Mysterious crimes shatter serenity in Hamptons and Montauk over decades

In the usually serene New York seascape of the Hamptons and Montauk, a series of brutal crimes has occasionally shattered tranquility. 

From the wealth‑entangled murder of financier Ted Ammon in 2001 to grim violence in Montauk parks in 2019, and now a mysterious death aboard a boat at the renowned Montauk Yacht Club, the region has seen a scattering of violent crimes in recent decades.

While Martha Nolan’s mysterious death is the most recent to rattle the region’s sun-soaked serenity, it’s far from the only unsettling incident in recent decades to disrupt life in the Hamptons.

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On Tuesday, the picturesque peninsula’s guests were rocked by the discovery of 33-year-old Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra. According to Suffolk County police, East Hampton Town officers responded to a 911 call just after midnight from a man who reported a woman unconscious on a vessel docked at the luxury marina, located on Star Island Road. 

Nearby good Samaritans attempted CPR before first responders arrived, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

On Wednesday, police identified the deceased as Nolan, an industrious entrepreneur. They said that her death “did not show evidence of violence.” Authorities said the preliminary investigation and medical exam were “inconclusive” as to the cause of death. 

An official ruling will be made following an autopsy by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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Originally from Carlow, Ireland, Nolan was the founder of East x East, a boutique resort wear label she frequently promoted on TikTok through stylish behind-the-scenes glimpses of her photo shoots and design process. 

Generic view of Montauk Lighthouse and beach in Long Island, New York. (iStock)

Love triangle murder – June 2019

In the early hours of June 6, 2019, Montauk’s sleepy calm was pierced by the death of 38-year-old Robert Casado. 

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Casado, a seasonal worker, had expected to meet someone for a job. Instead, authorities said, he was ambushed by Joseph Grippo, a 47-year-old Montauk local carrying a 36-inch pickaxe handle on Kirk Park Trail in Montauk.

Grippo bludgeoned Casado to death, delivering multiple blows with the makeshift weapon and fleeing before police arrived. A love triangle motive emerged as the leading theory after prosecutors revealed that both Casado and Grippo were involved with the same woman.

Joseph Grippo, 50, was charged in 2022 with manslaughter in the first degree after he bludgeoned an ex-girlfriend’s love interest to death. Grippo now faces 20 years in prison plus five years post-release supervision on the manslaughter charge. (Suffolk County Police Department)

According to prosecutors, Grippo had harbored resentment for months. Prosecutors found that Grippo had planned the fatal attack for months, purchasing the makeshift murder weapon months beforehand. 

Following an intense local investigation and nearly three years of legal back-and-forth, Grippo pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in July 2022. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with five additional years of post-release supervision. 

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney called the act “a cold, calculated plan to murder a man he lured into a secluded area under false pretenses.”

Counter-clockwise from left to right, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Megan Waterman, 22, and Melissa Barthelemy, 24, disappeared after meeting with a client on Craigslist. The remains of the women were found in December 2010 at Gilgo Beach on Long Island. (Suffolk County Police Department)

Bodies in the dunes: The Gilgo Beach murders – 2010

What began as a missing person case in the spring of 2010 would spiral into one of the most disturbing serial murder investigations. When 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert vanished after fleeing a client’s home in Oak Beach, Suffolk County police initially suspected she had drowned in the nearby marshland. However, as investigators searched the brush along Ocean Parkway, they unearthed four bodies wrapped in burlap.

The women were later identified as Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Maureen Brainard‑Barnes. They had all advertised escort services online. The press dubbed them the “Gilgo Four.”

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Over the following months, additional sets of remains were uncovered, including Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Tanya Jackson and her toddler daughter Tatiana, and a person referred to for years only as “Asian Doe.” 

Rex Heuermann appears in Judge Tim Mazze’s courtroom with his attorney, Michael Brown, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, New York, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (James Carbone/Newsday via Pool)

The discoveries fueled speculation of a possible serial killer. The investigation stalled until, in July 2023, police arrested 59-year-old Rex Heuermann.

Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from Massapequa Park, was charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, and later named the prime suspect in Brainard-Barnes’s killing. Investigators used cellphone records, burner phone activity, DNA forensics and surveillance footage to charge him.

By 2024, prosecutors added more charges, and accused Heuermann of luring victims to his home and killing them in his soundproofed basement. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He remains in custody while prosecutors push for a trial.

Aerial view of the home of financier Ted Ammon at 59 Middle Lane in East Hampton, Long Island, New York. Ammon was found murdered there in 2001; Daniel Pelosi is now being charged with the murder. (Mark Bonifacio/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

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Wall Street financier murder – Oct. 2001

In October 2021, the crisp autumn air of East Hampton was pierced by the blugeoning death of Ted Ammon, a Wall Street financier. Ammon was found naked in his master bedroom at 59 Middle Lane, his estate in East Hampton. 

His chauffeur, arriving after Ammon missed a business meeting, discovered the scene: a high‑tech alarm system had been deactivated, there were no signs of forced entry or theft, and his body bore 30–35 wounds to the head.

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At the center of the murder investigation was Ammon’s divorce from Generosa Ammon, with whom he had adopted twins from Ukraine in 1992. Generosa, amid contentious divorce proceedings, had hired Daniel Pelosi, an electrician and contractor, to work on her Manhattan townhome.

Daniel Pelosi in and around his home, spending quiet time reflecting on his legal problems. (John Roca/NY Daily News via Getty Images)

Daniel Pelosi was convicted of second-degree murder in 2004 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, where he remains. (John Roca/NY Daily News via Getty Images)

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Their friendship blossomed into an affair. Following Ammon’s murder, eyebrows were raised by Generosa and Pelosi’s rapid marriage.

It took nearly three years for the case to culminate in a conviction. In March 2004, Pelosi was arrested and later convicted of second-degree murder, receiving a 25‑to‑life sentence. 

Generosa, in August 2003, died of breast cancer and the adopted twins inherited the bulk of their father’s estate, estimated in the tens of millions, while Pelosi remained incarcerated.

Pelosi later claimed that he was the fall guy in the murder investigation.

“I did not do it,” Pelosi told Piers Morgan on FOX Nation’s “The Killer Interview.” “I did not do this murder. I did not kill Ted Ammon.”