Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra cause of death likely to be result of cocaine drug overdose as questions are asked whether she had been partying with Montauk tycoon, Christopher Durnan. At time of death, the Irish Manhattan designer told her boyfriend, Nicholas DiRubio she would be home soon, only to never make it.
A Manhattan swimwear designer who mysteriously died at the upscale Montauk Yacht Club earlier this month is thought to be the result of an accidental drug overdose according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, was found unconscious at the upscale club at around midnight on Aug. 5 aboard a boat named ‘Ripple’ – one of at least two Grateful Dead-themed crafts owned by insurance mogul Christopher Durnan, 60, whom it is now thought the designer may have been partying with on the night of her death.
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: An investigation has revealed “bikini mogul” Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra who was CEO of East x East swimwear, who mysteriously died on a yacht in New York recently, apparently died of of a cocaine overdose according to the Daily Mail. An investor of hers was seen… pic.twitter.com/g2shdQAkdd
— Plein Crazy (@PleinCrazy) August 12, 2025
An autopsy is pending to determine Nolan-O’Slatarra’s official cause of death – although sources cited by the nypost say the 33 year old’s death was likely the result of a suspected drug overdose.
Questions have been swirling since the tragic night when Nolan-O’Slatarra was discovered on the ‘Ripple,’ which was docked at the Yacht Club. Members reported hearing screams and called 911, before trying to resuscitate the young designer – who was later pronounced dead.
The good Samaritans said they were woken by a naked man throwing sunscreen at their boat and saw him running down the dock screaming, ‘Do something!’
Durnan, a familiar figure at the club, owns the Durnan Group in Rockville Center, which manages the ‘largest, most successful Workers Compensation Safety Group for Real Estate’ on the company’s website.
He owns ‘Ripple’ and a second boat, ‘Hell in a Bucket,’ which was docked alongside and is also a shout-out to the Grateful Dead.
At the time, the man was heard screaming, ‘my girlfriend is unconscious,’ even though the woman was not romantically involved with the boat owner.
Suffolk County cops have not filed charges or identified any suspects in the case. But authorities have also not publicly ruled out foul play, despite revealing that there was no evidence of violence to the body.
Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death is also being investigated by Suffolk County’s East End Drug Task Force, according to a Tuesday report by Newsday.
‘Until you start ruling stuff out, everything is in play,’ a source familiar with the investigation told the outlet.
Nolan-O’Slatarra, a native of the tiny Irish town of Carlow, migrated to the US, where she started as a bottle service girl in SoHo before co-founding East x East, a swimwear label.
‘I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money-driven, business-driven, and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road,‘ she told the Irish Independent last year.
Nolan-O’Slatarra summered in the Hamptons, where she hosted successful pop-up shows and fashion exhibits for wealthy clientele in Montauk and the surrounding area.
She had finalized her divorce to ex-Sam Ryan just months before her death, according to court records.
In the months following her divorce, the up and coming designer had moved on with 34-year-old sales exec, Nicholas DiRubio with the UK’s SUN reporting the man having travelled to Ireland with Nolan-O’Slatarra to visit her family, with marriage the next step.
At the time of her death, Nolan-O’Slatarra had been staying with DiRubio in the Montauk area for the summer, according to the Daily Mail.
Nolan reportedly went to talk with Durnan, a well-known figure at the yacht club, before she died. The boat owner founded a large insurance firm that specializes in workers’ compensation and reportedly invested over $200,000 in the designer’s swimwear line, according to the Daily Mail.
Glamorous bikini designer’s grim cause of death revealed after night with tycoon, 60, on Hamptons yacht: Distraught boyfriend breaks down https://t.co/f2v3I3ZOyy
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) August 12, 2025
The day after the horrific discovery of Nolan’s body, pictures of the boat revealed a white powdery substance on the seats of Ripple.
At the time of writing, both of the boats have left the spots where they were previously docked at the club, the Daily Mail said.
Nolan-O’Slatarra had told DiRubio she was at a business meeting on the night she died, the Independent stated.
In the hours before her death, she reportedly called her boyfriend and told him she was going to book an Uber and get home around 1 am.
‘It was just her and the boat owner on the boat,’ a source close to Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family told Extra.ie.
‘She phoned her boyfriend and she told him she was just about to be picked up by an Uber.’
Except Nolan-O’Slatarra never made her Uber ride, with the woman shortly after becoming unresponsive from what authorities now suspect to be the result of an accidental drug overdose death.
It now remained unclear if the boat owner who was seen running around naked was suspected in the woman’s death, whether he had supplied narcotics to her and what ultimately caused her to die.
