The friends of Irish fashion designer, Martha Nolan, who died on a yacht, joked ‘lmao maybe she’s dead’ just hours before she was found.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, met with investor and yacht owner Christopher Durnan at a Long Island’s South Fork yacht club to explore expansion plans for her swimwear company, East x East, on August 4.
After taking a boat out to discuss business, Nolan had assured friends she would take an Uber home by 1am.
But when she went silent and stopped responding to messages, a friend joked in a group chat: ‘Lmao. I’m sure her phone died. Or maybe she’s dead.’
Martha’s boyfriend, Nicholas DiRubio, also became concerned when she wasn’t answering any of his messages.
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Her panicked friends tracked Nolan’s location to somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean before joking about her possible death in a message sent at 9.20pm.
Ten minutes later, Nolan confirmed that she was back at the yacht club, saying: ‘Lol I’m at the yacht club now, my phone is on.’
According to the police, Nolan died about an hour after sending the message.
She was found unconscious on the docked vessel Ripple after residents nearby reportedly heard screams late at night.
Nolan was later pronounced dead at the scene despite ‘good Samaritans’ trying to perform CPR on her.
Officials found no signs of violence on her body, adding to the ongoing mystery surrounding her cause of death.
Durnan was reportedly running around the yacht club naked, throwing sunscreen at other boats, trying to get attention for people to help her.
One friend talking about the messages sent said: ‘It’s haunting. None of us imagined anything like this could happen.
‘At the time, we laughed, thinking it was silly – we had no idea.’
According to court documents, Martha’s death came just months after finalising a divorce from her husband, Sam Ryan.
The investigation into Martha’s death is ongoing.
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