A respected New York fashion designer, whose clothes were worn by Lady Gaga, was murdered by a deadly drug cocktail, including fentanyl, in an apparent attempted robbery, officials said.
Katie Gallagher, 35, was found “unresponsive” in her Lower East Side apartment on July 24 last year with no apparent signs of trauma.
But the New York City Police Department (NYPD) confirmed in a statement today that her death had become a murder investigation – although no arrests have yet been made.
The coroner’s office said she died from “drug-facilitated theft,” with fentanyl, ethanol and p-fluorofentanyl found in her system, NBC reports.
It’s not clear how the drugs were administered to her or if anything was stolen from her home.
Katie Gallagher’s death has now been ruled a homicide after she was found unresponsive at her Lower East Side apartment last July
Gallagher had a crowd of celebrity fans. She is pictured with model Chrissy Teigen in 2014
Gallagher’s death shocked the fashion world last year with a Vogue tribute calling her “fiercely independent” and a “hands-on craftswoman”.
Raised in rural Pennsylvania, she studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she caught the attention of Lady Gaga’s stylist, Nicola Formichetti.
Gallagher dressed Gaga before she even finished school, and later her clothes were also worn by Kourtney Kardashian and Rita Ora.
In 2016, transgender activist Laverne Cox wore one of Gallagher’s bodysuits during a photo shoot for Cosmopolitan.
An obituary of the late designer published by her sisters called her a “talented and innovative pattern maker and seamstress”.
“Like AA Milnes Eeyore, she preferred gloomy days and cold rain,” it said.
“As a child, she was drawn to the forest, mixing potions and playing with her sisters there.
“Animals were drawn to their gentle and calm demeanor. She could talk to them and once even touched a deer in the stillness of the trees.”
It went on to say that she “loved poetry and heavy metal” and “felt deeply” with “a tremendous, forgiving heart.”
Kourtney Kardashian is pictured in a Gallagher design in 2019
Gallagher’s designs have also been worn by a variety of celebrities including Lady Gaga (left) and Rita Ora (right).
“More recently, after helping to arrange flowers for one of her sister’s weddings, she became a self-taught and talented florist in New York and briefly in Los Angeles,” the obituary continued.
Gallagher was nearing her 36th birthday when she died.
It is not known if she was in a relationship or living with anyone else at the time of her death.
She was dating Russian graphic designer Nikolay Saveliev and shared an apartment with him since 2010, according to a profile published by Refinery29 earlier this year.
Shortly after her death, Saveliev told Vogue: “She was obsessed with really technical pattern making; This made her really proud, so she spent a lot of time researching patterns from Balenciaga and Pierre Cardin.
“She didn’t want to build anything that was in any way traditional tailoring, she always wanted to subvert it.”
From 2010 she was in a relationship with graphic designer Nikolay Saveliev. Shortly after her death, Saveliev told Vogue that Gallagher expected to make do with “crumbs” due to the unpredictable nature of the fashion industry
Vogue described the late fashion designer as “fiercely independent” and a “craftsman”. It is not known if she was in a relationship at the time of her death or if she was living with anyone else
He added, “She’s always been fascinated by impermanence and death, and of course it’s a bit sad in context.”
Saveliev went on to say that Gallagher struggled with the unpredictability of high-end fashion.
“The thing about fashion is that it gives you piecemeal ideas of how you feel really good and really important; like you’re totally broke, but you end up getting invited to Cannes or whatever,” he said.
“You get little crumbs here and there and they feel really great. I think Katie really just got by with the crumbs.
Her last Instagram featured a sketch she drew of some bats, with the caption, “I draw and paint you know.”
Just last week, her sisters announced via GoFundMe that they would be hosting a celebration of their life and work in New York in May.
The family had raised funds to complete and display her 27th fashion collection, which she had been working on in the months leading up to her death.
“Katie loved stories and chose to tell them through fashion,” the site reads.
“Though our hearts ache, we have found some comfort in the ambition to continue to honor Katie’s dreams and ensure her story is told.
“By Friday, the site had raised just over $30,000.”
“Drug-facilitated theft” was listed as the cause of death in two separate incidents in New York last year.
Both Julio Ramirez, 25, and John Umberger, 33, died from a cocktail of fentanyl, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol found in their blood. Ramirez had also taken heroin.
Gallagher was found pictured in the bed of her Lower East Side apartment in New York
Models wearing Gallagher’s designs pose during a show at New York Fashion Week in 2012
The duo were found dead after exiting gay bars in Hell’s Kitchen, with both bank accounts drained.
There is no reason to believe that her death is related to Gallagher’s.
has reached out to the Gallagher family for comment.