Sara Burack bought luxurious properties to the Hamptons’ wealthiest patrons — and even appeared on the Netflix actuality present “Million Greenback Seashore Home” — however on the time of demise final week, the golden woman was “homeless by selection” and affected by psychological well being points, regardless of an outpouring of household assist, sources advised The Put up.
“She was an actual businesswoman. Savvy, good. She was a extremely arduous employee and a superb individual,” her shut buddy and former boyfriend Mike White, a builder from Southampton, advised The Put up.
However she was additionally, he added, a “workaholic occasions 10.” And whereas that meant that “she grew to become one of many prime brokers right here,” it additionally could have fueled a harmful reliance on capsules.
“She saved taking Adderall to remain awake and preserve working,” White stated, “She was making an attempt to work longer and longer staying up for every type of hours.”
It’s unknown why Burack was strolling on Montauk Freeway, close to Villa Paul restaurant in Hampton Bays, in the midst of the evening when she was struck in a hit-and-run final week.
Police discovered her unconscious round 2:45 a.m. on June 19, and she or he was transported to Stony Brook College Hospital, the place she died. Amanda Kempton, 32, was later charged with leaving the deadly scene, a category D felony punishable by as much as 4 years in jail, in line with the Southampton City Police Division. She pleaded not responsible and was launched on $100,000 bail.
White, who stated he was by her facet within the hospital, believes she was probably on the lookout for a spot to remain.
“She was staying in financial institution foyers,” he stated, once more stressing that it was by selection. Final yr, Burack apparently bought her automotive and apartment.
“She wasn’t driving anymore. She didn’t lose her condo, she bought it. She didn’t have monetary issues in any respect,” White stated. “She simply didn’t wish to deal with something anymore.”
Her household, he stated, “by no means gave up” and have been distraught over Burack’s state.
“Her mother was going to get her an condo— she didn’t need it. She stated it was bugged by the US authorities,” White stated. “Her poor mom did all the pieces. Her mother and her dad are the nicest dad and mom on the planet.”
A spokesperson for the Burack household advised The Put up in an emailed assertion: “Individuals say every kind of issues when somebody dies. Nevertheless, the very fact stays that our daughter, Sara, was run over and left for lifeless by a 32-year-old lady who claims she thought she hit a cone. Our household is in deep mourning and we is not going to remark additional as we attempt to digest the lack of our beloved daughter who was a loving sister and buddy to many.”
White, 56, met Burack, who grew up in Westchester and graduated from Franklin and Marshall School in Lancaster, Penn., at Hampton Gymnasium Corp in Southampton round 2019. The 2 briefly dated, and he known as her an “angel” who helped him hire out properties throughout the pandemic.
In 2020, she was a solid member on the Netflix actuality sequence “Million Greenback Seashore Home,” which adopted brokers from the luxurious brokerage Nest Seekers Worldwide as they bought mansions within the Hamptons. The present ended after one season.
However White began to note that Burack’s habits appeared off in early 2022, across the time that she was concerned in a $200,000 fee dispute together with her employer, Nest Seekers, and Douglas Elliman over the sale of a multi-million greenback property in Southampton.
“She was obsessive about dropping her itemizing and never getting her fee,” stated White, including that he bought the house because the builder.
“We don’t touch upon pending litigation and given the tragic occasions during the last week it shouldn’t be the main target,” Nest Seekers Hamptons space regional supervisor Geoff Gifkins advised The Put up.
The Put up has reached out to Douglas Elliman for remark.
Burack, in line with White, grew to become suspicious of her colleagues and grew more and more reclusive.
“She thought there have been issues happening … that folks have been making an attempt to place anthrax in her meals,” he stated. “She wasn’t consuming frequently.”
Consumed by the courtroom dispute, Burack “started spending all her time on the library, continuously researching issues for no clear cause,” White stated.
A number of sources additionally confirmed that Burack spent “hours” within the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton. (The library didn’t return The Put up’s request for remark).
“She’d sit on a bench with me for an hour or so and present me all these papers and her marketing strategy,” White stated.
“She was needing psychological well being assist for a really very long time,” a Southampton supply advised The Put up. “The final yr or two, she was homeless. I’d see her strolling round together with her bag. She was at all times on the library which was a tragic place to go.”
White stated that he and Burack’s household “tried to get her into rehab. We tried to assist her. Her poor mom did all the pieces to assist her. Her mother tried all the pieces … she obtained an interventionist.”
The Sunday earlier than the accident that took Burack’s life, White stated, she known as him up and stated she was in Hampton Bays and wished to get meals.
“I solely gave her sufficient cash for meals and for the bus,” he stated. “She wasn’t destitute. However she didn’t carry any cash together with her. I nonetheless don’t perceive. Perhaps she was simply bored with it. Typically you turn out to be a slave to cash and your profession.”
The Southampton supply was shocked to listen to that Burack had been in an accident out of city. “Once I noticed that she obtained hit in Hampton Bays, the very first thing that got here to thoughts was ‘what’s she doing in Hamptons Bays?’ I don’t know the way she obtained there.
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“This was a tragedy – everybody knew what was happening and nobody did something,” the Southampton supply added. “It was solely a matter of time earlier than one thing like this occurred.”
White believes the tragedy started when folks turned away from Burack.
“She had one million mates. She had materials issues, immaterial issues. She had all the pieces,” he stated. However as soon as issues began going mistaken for her, “All of them scattered.”
