Boyfriend who killed Brooklyn artist at Shou Sugi Ban House Hamptons spa dead of suicide

Sabina Rosas, the Brooklyn artist found murdered in a high-end Hamptons spa, was killed by a boyfriend who had been financially supporting her and has now been found dead of suicide.
Rosas, 33, was staying at the posh Shou Sugi Ban House in Water Mill with 56-year-old boyfriend Thomas Gannon, who was later seen leaving the spa alone, according to cops. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in Honesdale, Pa., according to Suffolk County police.
Artist and lecturer Liz Phillips, a longtime mentor to Rosas, told the Daily News Wednesday that Gannon was an indulgent figure in the victim’s life, having built a home for Rosas in her native Tajikistan, but the relationship was far from ideal.
“He was much older and he dedicated himself to facilitating whatever she wanted,” Phillips said, adding that the couple had been dating for several years and that Gannon had unnerved her and her husband.
“We both had the creeps to tell you the truth,” said Phillips. “We both thought it was weird and not quite right and I warned her, ‘I think you can’t use him and leave him.’ Because she said ‘He’s kind of boring but he’s okay, he’s helping me do all these things’.”
“I think she was [trying to leave him.] She expressed that she was getting bored at some point. Months ago,” she added.
Phillips said she didn’t know how Rosas and Gannon met but she had hosted the couple for dinner on two separate occasions and described their relationship as “nothing good.”
“We thought it was sick the way he had dropped his life and was gonna follow her anywhere and everywhere,” she said. “He went everywhere with her. Like she’d go to a retreat thing he’d be waiting for her in town.”
Rosas had never complained of feeling in danger around Gannon, said Phillips, but the circumstances may have suddenly shifted, added the mentor.
“People are different when they’re being left,” she said. “I could see how he could go home and kill himself. But honestly to kill her?”
Rosas was making plans to visit Phillips at her Queens home on Monday and said she was not with Gannon, which led Phillips to believe Rosas had ended the relationship with the older man.
“Because he came everywhere with her. I had a sense that she wanted to get away from him,” said Phillips.
The day the visit was to take place Rosas’ body was found.
“I said to her, ‘It’ll be great to catch up.’ On Monday she went silent. On Monday, ‘What time are you coming?’ No answer. ‘What’s going on?’ No answer. I called and I texted.”
Phillips was shocked by the murder and suicide but grateful Rosas’ killing did not remain a mystery for long.
It’s absolutely horrible and it’s a shame,” she said.
“I’m glad they know who killed her. I wasn’t surprised. And it’s somewhat better to know who killed her but it’s horrible. I wish he just took his own life is all I can honestly say. Just let her be. I can’t really fathom how he could do that.”
Phillips met Rosas at SUNY’s Purchase College when Rosas pursued a bachelors degree at the Westchester County liberal arts school and was a teaching assistant for Phillips.
“I was her professor and she was my TA and she was my assistant on several projects. And I got her a residency. So we were close,” said Phillips. “She was an individual artist and student and an energetic creative person. Fantastic.”
Rosas was planning to travel to Portugal next month to attend her first art residency.
“We’re just very sorry to lose a talented young artist,” Phillips said. ‘She was great at what she did and she was getting better and she was making work and she was traveling all over the world, gathering together other women artists who were from Central Asia to make a book.”
“But again,” she added, “this was all facilitated by guys like Tom — the guy who killed her.”
Rosas had raised $1,520 for the Portugal trip on GoFundMe with a post she made two months ago, calling the funds she raised a birthday gift.
“This experience will allow me to create new work in a beautiful, inspiring environment,” she wrote in the post, under her maiden name Sabina Khorramdel. “I’m about to birth something new and meaningful into the world.”
Gannon contributed $1,000 — two thirds of the money she collected — to the trip.
“You have an amazing gift and soon all the world will see,” her killer wrote. “I love you.”
Rosas promised hand-painted postcards documenting her journey to those who donated.
“As I approach my 33rd birthday, I can’t help but chuckle at the fact that 33 is often associated with the age of Jesus when he made his ultimate sacrifice,” she wrote. “While I’m not planning anything dramatic, I see this year as a turning point in my life.”
A spa employee found Rosas dead in a guest room about 12:30 p.m. Monday, Suffolk County Police said.
Her death was violent but Suffolk County police did not immediately disclose how she died. An autopsy will determine her cause of death.
Rosas’ estranged husband, who splits his time between Brooklyn and Miami, flew back to New York Tuesday morning before going to Long Island to speak with police about the shocking slay, his Coney Island roommate told the Daily News Tuesday.
“He’s in shock. I think everyone is in shock,” said the roommate, who gave her name as Victoria. Rosas had spent the past year in her native Tajikistan, the roommate said.
On Wednesday, Rosas’ family put out a plea for anyone with information about the artist’s death to come forward.
“Your support during this challenging time is a testament to just how special Sabina was and will remain,” the family said in a statement. “As the eldest of three daughters, Sabina brought excitement, adventure, joy and love to our family. We are devastated by this senseless loss.”
The father of Rosas’ first husband was also left stunned by the news.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” former father-in-law Roberto Rosas told the Daily News Tuesday. “She was a good girl.”
Rosas was part of the 2021 Technology Immersion Program at Harvestworks, a nonprofit that assists artists creating work with technology. She received a scholarship from the organization that spring.
Rosas was forced to relocate to Turkmenistan at the age of 2 after civil war broke out in her home country, her bio on Harvestworks’ site says. Due to “dictatorial conditions,” she again fled, this time to Crimea, in 2000.
She made her way to the United States by herself when she was 17 to study art, obtaining an associates degree at BMCC CUNY while living in Forest Hills, Queens, then made her way to Westchester County to pursue a bachelor’s degree in new media at SUNY’s Purchase College, according to the site.
Shou Sugi Ban House, located on Montauk Highway, is described as a “private sanctuary and gated compound surrounded by evergreen trees and lush grasses.”
The Japanese-themed luxury spa and wellness resort is lauded as an outstanding destination by Conde Nast Traveler Online, Vogue Magazine and Travel + Leisure, according to their website. Boasting saunas, steam rooms, and both indoor and outdoor fireplaces on 5 acres of land as well a culinary program designed by Michelin-starred chef, it has hosted celebrities such as Kate Hudson, Cynthia Rowley, and Stella McCartney.
With Colin Mixson