A concise summary: a medical record and fresh legal claims challenge the official account of Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death, raising questions about the scene on a Montauk yacht, unexplained injuries, and a $50 million wrongful death suit.

A newly released patient care record describes a chilling scene aboard a Montauk boat where 33-year-old designer Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra was found unresponsive on August 5, 2025. EMTs reported a body cold to the touch in a warm cabin, purple nail beds, purpling lips, and dried blood in the mouth, on the chest, and near the back of the head. Those observations sit at odds with some early public claims and have fueled the family’s belief that this was not an accidental death.

The EMT notes record no active bleeding and no obvious source of major trauma, yet they also logged blood on the floor beside the body. When a medic repositioned Nolan-O’Slatarra’s head to open an airway, the blood appeared to originate from the back of her head. The report additionally mentions an unidentified “additional male” present when first responders arrived, a detail the family’s lawyers say investigators have not publicly explained.

Around midnight on that date, witnesses say a naked man ran down the Montauk Yacht Club dock yelling for help and screaming, “Do something!” He was later identified as Chris Durnan, owner of the Sea Ray 540 Sundancer named Ripple and the last known person to see Nolan-O’Slatarra alive. Durnan’s legal team has said he stripped because he was soaked in her vomit, but the EMT record describes no vomit at the scene and the family’s independent autopsy found no signs of vomiting before death.

The Suffolk County Homicide Squad assumed control of the scene early that morning and an initial autopsy by the county medical examiner reportedly found no clear signs of trauma. Authorities at times suggested the possibility of a designer-drug overdose while awaiting toxicology, and as of the one-year mark the official cause of death remained unreleased. That delay has only intensified the family’s frustration and their push for answers through the courts.

Patrick Zirpoli, a retired homicide investigator who reviewed the EMT report independently, was blunt about what the record suggests. “This thing stinks,” he said, noting that a body cold to the touch in a warm cabin points to death occurring well before EMTs arrived. The rapid cooling, purpling extremities, and dried blood on and around the body struck him as inconsistent with the overdose scenario the police floated early on.

“This thing stinks.”

Zirpoli challenged the overdose theory directly, saying typical overdose signs like frothing at the mouth do not match the oral bleeding described in the EMT documentation. “I can’t see this being a drug overdose. There’s things that are indicative of a drug overdose like frothing of the mouth. It’s not going to cause bleeding in your mouth if you overdose on drugs.” He went further, saying the physical picture pointed toward violence.

“She should not be losing body temperature that quickly where she’s cold to the touch. For [EMTs] to recognize that, that’s cold.”

“I can’t see this being a drug overdose. There’s things that are indicative of a drug overdose like frothing of the mouth. It’s not going to cause bleeding in your mouth if you overdose on drugs.”

“There has to be some sort of assault or something,” Zirpoli added, while also raising the possibility the scene had been altered before first responders arrived. That assessment aligns with a claim the family’s lawyer says law enforcement made about the boat’s condition when officers first reached it. “Law enforcement informed the family they believed the scene had been cleaned before responders arrived,” the family’s attorney said.

“There has to be some sort of assault or something.”

On the anniversary of Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death the family filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit in Manhattan Civil Court against Chris Durnan, alleging assault, negligence, and gross negligence. The family’s independent autopsy, they say, found only trace amounts of cocaine and concluded intoxicants were unlikely to explain her death “especially given her youth and good health.” The suit is aimed at forcing disclosure and accountability where official answers remain sparse.

The Suffolk County Police Department has issued a single public statement: “The investigation is still continuing.” No charges have been filed and no arrest has been announced. Meanwhile the family continues to press for release of the county medical examiner’s final toxicology and autopsy results that could confirm or contradict competing theories about what happened.

Several key facts remain unresolved: the identity of the “additional male” in the EMT report has not been publicly confirmed, whether that person was Durnan or someone else is unclear, and the specific substance police once suggested has never been named. Nolan-O’Slatarra was 33 years old and originally from County Carlow, Ireland; her mother told reporters, “I don’t know what happened to my daughter.” The family sought a second autopsy in the United States before her remains were returned to Ireland as they continue their legal push.