Hamptons luxury-resort murder ends in suicide; police files reveal timeline and motive
Thomas Gannon killed Sabina Rosas with a hammer at the Shou Sugi Ban House in Watermill, Long Island, before fleeing to Pennsylvania, where he took his own life, according to newly released police files.
A luxury Hamptons wellness retreat became the scene of a fatal attack Friday night when Sabina Rosas, a 33-year-old artist, was beaten to death with a hammer inside Unit 12 at the Shou Sugi Ban House in Watermill, Long Island. Police say Thomas Gannon, 56, the couple’s companion, killed Rosas and then shot himself in his Pennsylvania home after fleeing the hotel. The case has drawn attention to the resort, a high-end property that charges about $1,500 a night and has hosted celebrities. Police records obtained by the Daily Mail outline a minute-by-minute sequence of Rosas’s final hours and the events that followed.
Police records detail the timeline and witness statements that shape a harrowing portrait of what happened inside the boutique wellness retreat. The couple checked into the property on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, at about 8:51 p.m. They were seen leaving the hotel dining room together around 9 p.m. and walking toward Unit 12, the last sighting of Rosas. On Monday morning, Oct. 28, 2024, hotel staff texted Gannon about check-out; ten minutes later, he passed the front desk toward the hotel’s exterior. About four hours after that, at 12:25 p.m., a housekeeper knocked and entered the room when no one answered and found Rosas’s naked, battered body on the bed, with blood on the sheets and floor. Detectives reported extensive injuries to the head consistent with a blunt instrument, as well as multiple defensive wounds. The autopsy noted cranial fractures, blood aspiration, and an air embolism, concluding the death was caused by blunt force trauma.
The investigation also traces Gannon’s movements after the slaying. He fled the scene in an Uber that carried him about 220 miles to his home in Berlin Township, Pennsylvania. There, he shot himself on Oct. 29, 2024, after leaving a confession with the mother of his two children. In the note, he described the alleged manipulation and financial ruin caused by Rosas, asserting there was no way to stop her and that he could no longer live with the situation. Excerpts indicate he apologized to his ex-wife and children before taking his own life with a .380 semi-automatic handgun.
In the days and hours leading up to the attack, Rosas’s personal life and professional circle are described in police files. Rosas’s close confidants and former mentor spoke of a complex relationship with Gannon, who helped support her artistic career and even financed an apartment in Tajikistan at one point. Ryder Iwata, a fashion designer who described himself as Rosas’s fiancé, said Gannon could be “very possessive” and that Rosas’s demeanor shifted around him. Iwata added that Gannon’s money appeared to be used to pull Rosas into his orbit and control aspects of her life. Iwata and others noted that Gannon was a recurring presence at Rosas’s world and that their relationship was more than simple patronage in his view, though the exact nature of Rosas’s relationship with Gannon remained disputed.
Rosas’s family issued a public statement expressing sadness and a desire for accountability, noting that the suspect’s death deprives them of a chance to obtain answers through the legal process. They urged the world to remember Rosas for her life and her art as they navigate the painful aftermath of the case.
The Shou Sugi Ban House, located in Watermill, Long Island, comprises 12 private guest studios designed to accommodate two guests apiece, with in-room soaking tubs, gas fireplaces, and organic amenities. The property has hosted a number of notable guests in the past, reflecting its profile within luxury wellness tourism. The investigation into the events of Oct. 26–29, 2024, remains closed to new charges given the death of the principal suspect, but police continue to compile records and review witness statements from those connected to the resort and Rosas’s circle. Rosas’s art and the broader questions surrounding patronage, artistic support, and personal boundaries remain the subject of discussion among colleagues and partners in the art world.