Uber driver who says he drove NYC artist’s suspected killer to Pa. recounts creepy, silent ride
An Uber driver who claims he took the suspected killer of a beloved New York City artist from the ritzy Hamptons spa where he murdered her to Pennsylvania, where he shot himself, recounted the tense, four-hour drive with the silent suspect.
Thomas Gannon, 56, seemed “miserable” during the more than 200-mile drive to his home in Honesdale, Pa., where police said he committed suicide shortly after he murdered artist Sabina Rosas in a guest room at the Shou Subi Ban House in Water Mill on Monday, driver Ozan Musullu told the Daily Mail.
“Gannon had been silent, Musullu recalled, saying nothing aside from giving some directions towards the end of their journey together,” wrote a Daily Mail reporter who said she happened to take his Uber from Southampton Station to the spa four miles away.
“He’d spent the first stretch of the drive looking out of the window looking ‘miserable’ before seeming to pass out, exhausted, in the back,” the reporter wrote in a first-person article published Thursday.
Gannon had gotten into the Uber at the $1,000-a-night Shou Subi Ban House around 8 a.m. Monday — four hours before Rosas’ body was found by a spa employee, the report said.
The tall, fair-skinned passenger wore a long black coat and identified himself only as “Tom,” Musullu recalled.
There were no signs of blood on his clothes, the driver added.
Musullu remembered that the man at first seemed agitated.
The passenger barely said “Thank you” when they arrived at his house, and he did not tip on top of the $370 ride fee, the driver said.
At the time, Musullu knew nothing about the woman who had been discovered slain at the spa.
His story only came to light after the Daily Mail reporter working on the story got into his Uber the next day, the outlet said.
When police arrived at Gannon’s rustic Honesdale cabin on Wednesday, they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“Unfortunately, it’s a total miscarriage of justice that the man who killed her kind of got out of it,” Rosas’ partner, Ryder Iwata, told The Post on Wednesday.
Iwata, a fashion designer, said Gannon was an “art benefactor” who apparently funded some of Rosas’ work as a painter.
He said Gannon was a “psychopath” who killed his longtime love in cold blood.
Rosas — who also used the surname Khorramdel — missed several appointments over the weekend before “time stopped,” Iwata added.
The authorities confirmed that Rosas’ death was the result of “violence,” but did not provide any updates about her cause of death.
“There’s not going to be [an update]. The suspect is dead. That’s it, it’s over,” a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police Department told The Post when asked about the pending autopsy results Thursday.
Police described Rosas and Gannon’s situation as “domestic,” though Iwata said the pair’s relationship was never romantic.
“She was like his muse of sorts,” Iwata told the Daily Mail.
“He was head over heels for her but also very possessive … once he told me that Sabina did not love him and told me that he believes Sabina was using him for his money.”
Gannon — who was previously married and had one adult son — was “very odd” and “socially inept,” the grieving partner told the Daily Mail.
Rosas felt “trapped” by him “psychologically,” and she became noticeably different when he was around, Itawa added.
Liz Phillips, Rosas’ mentor, confirmed Iwata’s characterization of the relationship.
“He supplied her with money to facilitate her adventures and seemed to worship her imagination and various quests. She was bored often but appreciated his help,” she recalled.
In addition to her relationship with Iwata, Rosas was also legally separated from her husband when she died, the Daily Mail reported.
A few months before Rosas was killed, Gannon was the top contributor to her GoFundMe, which raised cash for her artistic projects.
“You have an amazing gift and soon all the world will see. I love you,” he wrote in a comment accompanying his $1,000 contribution.
