The cesspool scion socialite charged with fatally shoving NYC grandmother

The fiery-haired young woman charged with manslaughter for shoving an 87-year-old grandmother on a Manhattan sidewalk is the daughter of a Long Island cesspool mogul, and enjoyed living the high life at swanky parties before she landed behind bars.

Lauren Pazienza, 26, was arraigned on manslaughter charges Tuesday in the death of 87-year-old Barbara Gustern, the beloved Broadway vocal coach she is accused of fatally shoving on March 10. 

Prosecutors say Pazienza, who grew up in affluent parts of Long Island, approached Gustern at random, called her a ‘b***h’, pushed her and then fled.  She is then said to have watched as an ambulance crew took the frail older woman away with blood seeping from her head. 

Pazienza is currently jailed on Rikers Island as her parents pull together funds to meet her $500,000 cash bond obligation – but the former high-end events coordinator is ‘hanging tough’ behind bars, her attorney told the New York Daily News. 

Though Pazienza she appears to have lived a life of privilege, and later glamour in New York City’s high society, neighbors told the New York Post that she was sharp-tempered and confrontational, and an elementary classmate has claimed she bullied fellow students.

Pazienza grew up in historic Setauket, Long Island, where she attended Ward Melville High School with her future fiance, Microsoft customer support specialist Naveen Pereira.

A former classmate of Pazienza’s told Fox News that when he moved in down the street from her in second grade, she began bullying him. 

The classmate said that Pazienza always had a ‘crazy look in her eyes’ and would kick him and call him and other kids names. 

Her father Daniel owns a prosperous third-generation cesspool draining company, and claims on the company website that it was voted No. 1 in both price and service in Suffolk County for several years running.

In addition to pumping services, the company provides cesspool installations, grease trap installations, septic tank installations, storm drains and catch basin installations.

‘At Dan Pazienza Cesspool Service we pride ourselves on being Suffolk County’s most advanced cesspool service. We have been serving Suffolk County for over 3 generations,’ the website boasts. 

Paziensa’s parents Daniel and Caroline, who have been married for 28 years, enjoyed a life of prosperity, taking vacations to Aruba, France, and the Florida Keys over the years, photos on Facebook show.

The family later moved to Port Jefferson, where Paziena allegedly fled to hide in her parents’ home after Gustern’s death.

After graduating high school in 2013, Paziena earned a bachelors degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Photos show her enjoying glamorous parties in Manhattan in recent years, including the 40th-anniversary party for New York society magazine Avenue in 2015.

Pazienza had recently been living in an Astoria condo with her fiancé, who purchased the unit in 2019 with his father.

Neighbors told the Post that they were not entirely surprised to learn of the charges against Pazienza, saying that she was known to have a short fuse and was frequently confrontational.

‘There’s always some type of issue, some type of complaint. You’ll always know it’s her. It’s ridiculous,’ one said.

One neighbor said Pazienza argued with the building management about issues like parking tickets, but that it never got physical.

‘It was verbal. Sometimes she would stand up for herself, definitely,’ said the woman. ‘She will not put up with nonsense … she will say, ‘What is your problem?’ ‘What do you want from me?’

‘There was always an issue with her and someone in the building,’ one neighbor told the outlet. ‘It’s like always something with that lady. I feel for her fiancé because he’s a nice guy and he didn’t sign up for this.’  

Prosecutors claim that after the attack on Gustern, Pazienza then spent the next two weeks trying to cover her tracks. She quit her job, deleted her social media pages and even stashed her cell phone at her aunt’s house in Long Island after fleeing her Astoria apartment, where she lives with her Microsoft-employee fiance. 

Eventually, she handed herself in after the NYPD released clear-as-day photos of her getting on the subway some 20 minutes after the attack.  

Now, she is being held in custody. Her parents Daniel and Caroline are scrambling to come up with the $500,000 bond that was set by a judge on Tuesday.  

Following Pazienza’s surrender and arraignment after a citywide manhunt, Gustern’s grandson AJ expressed his relief that she faces trial for the killing, with a potential prison sentence of up to 25 years.

‘It’s entering a new phase of grief,’ AJ told WCBS-TV. ‘There is a sense of closure.’

‘I’d like to stress, innocent until proven guilty,’ he said. ‘If she did do this, then I would like answers.’ 

He continued, addressing his grandmother’s accused killer: ‘But I’m still praying for you, and the karmic weight you’ve taken on is incredible. May God help you.’  

AJ, who has served as the family spokesperson, described the devastation of losing his grandmother, whom he affectionately called ‘bobbob’. 

‘She was a force of nature. I called her a little neutron star, right, a ball of energy, building community everywhere she went,’ he said.  

AJ said in a Facebook post that Gustern’s funeral will be held at 2pm on Saturday at Holy Apostles Church in Chelsea. 

The church has requested that mourners not send flowers there, as it is currently the solemn liturgical season of Lent.

Gustern, who had been known in the theater world for decades, was attacked on the evening of March 10, when a woman she did not know walked up behind her and shoved her to the sidewalk, causing serious head injuries that led to her death five days later. 

Pazienza was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, and is facing 25 years in prison for the fatal sidewalk shoving. 

Pazienza’s bond was set at $500,000 cash or $1 million surety, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which had requested that she be held without bail on Rikers Island pending trial. 

Following the arraignment, Pazienza’s parents Daniel and Caroline appeared somber leaving court and did not answer questions from reporters.

Prosecutors said that on Monday, NYPD detectives visited the parents’ Long Island home after receiving a tip that Pazienza was hiding out there, but that her father claimed that she was not at home and did not consent to a search of the property. Pazienza then surrendered to police early on Tuesday.

The sickening attack unfolded around 8.30pm on March 10, when the victim Gustern was walking towards a cab outside her Chelsea apartment building when she was pushed from behind. She was helped back to her feet by a cyclist and was taken to the hospital ‘covered in blood’ after hitting her head on the cement, but died from her injuries five days later.   

Before she lost consciousness, Gustern told police and a friend that an unfamiliar woman crossed the street, approached her directly, called her a ‘b***h’ and shoved her ‘as hard as she had ever been hit in her life.’ 

Prosecutors say Pazienza stayed in the area for about 20 minutes after the attack, arguing with her fiancé on a nearby sidewalk before returning to the scene of the crime to watch as an ambulance arrived. 

Soon after the attack, she went back home to Astoria, Queens, quit her job at a store in Chelsea, deleted all social media and took down a website advertising her wedding this June, prosecutors say. The day after Gustern died, she allegedly fled for her parents’ home on Long Island and later stashed her phone at her aunt’s house so police wouldn’t find it.

Pazienza’s attorney told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that there is no proof that she pushed Gustern. 

‘What they have is a photo of someone who looks like my client getting on the subway. This attack did not happen on the subway,’ said lawyer Arthur Aidala, a high-powered defense attorney who has previously represented Rudolph Giuliani, Harvey Weinstein, and Roger Ailes. 

Speaking to reporters after the arraignment, Aidala insisted that, even if his client had shoved 87-year-old Gursten, a manslaughter charge was unwarranted.

The A-list attorney said that pushing someone ‘who’s on the sidewalk’ isn’t the same thing as ‘pushing someone in front of a cliff’ or ‘pushing someone in front of a moving train’, according to the New York Post. 

Aidala criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose progressive policies call for reducing or dropping charges for some non-violent crimes, accusing him of inconsistency. 

‘The DA goes out of their way to undercharge a case, and in this particular case they’re overcharging,’ Aidala claimed, speculating that the manslaughter charge was due to his client’s ‘socioeconomic status,’ ‘race’ or the media interest in the case. 

Pazienza’s next court hearing has been set for Friday. 

At Tuesday’s arraignment, assistant district attorney Justin McNabney revealed new details of the case, including how an intensive NYPD canvass for surveillance footage led to the identification of Pazienza as a suspect.

The fatal attack occurred at the corner of West 28th Street and Eighth Avenue, and prosecutors say that video shows Pazienza wandering in the area for about 20 minutes after the assault. 

Prosecutors say that approximately seven minutes after the attack, she was seen having a physical altercation with a man believed to be her fiancé, Microsoft customer support specialist Naveen Pereira. 

Some 13 minutes after the attack, she was seen standing on the south side of West 29th Street, looking toward West 28th Street, and watching the ambulance as it arrived to assist Gustern. 

Then, about half an hour after the attack, Pazienza and her fiancé were seen entering Penn Station, where they each swiped a MetroCard belonging to Pereira.

Detectives further tracked the couple from Penn Station to the Times Square subway station, all the way back to Astoria, Queens, where they live together. Pazienza arrived home at about 9.50pm, wearing the same clothes as the attacker, prosecutors said video footage from their apartment building shows.  

The painstaking search through surveillance video revealed extremely clear images of the alleged attacker, which the NYPD released to the public on Saturday, leading to an anonymous tip that Pazienza committed the crime and was hiding out at her parents’ house on Long Island. 

Prosecutors say that only after cops visited her parents’ home, where her father refused to let them inside and said his daughter was not at home.

The father, Daniel, operates a cesspool company on Long Island, and appeared in court on Tuesday wearing a charcoal suit.   

During the manhunt, prosecutors say that Lauren Pazienza took ‘every effort to avoid apprehension’ by quitting another job at a Chelsea shop, deleting all of her social media, and even removing a website with details of her pending wedding. 

ADA McNabney argued in court that Pazienza was a serious flight risk after evading arrest for nearly two weeks, and asked that she be denied bail, but Judge Michael Gaffey declined and set bail at $500,000 cash, or $1 million if the amount is partially secured or paid by an insurance company.

As of early Tuesday evening, it did not appear that Pazienza had posted bond, but her attorney said that her parents were making arrangements to secure the funds as soon as possible. 

Defense attorney Aidala told reporters that his client will likely plead not guilty, adding that she is a ‘moral’ person and has been sent to the ‘Twilight Zone,’ with her arrest.

Pazienza worked as an events coordinator for the furniture brand Roche Bobois, but quit her role in December. It’s unclear what motive she could have had for pushing the woman. 

She is from Port Jefferson, Long Island, and handed herself in to cops on Tuesday along with an attorney. 

Gustern’s family has not yet commented on her arrest. Her father Daniel runs a cesspool company.

It remains unclear if there is any connection between the pair, but prosecutors say that the victim did not recognize her assailant, and did not know why she was being attacked.  

On March 10, Gustern was walking towards a cab outside her apartment building on 28th Street Chelsea when she was pushed from behind at 8.30pm. 

She hit her head and later went into a coma, then died four days later. 

Her grandson has been painstakingly searching for answers and keeping loved ones updated in Facebook posts. 

The NYPD on Saturday released photographs of Pazienza getting on the subway near where the attack happened. 

She turned herself in on Tuesday morning with an attorney was booked for manslaughter.  

She lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Shore Towers, a doorman building in Astoria, with her fiance Naveen Pereira. 

The apartment was last sold in 2019 for $540,000, according to public records. Pazienza’s fiance is listed as the owner, along with a relative.  

Her parents Daniel and Caroline have not yet commented on her arrest.