Million Dollar Beach House star Sarah Burak was killed in a hit-and-run as the driver claims a shocking traffic cone illusion.
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Sarah Burak’s death: “It was just a traffic cone.”
There’s a case in the Hamptons that has shaken the area.
The driver behind the hit-and-run death of Sarah Burak claims she mistook the Netflix star for a traffic cone.
The case has created a stir in the upper-class community, where Burak made a name for herself in luxury real estate.
The night it all changed
Life took a terrifying turn in the early hours of June 19. Around 2:45 a.m., 40-year-old Sarah Burak—who Netflix viewers know from “Million Dollar Beach House,”—was hit near the Villa Paul restaurant on Montauk Highway.
Someone drove off, leaving her unconscious and alone.
By the time help arrived, it was too late. Despite being quickly admitted to Stony Brook University Hospital, Burak could not be saved.
“I thought it was a cone”
Amanda Kempton, 32, broke her silence in court on June 21, where she denied charges of fleeing the scene of the fatal crash.
Her defense? She really thought she had hit a traffic cone—not a human being.
“She never realized it was a human being,” her lawyer argued, also pointing out that alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the tragic incident.
But prosecutors have a different perspective.
From tavern to tragedy
MacDonald Drain, the prosecutor handling the case, revealed that Kempton was allegedly spending time at a local tavern before the crash.
The marine biologist appeared visibly shaken in court when Drain pressed for higher bail, pointing out that she had initially fled the scene and was planning to attend a wedding in Virginia the next day.
Despite these concerns, Kempton walked free on $100,000 bail—not with cash, but with the family’s property on Long Island put up as collateral.
Seven years at stake
The stakes couldn’t be higher for Kempton. In New York State, fleeing the scene of a fatal accident is classified as a Class D Felony.
If convicted, she could face up to seven years in prison.
Meanwhile, the Southampton community is mourning one of its brightest stars.
The woman behind the headlines
Before she became tabloid news, Sarah Burack was a respected figure in luxury real estate.
The Southampton native had built an impressive career with Nest Seekers International, leveraging her family’s building materials business.
“It was absolutely natural for me to turn my love for real estate into a thriving career,” Burak told Hamptons.com in 2020, explaining that she had spent half of every year in the Hamptons for more than a decade.
Her appearance on Netflix’s “Million Dollar Beach House” in 2020 established her as one of the area’s most recognizable real estate professionals.
Community in mourning
As authorities continue their investigation, with both the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Southampton Town Police Department yet to comment further, the Hamptons community is grappling with the sudden loss of one of their own.
For now, the case hinges on a question that seems impossible: How can a human understand a traffic cone?