Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, an Irish fashion designer living in Manhattan, was planning a trip home before she was found unresponsive on a boat docked in Montauk, according to her mother.
Nolan-O’Slatarra was pronounced dead in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after a man spotted her body on the boat outside the exclusive Montauk Yacht Club off Star Island Road.
Her autopsy did not reveal evidence of violence, and her final cause of death is pending further examination, Suffolk County police said. She was 33 years old.
Her mother, Elma Nolan, told the Irish Independent that she’s been left “numb with shock” as she struggles to cope with the loss of her daughter.
“My younger daughter, Jacqui, arrived on Tuesday night and she was crying and shaking,” Elma said. “She said, ‘I have terrible news. Martha’s dead.’”
The grieving mother added that she still “[doesn’t] know what happened” to her daughter.
Elma currently resides in Carlow, where Nolan-O’Slatarra spent much of her childhood. In 2015, she moved from Ireland to New York City, where she launched her fashion brand East x East shortly thereafter. The “sustainable” line, made up of swimsuits, resort wear and other beachy items, was in part inspired by her new home, specifically “the natural beauty and chic lifestyle of The Hamptons,” where she would spend her summers.
Elma said she last spoke with her daughter about a week before her death, specifically about her taking a trip back home.
“She wanted to know if I would be around to pick her up,” Elma said. “It was a very quick call because she is so busy.”
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