The Montauk death of fashion entrepreneur Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra is drawing new scrutiny after EMT records described her as cold to the touch, turning purple and covered in blood when medics reached her aboard a boat in Montauk. The patient care report, obtained on the one-year anniversary of her death, is now central to a widening legal fight over what happened aboard the vessel tied to the East x East founder.
The record from the Montauk Fire Department said the 33-year-old Irish-born designer had purpling on her lips and under her nailbeds, along with blood on her mouth, chest and the back of her head. EMT notes also said the boat itself was warm while her body was cool. The report stated that dried blood was found in the oral, head and chest area, with no active bleeding seen when responders arrived. It also said an EMT noticed blood potentially coming from the back of her head while positioning her to open the airway and begin resuscitation efforts and give oxygen.
The report identified an additional male on the scene during the cardiac arrest. That person, whose name was not included in the document, told EMTs he had been in bed with Nolan-O’Slatarra and called 911 after he could not wake her, according to the report. Boat owner Chris Durnan has been the only person previously confirmed as being on scene and as the last person known to have seen her alive.
According to earlier accounts, Durnan was seen running down the Montauk Yacht Club dock around midnight on Aug. 5, 2025, without clothes and shouting for help. His lawyers later told New York Magazine that he stripped because he was covered in Nolan-O’Slatarra’s vomit, though the EMT report did not note any vomit at the scene. The report also said Nolan-O’Slatarra remained unresponsive throughout the time EMTs were with her.
Questions around the Montauk death have only deepened as different findings and theories have emerged. Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family commissioned an autopsy that reportedly found only trace amounts of cocaine in her system, according to the family’s lawyer. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner has not released its own autopsy results. A private investigator and retired Pennsylvania State Police corporal, Patrick Zirpoli, said the report raises concerns and suggested the scene could have been staged to make it appear different from what happened. He also said he does not see the case as fitting a drug overdose, arguing that bleeding in the mouth is not typical of that scenario.
