‘Psychopath’ art benefactor killed beloved NYC artist — and then shot himself as longtime partner grasps for answers
A “psychopath” art benefactor murdered a beloved New York City artist — who was found dead in posh Hamptons spa — before shockingly shooting himself, her longtime love told The Post Wednesday.
Fashion designer Ryder Iwata said the suicide of Thomas Gannon, 56, likely forever deprived Sabina Rosas’ family and friends of answers of what unfolded inside a guest house at the $1,000-a-night Shou Sugi Ban House, where the 33-year-old artist was found murdered this week.
“Unfortunately, it’s a total miscarriage of justice that the man who killed her kind of got out of it,” Iwata said in an exclusive interview.
“It’s wicked and it’s cowardly.”
Rosas’ slaying – said by Suffolk Police to be an apparent act of “violence” – belied the tranquil setting at the Water Mill spa and resort that caters to stars such as Kate Hudson and Stella McCartney.
But Rosas, who also used the surname Khorramdel, was more than a young painter who met a brutal tragic end in an incongruous setting, Iwata said.
“She wasn’t just an artist: she was art,” he said. “She lived art. It was amazing. You don’t find people like that.”
Rosas and Iwata moved in together and made a pact in 2022 to spend their lives together, he said.
He called her “greatest love” of his life.
“She would call me just her person, her greatest friend,” he said.
“That’s my person.”
Rosas had returned last Friday from one of her many trips from Tajikistan when she asked if Iwata was free, he said.
He asked if they could meet Sunday for a fashion fitting – one of several engagements that weekend that she never met.
Then, “time stopped,” Iwata said.
An employee at the spa found Rosas’ body Monday about 12:30 p.m., police said.
Gannon was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Honesdale, Pa., 214 miles from the crime scene, according to a Wednesday statement from the Suffolk County Police Department.
Police have described the relationship between Rosas and Gannon, as “domestic,” but have not provided any additional details about their ties or the crime.
Iwata said that nothing romantic was going on between Rosas and Gannon, who owned a business called Majestic Tile, Granite and Flooring in Honesdale, according to records.
He said Gannon was an art benefactor to Rosas – and someone he only briefly met once, while moving furniture for his partner.
“I clocked that he was strange, and he turned out to be a psychopath,” Iwata said.
Iwata recalled meeting the magnetic Rosas as art students on Purchase College’s campus in 2016.
“We just hit it off instantly, and then we were inseparable,” he said. “People called us the ‘dynamic duo’ on campus.”
As the potent pair and their art student friends found their creative footing, it was Rosas who often fueled their endeavors, Iwata said. She’d sometimes, after a night of partying, rally them to the campus’ visual arts building at 2 a.m. for studio time, he said.
And when Iwata grasped for an artistic focus, Rosas gave him a spark of inspiration that defined his career – as she did for so many others, he said.
“She pushed me to do fashion, it changed my life forever,” he said.
“She really pushed and nurtured me. She’s more than a muse.”Rosas, a painter who was born in Tajikistan the day the Soviet Union collapsed, had been drawn to the creative freedom promised by the US, Iwata said.
But she also valued her heritage, which led her to found Ruyò Journal, a publication highlighting Central Asian art.
“Her journal of art was the essence of who she was as a person,” Iwata said.
“The journal will continue after her passing. It has to.”
Iwata said Rosas will be buried in Tajikistan.
“While it’s a complete tragedy what happened, we get to look back on paper on what looks like a short life, in those 33 years she lived countless lives and impacted countless lives,” he said.
“Now, the light is shone on this remarkable person.”
