Accused UES Squatter Arrested Before Owner Died From 'Blunt Force': Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A woman accused of squatting in an Upper East Side townhouse was arrested on an assault charge just weeks before the owner died of blunt force trauma, and now the owner's family wants his death reinvestigated, the New York Post reported.

The battle for the $13.2 million townhouse, located at 111 East 81st St., first began to unfold when a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this month accused Hilarie Page of squatting inside the late Craig Schmeizer's home and refusing to leave or grant the estate access.

The lawsuit, first reported by Curbed, was filed by an LLC connected to two family trusts and accuses Page of squatting in the four-story limestone mansion since the death of Schmeizer in November 2025. Page, according to legal documents, was Schmeizer's live-in housekeeper.

Then, the New York Post reported Wednesday that Page was arrested on assault and harassment-related charges on Sept. 27, following an incident at the townhouse that injured Schmeizer, though he did not ultimately press charges, just weeks before his death on Nov. 20.

Schmeizer was 52 years old when he died, the New York Post reported. 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, though the manner of death was "undetermined" according to the New York Post.

Read more from the New York Post here.

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