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The “Crime Stories” host convened a panel of forensic experts, a defense attorney and GLI’s own Brian Harmon to discuss the circumstances of Martha Nolan-O’Slattarra’s death last August
Nancy Grace has devoted an entire episode of “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” on Fox One to the still-unresolved death of Martha Nolan-O’Slattarra, the Irish-born fashion designer found dead last summer aboard a yacht docked in Montauk.
Throughout the 36-minute spot, Grace pressed her panel, visibly frustrated, over why the case still has no charges, no person of interest and no arrest more than a year after Nolan-O’Slattara’s Aug. 5 death aboard the “Ripple.”
Grace opened the “Crime Stories” piece leaning hard into her frustration. Despite a body described in EMT paperwork as showing purpling, blood and vomit, she said, somehow that has added up to nothing.
The former prosecutor kept circling back to the point throughout the segment, cutting off explanations she found unsatisfying and demanding straighter answers from her guests.
Grace presses on the conflicting accounts
Greater Long Island executive editor Brian Harmon, appearing on the panel, opened the show walking Grace through the discrepancy at the center of the case, noting how authorities initially described no evidence of blunt force trauma, while EMT reports that surfaced recently documented blood on the back of Nolan-O’Slattarra’s head, chest and mouth, along with purpling of her lips and nail beds.
“I’ve read your work and I’m a fan,” Grace told Harmon before pressing him further, a rare moment of levity as she pushed him and other members of the panel again and again on how two official accounts could diverge so sharply.
She was unwilling to let the point go, even as forensic panelists offered competing theories involving cyanosis and possible aspiration.
A family still waiting
Grace’s clearest frustration surfaced when she turned the show’s attention to the wrongful death lawsuit Nolan-O’Slattarra’s family filed earlier this month against the yacht’s owner — referred to throughout the broadcast as “the naked executive” — one year after her death.
GLI and other news outlets have previously reported that the businessman is Christopher Durnan, 61, an insurance executive who owns a waterfront home in Montauk and whose family runs Durnan Group Inc. in Rockville Centre.
“This is a family that’s waited for a year for some answers, for someone to explain what happened to their loved one,” Harmon told Grace, describing the family’s lawsuit as part of that search for accountability.
Harmon also told Grace that despite a year of outreach, GLI has not been able to reach the executive or his representatives directly. Additionally, he noted that within hours of Nolan-O’Slattarra’s death, the yacht remained docked with no police tape restricting access.
Suffolk Police confirmed to GLI that the death remains under investigation.
Throughout the show, Grace posted a Suffolk Police tip line for the case, 631.852.6396.
Top: Nancy Grace and GLI’s Brian Harmon on the set of Crime Stories discussing the Montauk yacht death of Martha Nolan-O’Slattarra (Fox One/”Crime Stories with Nancy Grace”)
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