NYC artist ID’d as murder victim at swanky Hamptons spa that hosted Kate Hudson, Katie Couric
A New York City artist has been identified as the mystery woman found brutally murdered Monday inside a swanky Hamptons spa and resort that caters to the star-studded likes of Kate Hudson and Katie Couric.
Sabina Rosas, 33, of Brooklyn, was found dead in a guest room at Shou Sugi Ban House — the apparent victim of a still-unspecified act of violence, Suffolk County police said Tuesday.
Details about Rosas’ demise remained murky more than a day after a spa employee found her body in one of 13 private guest studios at the high-end resort in Water Mill, a posh hamlet in the Town of Southampton on Long Island.
The shocking murder belied the serene setting cultivated by the $1,000-a-night spa tucked along a quiet stretch of the Montauk Highway — and took locals by surprise.
“It’s just so uncharacteristic of this area, and that area in particular,” said Jean Wong, 56.
“It’s very ironic, because you go to a place like that for relaxation and comfort. What could have brought on a murder?”
A Buddha statue sat at the end of a long gravel driveway leading to the resort, which was cordoned off by crime scene tape Tuesday afternoon.
A Suffolk County Police Department crime scene van and a Southampton town police car pulled into the drive about 4 p.m., leaving a half-hour later.
Before Rosas’ slaying, Shou Sugi Ban House was featured in Vogue, which detailed a 2022 soirée hosted by actress Kate Hudson and attended by Stella McCartney and Katie Couric.
Police didn’t provide details on what brought Rosas to the resort.
Rosas appears to have led a somewhat nomadic life, often touched by political turmoil as she pursued creative endeavors.
Her husband — who splits his time between Coney Island and Miami — had flown in from Florida Tuesday to talk to police in Long Island about her death, his roommate told the New York Daily News.
“I think everyone is in shock,” the roommate said.
Rosas was an artist who was part of the nonprofit Harvestworks’ 2021 Technology Immersion Program, the report confirmed.
Her biography on the nonprofit’s site states she originally hailed from Tajikistan, but fled for Turkmenistan in 1993 amid civil war after the Soviet Union’s downfall.
She moved to Crimea in 2000 and returned in 2003 to Tajikistan, where she studied painting, according to the bio.
In 2009, Rosas moved to the US to study art and ultimately came to Forest Hills a year later, the bio states. She graduated from Purchase College with a bachelor’s degree in new media.
Rosas spent the past year in her native Tajikistan, her husband’s roommate told the Daily News.
The slaying brought the kind of attention — and fear — that was foreign to many Hamptons residents.
“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,” said Lisa Stach, 43.
“This is obviously not the sort of town that gets many homicides, so it’s very shocking. I feel terrible for the victim and her family,” Stach added. “It makes you think if you’re not safe there, where are you safe?”
Additional reporting by Dorian Geiger