An Artist Was Murdered at a Luxury Hamptons Spa

You’ve probably seen the hotel Shou Sugi Ban House on social media. It’s an intimate luxury-wellness hub in Water Mill, Southampton, on Long Island. The private and gated hotel has only 13 “private guest studios,” 400-square-foot rooms with private entrances and garden patios. Earlier this week, a 33-year-old guest, Brooklyn resident and artist Sabina Rosas, was found dead inside her room at the coveted sanctuary. A hotel staff member found her, and investigators determined immediately that Rosas was a “victim of violence.”

Suffolk County police labeled Thomas Gannon, 56, as a suspect in the murder, and today he was found with a self-inflicted gun wound at his home in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. The police confirmed they knew each other and said the relationship was “domestic in nature.”

It’s unclear why Rosas was visiting the resort, but it’s ironic that a murder would occur at an oasis centered around holistic health and well-being. With an award-winning spa full of luxurious Tata Harper products and healing arts retreats, and beloved by celebrities, it’s the last place you’d expect a nightmare like this. Residents in the town are shocked by the murder because it’s normally an area with not many issues, especially not homicides. “I drove by earlier and saw these news trucks and thought, ‘Uh oh, what did Justin Timberlake do this time?’ because the only thing newsworthy that happens here has to do with celebrities,” a resident told the New York Post.

A medical examiner is performing an autopsy on Rosas to determine how she was killed.