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The legal battle over the $13.2 million townhouse at 111 East 81st Street has taken a darker turn, with relatives of the late mattress entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer now pushing to reopen the investigation into his death.
As ESF previously reported, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges that Hilarie Page – who it turns out was Schmeizer’s former live-in housekeeper – has been squatting in the four-story limestone mansion between Park and Lexington avenues since his death in November 2025, refusing to leave or grant the estate access.
Now, newly surfaced records cited by the New York Post reveal that Page, 66, was arrested on assault and harassment-related charges at the East 81st Street residence in late September 2025 — just weeks before Schmeizer died, according to the Post. Schmeizer was reportedly injured in the incident, but chose not to press charges.
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An autopsy by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined Schmeizer’s cause of death was a subdural hemorrhage resulting from blunt force trauma to the head, with chronic alcohol use as a contributing factor, the Post reported. The manner of death was ruled “undetermined.”Despite that finding, the NYPD has said the case is closed and that there was no criminality involved.
Relatives disagree. A family source told the Post that they still don’t know how Schmeizer sustained the head trauma and said they spoke with the detective on the case to argue that they do not believe it was an accident, citing what they described as Page’s volatile behavior.
According to the family source, Schmeizer had told relatives that Page had struck him during arguments and had used household objects as weapons, including a fireplace poker and a bottle. Those claims have not been independently verified.
Page had been hired about a year before Schmeizer’s death to manage the townhouse while he traveled for business, the Post reported. She lived in a guest bedroom and sometimes traveled with him. But according to the family source, tensions in the home escalated over time, and Schmeizer had been trying to remove Page in the weeks before his death.
Relatives told the Post that Page was inside the townhouse the day Schmeizer, 52, was found unresponsive, and that they remain troubled by the blunt-force trauma determination.
The family source told the Post they were disappointed when the detective informed them the investigation had been closed and that family members are now discussing how to get it reopened.
The Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit seeks to remove Page from the 6,650-square-foot property and is also seeking $49,000 per month in use and occupancy payments. Page did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment, and a message to Shalev was not returned.
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