesday for operating without a license. City spokesman Jace Radke said the application was denied three times since January for nonpayment of fees. A fourth application was pending.

Clark County officials said the owners applied for a business license in July and indicated the salon was undergoing renovations. A final inspection was pending and the facility should not have been doing business, county spokesman Dan Kulin said.

On Monday, the Nevada State Board of Cosmetology ordered the spa where Ake-Salvacion died shut down because it didn't have a license to perform skin and other advertised aesthetician services such as facials. The agency said there was a licensed professional at the spa, but the business itself wasn't licensed. The owners were fined $1,000.

"We didn't even know who they were," Gary Landry, executive director of the state cosmetology board, said about the spa owners. "They had never approached us."

Two state occupational safety agents determined that Ake-Salvacion should not have been using the cryotherapy chamber after-hours for personal use, said Williams, who also serves as spokeswoman for the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"The facts indicate that the fatality occurred as a result of employee misconduct or non-complaint activity," Williams said in an email. "The employer cannot be cited ... and further investigation is not warranted."

Ake-Salvacion grew up in Hawaii and moved to Las Vegas more than two years ago with her boyfriend, who recently returned to Hawaii to take a job, her uncle said. She planned to follow after another year at the spa and hoped to open a similar business of her own.

"She was a good spirit and loved everyone," Ake said. "She had the true aloha spirit. Aloha is love."

An exterior view of the Rejuvenice spa Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Henderson. Chelsea Patricia Ake-Salvacion, a night supervisor at Rejuvenice, died at the spa after reportedly using a cryotherapy machine after hours.

A Las Vegas spa where an employee was found frozen and dead inside a liquid nitrogen chamber used for cryotherapy treatments wasn't licensed by the city, county or state to perform cosmetic or other procedures, authorities said Tuesday.

The disclosures followed the death of 24-year-old Chelsea Patricia Ake-Salvacion, who was found Oct. 20 in a chamber used to provide the increasingly popular but largely unregulated treatments for pain and other conditions.

"When they found her, she was rock solid frozen," Albert Ake, the dead woman's uncle, said in an interview from his home in Reno.

Las Vegas police said the death doesn't appear to be suspicious and the case was closed without a criminal investigation.

Ake said he was told his niece texted her boyfriend on the night before she was found dead and said she was going to use the cryotherapy chamber at the Rejuvenice spa. She was also seen on security video locking the salon, he said.

Her co-worker arrived the following day and noticed Ake-Salvacion's car in the parking lot and her belongings in the business, Ake said.

Ake said he was troubled by reports that his niece misused the cryotherapy chamber or made a mistake. He said he was told she died within moments.

"Something went wrong," Ake said. "It's not operator error if she died within seconds."A

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