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The woman accused of squatting inside a $13.2 million townhouse at 111 East 81st Street has been evicted, and the late owner’s estranged wife has regained access to the property, the Daily Mail reported.
Hilarie Page, the 66-year-old live-in housekeeper who had refused to leave the four-story limestone mansion between Park and Lexington avenues since businessman Craig Schmeizer’s death in November 2025, was served with an eviction notice in mid-March and vacated soon after, according to the report.
And as it turns out, this is allegedly far from the first time Page has had to be forced out of someone else’s home.
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Sarah Shalev, Schmeizer’s estranged wife and trustee of the family trusts that control the property, was seen at the townhouse this week. Peter Kolodony, the attorney representing the family trust, confirmed outside Housing Court that his client was back in the home, the Daily Mail reported.Page was due to appear in Housing Court on Tuesday but failed to show up.
As ESF has previously reported, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this year alleged that Page had been blocking the estate from entering the home to inventory artwork, jewelry, and a valuable wine collection, while occupying the property with no legal right to do so. The suit sought Page’s removal and $49,000 per month in use and occupancy payments.
The case took an even darker turn in February when it was revealed that Page had been arrested on assault and harassment-related charges at the East 81st Street residence in September 2025 — just weeks before Schmeizer died from blunt force trauma to the head. Schmeizer was injured in the incident, but chose not to press charges.
An autopsy determined his cause of death was a subdural hemorrhage resulting from blunt force trauma, with chronic alcohol use as a contributing factor. The manner of death was ruled “undetermined.”
Family members have said they do not believe Schmeizer’s death was an accident, citing what they described as Page’s volatile and physically aggressive behavior, and have called on the NYPD to reopen its investigation, as ESF previously reported. A family source told the New York Post that Schmeizer had told relatives Page struck him during arguments and had used household objects — including a fireplace poker and a bottle — as weapons. Those claims have not been independently verified.
The NYPD has said the case is closed and that there was no criminality involved.
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The Daily Mail reported that the East 81st Street saga appears to be part of a much longer pattern. The outlet reviewed court documents showing Page has been legally evicted from at least three other residences.In one case, a Chelsea photographer named Terry Niefield told the Daily Mail he reluctantly let Page crash on his couch in 2017 after she’d been evicted from a Murray Hill apartment. What was supposed to be a temporary arrangement stretched on for more than two years, with Page reportedly inserting herself into Niefield’s daily life and straining his relationship with his girlfriend. He described her as “nasty” and a “parasite.” A court-ordered eviction was eventually carried out.
Another former landlord, who asked not to be named, told the outlet that Page stopped paying rent and became verbally abusive when confronted — leaving the landlord feeling trapped in her own home. She was ultimately evicted by court order as well.
Even people described as Page’s friends have called her “ice cold,” according to the Daily Mail.
