Key Takeaways
- Sahara Ray’s family can now make final arrangements after the medical examiner released the 34-year-old model and swimwear designer’s body following her autopsy.
- The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner awaits toxicology results to determine her cause of death, while an unnamed insider’s claim of a fentanyl overdose remains unconfirmed.
- Ray’s mother and sister have shared tributes and rallied around her 9-month-old daughter, Snow, while friend Jessica Serfaty remembered her “laughter, adventure, mischief, tenderness, and magic.”
Sahara Ray’s body has been released to her family following the completion of her autopsy, Page Six confirmed. The development allows her relatives to make final arrangements more than a week after the Australian model and swimwear designer died in a Los Angeles hospital at 34. What killed her, however, remains undetermined.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has deferred Ray’s cause of death pending toxicology results. An unnamed insider previously said that Ray suffered a fentanyl overdose before she was hospitalized and placed on life support.
Her family reportedly made the decision to withdraw life support Oct. 18.
Ray’s mother, Gretchen Gia Bach, has been documenting the family’s grief since her death. “Laying on top of an Airbnb bed somewhere in LA at 1 AM wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing as I read and repost the love letters and tributes to my firstborn daughter,” she wrote on Instagram.
Ray’s sister Ruby also remembered her as “a force of nature” and “a light so bright that this world feels impossibly dimmer without her in it.”
The family has also rallied around Ray’s infant daughter, Snow, whom she welcomed in January with Michael Bradley Dow. Recent photos shared by her relatives showed Bach and Ruby spending time with the 9-month-old. One image of Snow in her crib was captioned, “I adore you.”
Ray’s final Instagram post, shared in July, also focused on her daughter: “My whole heart 🤍 baby Snow.”
Close friend Jessica Serfaty said Ray had been dealing with mental health issues before her death while simultaneously entering a new chapter as a mother. “Sahara had been struggling with her mental health in recent years, and it was heartbreaking to witness someone we loved so deeply experience so much pain,” Serfaty told Page Six.
She said Ray should also be remembered for her “laughter, adventure, mischief, tenderness, and magic.”
Ray had survived another serious health crisis two years earlier. In 2024, she revealed that she developed Guillain-Barré syndrome after a crash involving an allegedly drunk driver.
The daughter of surf icon Tony Ray, Ray launched Sahara Ray Swim in 2014 and built an Instagram audience of nearly 900,000 followers. She also drew public attention through her relationships, having been linked to Cody Simpson and Justin Bieber before later dating Mod Sun.
