Tony Hsieh died of fire at suspected girlfriend’s house

The Connecticut house, where former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was trapped in a fire, is believed to have belonged to his alleged girlfriend, a longtime employee of the online shoe retailer and a prominent cellist.

Hsieh, 46, was swarmed by smoke inside a shed attached to a $ 1.3 million house in New London he bought in August for Rachael Brown, according to Fox 61.

Brown is said to have been Hsieh’s girlfriend – and one of his closest confidants as a high-ranking Zappos employee, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.

She was recruited into the company when she moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas in 2004 – five years after its launch – and led its first training team, the outlet said.

The Zappos website attributes Brown to one of the “women who changed the history of Zappos,” saying she was asked by Hsieh to “lead a team to teach all employees about the culture of the company, by no more answering the phone ”.

“They trusted me to teach culture before we had core values. If someone fit a culture, I had to help them be successful, ”she said in the mini-profile.

Brown left the training team in 2010 and then oversaw production of Zappos’ quarterly show of hands meetings, the company said.

A native of Niantic, Connecticut, according to his Facebook, Brown is also a prominent cellist known in the Las Vegas area.

She performs with Nina Di Gregorio’s Bella Electric Strings Ensemble and David Perrico’s Pop Strings Orchestra, which hit the weekend headlines for five years at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace ahead of the COVID-19 success. .

She was also a member of the Vegas Golden Strings roster who performed alongside Imagine Dragons on “All It Takes” before Game 2 of the 2018 NHL Finals.

Hsieh was in Connecticut with his brother when the fire broke out, Tech Crunch reported.

One of the contractor’s assistants, Anthony Hebert, told Fox 61 that Hsieh was in the visiting state’s family – and his “soul mate,” although he declined to give further details.

Brown could not be reached by The Post.

Hsieh was taken out of a shed without responding on November 18 at the home at 500 Pequot Avenue. Nine days later he died of complications from smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.