Katie Gallagher: NYC fashion designer who dressed Lady Gaga and Rita Ora murdered with drug cocktail
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Aspiring fashion designer Kathryn “Katie” Gallagher, who was found murdered in her Manhattan apartment last year, died from a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and other drugs, cops said on Friday, March 24. Police believe the 35-year-old was a victim of grand larceny and are probing her death in connection to an estimated 26 recent “drug-facilitated” robberies in areas including the East Village, the Lower East Side, and the Bronx.
Gallagher's neighbor spotted her keys dangling from the door of her apartment on Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side and entered to check on her, and discovered her body on July 24. The Medical examiner determined she died of acute intoxication from the combined effects of fentanyl, ethanol, and the designer opioid p-Fluorofentanyl, and her death was classified as a homicide on Friday, according to New York Post.
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Who was Kathryn “Katie” Gallagher?
Gallagher was “a painter and internationally recognized fashion designer” who dressed A-lister celebrities such as Laverne Cox, Rita Ora, and Lady Gaga. Kourtney Kardashian and singer Rita Ora. The up-and-coming fashion designer opened her eponymous label in New York City in 2010, according to an obituary published by the Rhode Island School of Design, Gallagher’s alma mater. Her collections have been featured on New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week and in magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, and W.
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Cops are also probing Gallagher's mysterious death in connection with Kenwood Allen, 33, who was arrested in December and charged with murder in the overdose robbery deaths of two clubgoers in the Lower East Side, police sources said. He is considered to be an alleged member of a vicious gang who is known to repeatedly drug intoxicated clubgoers or revelers. “They target their victims leaving bars, offering drugs in some cases, then either through force or when the victim passes out, they remove jewelry, money, high-end watches, and phones from their victims,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at the time of Allen’s arrest. Police have not charged Allen in connection to Gallagher’s death but are also looking into whether two of his co-defendants are connected to Gallagher’s death.
GoFundMe for Katie Gallagher's legacy and final collection
The Pennsylvania native's family launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to promote her legacy and final collection. They are hoping to present the artist's work in Big Apple this fall. Gallagher is survived by her parents, grandmother, and three sisters, who were “so proud of who she was and all she achieved in her brief but full and beautiful life,” according to her obituary. “Fiercely independent and sure of her vision, Gallagher followed her own path in life and in fashion,” a Vogue tribute to her read. A celebration of life for the aspiring fashion designer will be held this May.