‘The benefactor got too obsessed with the artist’: Ryder Iwata speaks out about the man accused of killing Iwata’s fiancée, Sabina Rosas

In an NBC New York interview, Sabina Rosas‘ fiancé, Ryder Iwata, called the man suspected of killing Rosas “a benefactor” who got “too obsessed with the artist.” Rosas was found dead in a room Monday at Shou Sugi Ban House, a high-end resort in the Hamptons. Thomas Gannon, who police say confessed to the crime, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Pennsylvania.

Rosas, 33, who also goes by Sabina Khorramdel, was a rising Brooklyn artist from Tajikistan. According to those close to Rosas, Gannon, 56, a wealthy divorced business owner and father of one, had feelings for Rosas and wanted to support her work. Rosas’ fiancé said he last contacted Rosas on Sunday night, and they had plans to meet Monday, but she never arrived. Rosas was married but separated from another man who traveled from Florida to New York to cooperate with the investigation when she died.

Gannon told a family member he killed Rosas

According to the Tri-County Independent, Gannon told a family member he killed Rosas right before he took his own life. Multiple reports have also said Gannon was facing financial difficulties before he died. Speaking with CBS News, Iwata called Rosas, a painter and sculptor, “probably the most undiscovered and underrated artist of our generation.” He added, “It’s a murder out of passion because this person who took her life didn’t want to share her with anybody.” Her art teacher and mentor, Elizabeth Phillips, described Rosas as a “shining light, funny, fun, creative, and always doing interesting projects. It’s an enormous loss. She was an extraordinarily creative and capable artist/painter.”

Gannon gave up “his entire life”

Though police called it “domestic,” the exact nature of Rosas and Gannon’s relationship is otherwise unclear, as is how Rosas ended up at the Long Island resort. According to CBS News, Rosas and Gannon were pictured together twice, and Gannon had dinner with Rosas twice, according to Phillips. Gannon’s attention gave Phillips and Rosas “the creeps,” Phillips added. Gannon reportedly gave $1,000 to Rosas GoFundMe to finance an artist residency in Portugal and wrote “I love you” in the note.

Speaking with The New York Times, however, Phillips said Rosas and Gannon were dating, they traveled frequently, and that Gannon had recently built Rosas a house in Tajikistan. Phillips also said Rosas’ romantic partners had helped fund a recent book project and that Phillips had urged Rosas to seek different forms of funding so she would no longer need Gannon’s money.

“He was a man who had given up, it seemed like, his entire life, to be devoted to her, follow her, travel with her,” Phillips added. “I warned her if she was getting bored with him, it was dangerous to be with somebody where they purely supported you. I didn’t see him as someone who would give her up easily.”

Adding further uncertainty, Rosas was arrested for battery and photographed with a black eye in her mugshot last year in Miami. Charges were later dropped, but details of that case are unclear. On Thursday, Ruyò Journal, which Rosas co-founded, shared an Instagram statement that said “no close family member or friend” or Rosas had spoken to the press and that any information from these sources “should not be trusted.”

However, referring to Rosas’ time with Gannon, Phillips had previously told The New York Times, “She was naïve about the consequences of this type of relationship. Nobody imagines anything like this, but I did say be careful.” Rosas’ cause of death has also not been determined, but police said Rosas was “the victim of violence.”