Shortly after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Suffolk County police identified a woman found dead 21 hours before, aboard a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club on Star Island Road, as Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, a Manhattan-based entrepreneur and marketing consultant originally from County Carlow, Ireland.
Just before press time yesterday, Suffolk police announced that an autopsy performed by the county medical examiner “did not show evidence of violence,” and remains inconclusive pending further investigation.
Overnight on Tuesday, East Hampton Town police officers were the first agency to arrive on the scene, responding to a midnight 911 call from a man reporting an unconscious woman on the boat. Good Samaritans had attempted to perform CPR on Ms. Nolan-O’Slatarra, police said, but medical personnel arrived and pronounced her dead.
County police were called around 4 a.m., and the county homicide squad is now investigating the death.
Ms. Nolan-O’Slatarra, who was known professionally and on social media as Martha Nolan, held degrees in business administration, management, and digital marketing from University College Dublin, according to her LinkedIn page. She moved to New York City a few years ago, where she founded a marketing consulting service and two fashion brands.
One of the brands, East X East, which sells swimsuits and resort wear, opened a pop-up at Gurney’s Resort and Spa in Montauk last month. It had similar pop-ups at Gurney’s and the Montauk Beach House last summer.
The official East X East Instagram account, which has over 57,000 followers, had not released a statement as of yesterday afternoon, but Ms. Nolan-O’Slatarra’s business partner and the brand’s co-founder, Dylan Grace, posted a carousel of photos of her on his Instagram account that morning, accompanied by a statement. “We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could truly understand, and built so much from nothing,” he wrote. “I’m truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life.”
The county’s Public Information office was not able to confirm any additional details about the circumstances surrounding the death as of yesterday. Homicide detectives have asked anyone who may have information about the incident to call 631-852-6392; their identity will be kept private.
