Family of fashion designer found dead on boat 'shocked by brain cancer claims'
Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, was discovered on a boat named Ripple at Montauk Yacht Club, Long Island, when a man called 911 around midnight on August 5, the Suffolk County Police Department said.
Despite 'good Samaritans' trying to perform CPR, first responders pronounced her dead soon after they arrived.
Officers asked Martha's mum Elma, who was in contact with her daughter daily, if the claims were true she had been battling brain cancer.
Elma was reportedly stunned, telling investigators her daughter was 'perfectly healthy'.
It is not known who told the authorities Martha had brain cancer, according to the Irish Independent.
Her cause of death has still not been determined, but a post-mortem exam 'did not show evidence of violence, and her final cause of death is pending further examination', according to US detectives.
A preliminary investigation at the scene was also inconclusive.
Criminal defence attorney Arthur Aidala, whose client list includes Harvey Weinstein, has been fired by the family as they seek a second-opinion autopsy.
Mr Aidala said: 'There is still a very intense investigation focused on why a young woman is dead.
'The autopsy report did show that there were no signs of a struggle, no defensive wounds on her hands,andno obvious signs of trauma.
'The medical examiner is really focusing now on her blood and the other fluids that are being sent to toxicology to see what's going on.
'There were rumours that she possibly had some form of brain cancer and that is being investigated as well.'
The designer, originally from Carlow around 50 miles south west of Dublin, was a regular member of the Montauk Yacht Club in the glitzy Hamptons area of New York.
Martha had moved to New York from Ireland when she was 26-years-old. She had spoken about wanting to start her own company and brand from the age of 18.
She founded East x East, a resort-wear label in the Hamptons in 2023 and had a successful pop-up in the exclusive Gurney's spa, a 10-minute drive from the yacht club.
After opening the spa business she posted 'Goals Achieved' on TikTok on July 1, just weeks before her death.
Dylan Grace, her co-founder at East x East, said after her death: 'We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand and built so much from nothing.
'I'm truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life.'
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Spectator
13 hours ago
- Spectator
How Ireland became a haven for Hezbollah's cocaine
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Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shocking cancer twist for family of glamorous bikini designer found dead on New York yacht after Irish family called for second post-mortem
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Edinburgh Reporter
2 days ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Fringe 2025 – Our Brothers in Cloth ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In 2005 the Irish government published the Ferns Report on its inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Ferns, County Wexford. The report looked solely at the responses of the Roman Catholic church and the civil authorities to the allegations. The report was highly critical of the diocesan bishop, the police and the local health authorities. Twenty years later, Irish writer Ronan Colfer brings his play Our Brothers in Cloth to the Fringe. Colfer's own family was deeply affected by clerical child sex abuse, which resulted in the suicide of a close relative. Our Brothers in Cloth focuses on the devastating impact of clerical abuse on one family, the aftershocks that reverberate from it, and the refusal of a very traditional rural community to accept the truth. In recent years we have seen how women have suffered at the hands of the Catholic church (Small Things Like These, The Magdalene Sisters, The Woman in the Wall); Colfer looks instead at the abuse of young children and the ways in which the perpetrators were protected, as much by lay people's reluctance to face facts as by the authorities' unwillingness to tarnish the reputation of the most powerful organisation in 20th century Ireland. The Kinsella family is mourning its younger son, Christopher, who has taken his own life. His brother Alan (Jake Douglas) burns with grief and guilt; when Chris first attempted suicide a horrified Alan just gave him a good telling off. Since Chris died, the much loved parish priest Fr Mulvaney has moved away, replaced by Fr Seamus O'Donovan (Ronan Colfer); when Alan's friend Mark (Michael Lavin) comes home from London for a visit, we find out why. From then on Alan is on a mission to expose Mulvaney's guilt, but he faces fierce opposition from his mother Martina (Rosalind Stockwell), who can't accept that any priest could do such things. There's been a reported case down in Kerry, and that priest was exonerated by the church; this is all just more lies and rumour. When Mulvaney is finally arrested, Alan thinks many people will come forward – but none does. Douglas powerfully conveys Alan's isolation and despair; he has nowhere to turn, and even when he speaks to his former girlfriend Siobhan (Oli Fyne), she, while sympathetic, is doubtful. Fr Mulveney was such a good man, such a compassionate man, so helpful. He even set up the work scheme that Alan's lately been attending. Despite this, Siobhan and Alan's nightime meeting is a welcome and tender interlude in what is otherwise a tense and rightly shocking hour. 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Traditional music is used to separate scenes, emphasising the rural and traditional nature of the town, and perhaps also its reluctance to question its long held views. The simple set design works well; having the non—speaking characters in some scenes remain seated at the back of the stage is a very effective way of implying their unwilling involvement. They can try to pretend they don't know what's happening, but they're still present in the moment, they can't escape. Another excellent touch is the loud ticking of the clock, which becomes particularly noticeable when Fr O'Donovan wants to talk to Alan about Chris. In the silence that follows, the clock is like the ticking of a time bomb; when Alan's rage explodes, I was so shocked I jumped in my seat. It's the silence of a nation, about to be shattered forever. Our Brothers in Cloth is a Poke the Bear Production, directed by Ryan McVeigh and produced by Oli Fyne and Ronan Colfer. 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