Hamptons police arrived to find a woman dead under suspicious circumstances in a guest room Monday at the Shou Sugi Ban House, a Japan-inspired wellness retreat in Water Mill.
A staff member first made the discovery in one of the 13 villas spread across its secluded property, about 95 miles from New York City.
The victim’s name and cause of death were not immediately available, pending results from an autopsy.
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Southampton town police were the first to respond about 12:30 p.m., according to authorities.
When they suspected foul play, they called in the county for assistance.
A Suffolk County police mobile crime lab could be seen outside the main building on the 3-acre property for hours Monday, near a landmark Buddha statue by the front entrance.
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In a statement, Suffolk police said the victim met a violent end. Few other details were available Tuesday morning.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Suffolk County Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392.
The spa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rooms at the Shou Sugi Ban House cost upwards of $1,000 a night.
It was founded in 2019 by Amy Cherry-Abitbol as the Hamptons’ first high-end wellness retreat, according to Condé Nast Traveler, whose readers have given the destination a top rating in each of the last four years.
She was inspired by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which the country defines as the embrace of nature and finding beauty in imperfection.
Cherry-Abitbol partnered with Noma co-founder and Michelin-starred chef Mads Refslund for the food, according to the spa’s website, which concludes with a quote about keeping your head up after enduring a tragedy by the Japanese samurai poet Mizuta Masahide.
“Barn’s burn down – now I can see the moon.”
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