• Kathryn Marie Gallagher, a fashion designer and founder of her own brand, was found dead in her Eldridge Street apartment in July 2022. 
• On Friday, 24th march 2023, eight months after her death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed that Gallagher’s death was a homicide from the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluoro fentanyl, and ethanol.
• According to police sources, Gallagher was the victim of grand larceny, and her death is being linked to a pattern of victims drugged and robbed. 

Kathryn Marie Gallagher, a fashion designer and founder of her own brand, was found dead in her Eldridge Street apartment on 24 July 2022. 

According to the police, the body showed no signs of trauma.

New York City detectives believe her death was linked to a pattern of drug-facilitated robberies that have claimed at least five other lives. 

On Friday, 24th march 2023, eight months after her death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed that Gallagher’s death was a homicide from the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluoro fentanyl, and ethanol.

The cause of death was revealed as “drug-facilitated theft,” which indicates someone may have drugged her to steal something.

According to police sources, Gallagher was the victim of grand larceny, and her death is being linked to a pattern of victims being drugged and robbed. 

NYPD investigators did not give details, but they are investigating the case. They are looking into whether she was given a dangerous mixture of drugs by someone attempting to rob her on purpose. 

“There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing,” police said.

The designer’s family revealed to NBC News that “the homicide determination shared by the medical examiner today affirms what we knew: Katie was the victim of a crime. Sharing this news helps us set the record straight, demand accountability and grieve more openly.”

Detectives have been investigating 26 incidents between March 18 and December 8 that include two separate patterns. Five fatal overdoses have been associated with these patterns.

A suspect in two prior deaths in the pattern, Kenwood Allen, has previously been charged with murder, and prosecutors said they anticipated additional charges connected to other victims who did not survive.

Gallagher’s loved ones spent eight months not knowing what happened before her lifeless body was found in her bed at her Manhattan apartment. 

Her sudden death in July 2022 shocked her neighbors on Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side.

The medical examiner found fentanyl mixed with other drugs in Gallagher’s system. 

Investigators are trying to determine if she slipped a toxic cocktail of drugs in order to steal from her. 

Police are also investigating a string of cases with similar details – drugged victims who wind up robbed, hospitalized, and, in some cases, dead.

Police sources tell us there are believed to be multiple crews running similar schemes, targeting and drugging victims in Manhattan bars before robbing them.

New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher wants to raise public awareness of drug-facilitated thefts and groups of criminals targeting bar patrons. 

“The word is out that you can victimize someone and you can access their bank accounts electronically in ways that you couldn’t years ago, with the banking apps that can be opened with facial recognition,” said Bottcher.