Dead Fashion Designer Found Aboard Yacht in Montauk

A glamorous New York City fashion designer was discovered dead aboard a yacht in Montauk, and new medical records reveal just how disturbing the scene was. Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra looked awful when paramedics found her last August at the ritzy Montauk Yacht Club in the Hamptons. Her mouth, chest, and the back of her head were turning purple. Blood covered her lips and lay on the floor near her body. Dried blood soaked her oral cavity, head, and chest area. No active bleeding was observed. There were no obvious signs of trauma either. She was also cold to the touch. An unidentified male witness told EMTs he was in bed with the victim before she stopped breathing. He called 911 because he could not wake her up. Christopher Durnan, 60, owns the boat named Ripple and is the last person confirmed to have seen her alive.

Durnan met Nolan-O'Slatarra on August 4 to discuss her swimwear fashion company. She went limp between 10:30pm and 11pm that night. Durnan feared she was having a heart attack and tried to perform CPR without success. His lawyer, Robert Holdman, says he then sprinted naked down the dock around midnight screaming for help. He claimed his clothes were soaked in her vomit. But no soiled garments or signs of vomit were found at the scene or during the autopsy. The family's lawyer, Michael Bowe, told the Daily Mail that law enforcement sources initially thought she might have died of a drug overdose. Her heartbroken family is not convinced by that theory. They believe Durnan showed suspicious behavior on that night instead.

Bowe noted that EMT reports alarmed Nolan-O'Slatarra's family greatly. Law enforcement even told them the scene had been cleaned before responders arrived. A preliminary filing brought forward Tuesday details these claims. The Daily Mail reviewed a three-page document filed by the family last week. They plan to sue Durnan for wrongful death in New York Supreme Court. The suit seeks $50 million in damages. It accuses him of causing her death through assault and negligence. Sources say he invested more than $200,000 into her beauty boutique. Holdman insists his client did not cause the death. He stated that she was gone almost immediately after he tried to save her life. The exact cause of death remains pending investigation today.

She was non-responsive." That grim assessment marked the end for Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, a woman who built an enviable life before her untimely death in Ireland.

She first arrived in the United States about ten years ago and quickly embraced a glamorous existence in New York City. In a 2024 interview with The Irish Independent, she told reporters that she 'loved' residing on the Upper East Side. Photos circulating on social media depicted her enjoying private jets, sipping champagne, attending concerts, and sharing helicopter rides with her boyfriend, Nicholas DiRubio, who worked as a sales executive at the time.

Nolan-O'Slatarra was no ordinary resident; she founded several businesses of her own, including the fashion accessories brand Duper and the luxury swimwear label East x East. She spent her days living the high life that many only dream about.

Her roots were far from this celebrity status. The young woman grew up in Carlow, a small town roughly 55 miles outside Dublin. At just 16 years old, she left home and 'forced' her parents to fund her education at the Institute of Education, a prestigious private secondary school in the capital.

The cost of that elite schooling is steep. Tuition for the 2025/26 academic year runs up to €11,850, which converts to approximately $13,785 per year according to the school's official fee schedule.

Despite her flashy lifestyle in America, she returned home for her final rites. Mourners gathered around her body at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Carlow on August 20, 2025, to pay their last respects. The funeral service took place that same day, bringing a somber close to a story that swung wildly from humble beginnings to high-society excess.