1 hour ago
3
The bitter legal fight over a $13.2 million trophy Upper East Side townhouse — and the housekeeper who’s allegedly squatting inside — has taken a far more serious turn.
Family members of the late mattress entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer are calling for police to reopen the investigation into his 2025 death after newly surfaced records revealed that his live-in housekeeper, Hilarie Page, had been arrested for an unrelated assault just weeks before he died from blunt-force trauma to the head, The Post has learned.
The news comes on the heels of an unusual lawsuit recently filed in Manhattan Supreme Court. The entity that owns the 6,650-square-foot property alleges Page remains in the home with no right and that she’s blocking estate reps from entering, in part, for Schmeizer’s estranged wife and trustee, 45-year-old Sarah Shalev, to retrieve family heirlooms. The suit aims to remove Page from the home and seeks $49,000 per month in use and occupancy.
Page did not respond to requests for comment. A message seeking comment from Shalev was not returned.
Schmeizer, 52, was found unresponsive in November inside his four-story limestone mansion at 111 E. 81st St. — a stately residence just off Park Avenue featuring carved marble fireplaces, soaring ceilings, formal entertaining rooms and a landscaped garden level.
An autopsy by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined his cause of death was “subdural hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma of head,” with chronic alcohol use listed as a contributing factor.
The manner of death, however, was ruled “undetermined.”
Despite the shocking finding, the NYPD has said the case is closed.
“There was no criminality,” a department spokesperson told The Post.
But relatives say the case should not be considered settled.
“We still do not know how he sustained the blunt force trauma to the head,” a family source told The Post. “Given what we’ve witnessed directly of Hilarie and her actions and her volatile behavior, I even spoke to the detective and argued strongly that I do not believe that it was an accident.”
Records show that Page, 66 — hired about a year before Schmeizer’s death to serve as his live-in house manager — was arrested on Sept. 27, 2025 on assault and harassment-related charges stemming from an incident at the East 81st Street residence. It left Schmeizer injured, with an image provided to The Post showing blood dripping from around his left ear and staining his white dress shirt. Schmeizer did not press charges.
“That was his nature,” the source said, adding that he liked to give people chances. “Despite several of us advising him that we felt otherwise about her and her intentions.”
Page had originally been brought in to manage the townhouse while Schmeizer traveled frequently for business. According to the family source, “He needed somebody at the house to just manage the day-to-day maintenance of the home.”
Page lived in one of the guest bedrooms and sometimes traveled with him, the source said.
But tensions inside the home allegedly escalated over time.
According to the family source, Schmeizer had previously told relatives that Page struck him during arguments.
“I do know that she’s been known to use objects in the house before, such as a fireplace stoker, to hit him — a bottle,” the source said. “He told me.”
Those claims have not been independently verified, and no criminal charges related to those specific allegations were publicly confirmed.
Family members also described confrontations when they attempted to access the home after Schmeizer’s death.
“The locks have been changed a few times,” the source said. “But as a squatter, apparently, according to New York City, she still is allowed to obtain a key, even when those locks have been changed.”
According to court filings tied to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit, Shalev described Page as “extremely hostile” and said she blocked the estate from entering the home to inventory artwork, jewelry and a sizable wine collection.
In one recent effort to gain access, Shalev wrote that she and an attorney “rang the doorbell many times. [sic] pounded on the door and even threw snowballs at windows.”
According to the complaint, once the door was opened, Page “ran toward the door, screaming,” and both sides contacted the police, who ultimately instructed the estate’s representatives to leave.
The family source said Schmeizer had been trying to remove Page from the home in the weeks before his death.
“He actually said to me that he was working on a bunch of things, including the ongoing divorce … and trying to remove this crazy lady — he referred to her as — from his home,” the source said.
According to the family source, Schmeizer had previously confronted Page about leaving.
“He said, ‘I want you out of my house.’ She said, ‘I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me.’”
The source also described what they characterized as aggressive behavior.
“She has a very aggressive personality, and she has a very short temper,” the source said. “Craig is not a conflict person, so he didn’t really want to get into an argument with her, because especially she’s living under the same roof with him, and that would just carry on into a screaming match for hours.”
Relatives further allege Page was inside the East 81st Street townhouse the day Schmeizer died — and say they remain troubled by the blunt-force trauma determination.
“Even a fall down the stairs onto parquet flooring would not cause that level of head trauma, right?” the source said. “The blunt force trauma is what really sticks out to me.”
Still, police have maintained there is no criminal aspect to the case.
“I was extremely disappointed when I spoke to the detective and he told me that they had closed the investigation,” the source said. “I don’t understand how that can be the case.”
The source added that relatives are now discussing potential next steps.
“I am talking with some other family members, and we are trying to reopen it.”
English (US)