{"id":144380,"date":"2026-02-25T00:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/144380\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:58:14","slug":"family-demands-matress-execs-death-investigation-be-reopened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/144380\/","title":{"rendered":"Family demands matress exec’s death investigation be reopened"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bitter legal fight over a $13.2 million trophy Upper East Side townhouse \u2014 and the housekeeper who\u2019s allegedly squatting inside<\/a> \u2014 has taken a far more serious turn.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s blocking estate reps from entering, in part, for Schmeizer\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Page did not respond to requests for comment. A message seeking comment from Shalev was not returned.<\/p>\n

A woman identified as Hilarie Page is seen a September mugshot tied to an arrest for assault against late mattress entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer weeks before his death. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

Craig Schmeizer is seen covered in blood after the alleged assault. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

Schmeizer, 52, was found unresponsive in November inside his four-story limestone mansion at 111 E. 81st St. \u2014 a stately residence just off Park Avenue featuring carved marble fireplaces, soaring ceilings, formal entertaining rooms and a landscaped garden level.<\/p>\n

An autopsy by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined his cause of death was \u201csubdural hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma of head,\u201d with chronic alcohol use listed as a contributing factor.<\/p>\n

The manner of death, however, was ruled \u201cundetermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the shocking finding, the NYPD has said the case is closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no criminality,\u201d a department spokesperson told The Post.<\/p>\n

Family members of late mattress entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer are urging authorities to reopen the investigation into his November 2025 death after records revealed that his live-in house manager, Hilarie Page, was separately arrested for assault at his $13.2 million Upper East Side townhouse just weeks before he died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Nectar<\/p>\n

But relatives say the case should not be considered settled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still do not know how he sustained the blunt force trauma to the head,\u201d a family source told The Post. \u201cGiven what we\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Records show that Page, 66 \u2014 hired about a year before Schmeizer\u2019s death to serve as his live-in house manager \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was his nature,\u201d the source said, adding that he liked to give people chances. \u201cDespite several of us advising him that we felt otherwise about her and her intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relatives also recount heated confrontations when they attempted to access the property after Schmeizer\u2019s death, alleging Page shouted and resisted entry attempts. GOOGLE MAPS<\/p>\n

The formal living room in the townhouse. Douglas Elliman<\/p>\n

The dining room. Douglas Elliman<\/p>\n

A den. Douglas Elliman<\/p>\n

Page had originally been brought in to manage the townhouse while Schmeizer traveled frequently for business. According to the family source, \u201cHe needed somebody at the house to just manage the day-to-day maintenance of the home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Page lived in one of the guest bedrooms and sometimes traveled with him, the source said.<\/p>\n

But tensions inside the home allegedly escalated over time.<\/p>\n

According to the family source, Schmeizer had previously told relatives that Page struck him during arguments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that she\u2019s been known to use objects in the house before, such as a fireplace stoker, to hit him \u2014 a bottle,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those claims have not been independently verified, and no criminal charges related to those specific allegations were publicly confirmed.<\/p>\n

Family members also described confrontations when they attempted to access the home after Schmeizer\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe locks have been changed a few times,\u201d the source said. \u201cBut as a squatter, apparently, according to New York City, she still is allowed to obtain a key, even when those locks have been changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to court filings tied to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit, Shalev described Page as \u201cextremely hostile\u201d and said she blocked the estate from entering the home to inventory artwork, jewelry and a sizable wine collection.<\/p>\n

A family source alleges Page had a volatile temperament, had previously struck Schmeizer with household objects, was present in the home the day he died and had resisted efforts to leave the property, which is now the subject of a lawsuit by the estate seeking her removal. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

In one recent effort to gain access, Shalev wrote that she and an attorney \u201crang the doorbell many times. [sic] pounded on the door and even threw snowballs at windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, once the door was opened, Page \u201cran toward the door, screaming,\u201d and both sides contacted the police, who ultimately instructed the estate\u2019s representatives to leave.<\/p>\n

The family source said Schmeizer had been trying to remove Page from the home in the weeks before his death.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually said to me that he was working on a bunch of things, including the ongoing divorce \u2026 and trying to remove this crazy lady \u2014 he referred to her as \u2014 from his home,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

According to the family source, Schmeizer had previously confronted Page about leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I want you out of my house.\u2019 She said, \u2018I\u2019m not going anywhere. You can\u2019t get rid of me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The source also described what they characterized as aggressive behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a very aggressive personality, and she has a very short temper,\u201d the source said. \u201cCraig is not a conflict person, so he didn\u2019t really want to get into an argument with her, because especially she\u2019s living under the same roof with him, and that would just carry on into a screaming match for hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nectar Sleep founder Craig Schmeizer and his estranged wife and trustee, Sarah Shalev, in 2014.<\/p>\n

Relatives further allege Page was inside the East 81st Street townhouse the day Schmeizer died \u2014 and say they remain troubled by the blunt-force trauma determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven a fall down the stairs onto parquet flooring would not cause that level of head trauma, right?\u201d the source said. \u201cThe blunt force trauma is what really sticks out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, police have maintained there is no criminal aspect to the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was extremely disappointed when I spoke to the detective and he told me that they had closed the investigation,\u201d the source said. \u201cI don\u2019t understand how that can be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source added that relatives are now discussing potential next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am talking with some other family members, and we are trying to reopen it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bitter legal fight over a $13.2 million trophy Upper East Side townhouse \u2014 and the housekeeper who\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[211,3968,1840,3970,68,4683,46134,3100,2850,3001,1023,27774,238,9,24,56,63,65,64,1491,3006,21274,14835,1996,6069,466],"class_list":{"0":"post-144380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-assault","9":"tag-billionaires","10":"tag-death","11":"tag-entrepreneurs","12":"tag-exclusive","13":"tag-family","14":"tag-good-housekeeping","15":"tag-lawsuit","16":"tag-lawsuits","17":"tag-luxe-listings","18":"tag-luxury-real-estate","19":"tag-millionaires","20":"tag-murders","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-ny","24":"tag-nyc","25":"tag-nyc-headlines","26":"tag-nyc-news","27":"tag-real-estate","28":"tag-residential-real-estate","29":"tag-sleep","30":"tag-squatters","31":"tag-townhouse","32":"tag-townhouses","33":"tag-upper-east-side"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}