“We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up”
The 33-year-old Carlow native was found unconscious on the boat shortly after midnight local time on Tuesday.
Two people who were fast asleep on a nearby boat were woken up by “screaming” and saw a man running down the dock in a panic.
“We were sound asleep,” the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, told The New York Post.
“We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up.
“He was running up and down, naked, screaming, ‘Do something’.
According to the eye-witness, they called 911 before boarding the Ripple where Nolan-O’Slatarra lay.
Suffolk County police confirmed that bystanders had tried to resuscitate the designer before first responders arrived — but it was too late.
The 911 caller and his pal, who are regulars at the yacht club, added that they did not recognise Nolan-O’Slatarra.
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Cops had said there was no evidence of violence done to Nolan-O’Slatarra’s body, but have not yet ruled out foul play or released details of the department’s investigation.
The Post reports how Nolan-O’Slatarra moved to Manhattan in 2018 “from the small Irish town of Carlow”, and she started off as a bottle service girl in Soho before founding East x East, her swimwear fashion company.
“Gifted at marketing, she summered in the Hamptons in recent years where she hosted pop-ups for the upscale clientele drawn to Montauk and surrounding resort towns,” the Post reports.
“It was very obvious to me that she was very driven and wanted to succeed,” one local businessman told the Post. “I got the impression that she is a young, ambitious, driven young woman who had a vision, and she thought that Montauk was a very good fit.”
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra’s remains are currently in the custody of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office while, the Irish Independent reports, her family have been told that a final post-mortem report, toxicological, histological and other testing, will take at least three months to complete.
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra’s mother said she learned about her daughter’s death on Tuesday night, but has been left in the dark about what happened on the boat where she was found.
Martha Nolan O’Slatarra
“I feel numb and in shock,” she told the Irish Independent. “My younger daughter, Jacqui, arrived in on Tuesday night and she was crying and shaking. She said, ‘I have terrible news, Martha’s dead’.”
“I don’t know what happened,” her mother said. “We weren’t told anything about the circumstances.”
Ms Nolan last spoke to her daughter on July 29 in relation to plans she had for a visit home this week.
“She wanted to know if I would be around to pick her up,” she said. “It was a very quick call because she is so busy, but that’s the last time we spoke.
The New York Post said Carlow-born Nolan-O’Slatarra was a “popular Big Apple designer” who was a well-known local figure at the upscale waterfront community in the Hamptons.
They say the tragedy has shaken many in Montauk, a summer retreat known for its wealth.
The yacht club’s clientele has included some of the nation’s most famous figures, including JP Morgan, Vincent Astor, Harold Vanderbilt and Charles Lindbergh, according to its website.
Martha’s business partner Dylan Grace, who started the design company East x East with her in 2023 posted a moving farewell message on Instagram on Wednesday.
“We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand and built so much for nothing,” he wrote.
“I’m truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life,” Grace wrote. “Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl.”
Last month, she celebrated a pop-up shop at the exclusive Montauk spa, the Gurney’s Resort, who said they were “deeply saddened by the tragic news regarding Martha Nolan”.
“(We) extend our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones,” the spa said in a statement Wednesday.
“While Martha was not an employee of Gurney’s, we were proud to host her East x East pop-up and admired her entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision,” the statement added.
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra worked in Ireland until 2015 when she emigrated to the US. She set up East x East, a luxury brand for sunglasses, swimwear and resort wear for men and women.
She was also director of operations at investment firm K4 Capital and ran an Amazon fashion brand, Duper.
During a phone conversation with a homicide detective in Montauk, her mother said she was directed to the medical examiner’s office for more information.
“The detective said Martha was dead, that he was sorry,” she said. “I asked him where she was and he said she was on a boat.
“I asked him who she was with. He said he couldn’t release information because it was too early on in the investigation. He instructed me to phone the medical examiner’s office.”