Woman's missing Rolex focus of murder probe
A missing Rolex watch may be linked to the death of a woman who was found stabbed in her home in north London, the Metropolitan Police has said.
Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, was found by her niece and neighbours at her home in Mornington Place, Camden on 13 June. The neighbour said she had been left with tape across her mouth.
The 69-year-old was last seen walking her pet Corgi in Camden on 10 June, before she was found fatally injured three days later.
While detectives are keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the murder, they are appealing for information about the watch which they believe is missing from Ms Abbot's address.
The watch has a distinctive diamond-encrusted face.
Ch Supt Jason Stewart said: "We are working closely with our colleagues in the homicide team to establish exactly what happened and it's incredibly important that we hear from anyone who may have knowledge about how this awful death occurred."
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "My son broke the door down. We heard her niece shouting: 'Somebody help me, somebody help' and we went out and asked 'what's wrong?'
"She said: 'I haven't heard from my aunty in four days. Something's wrong - break the door down'.
"I was holding the door open downstairs and my son was upstairs and then I heard her niece screaming and saying: 'Oh my God, she's been murdered'. She had tape across her mouth.
"Her corgi was locked in the bathroom for three days. That poor dog, he couldn't even drink any water, it's amazing he was even still alive."
She said Ms Abbott was "mysterious, and very smart and intelligent".
"We would chat in the street most of the time. I used to walk around the block with her with her dog," she said.
"She had done a lot of things in her life. She was a doctor but she was also an actor and director in America. She'd directed a movie and I looked at it on YouTube and saw her interviewed in Los Angeles.
"She was a character, she was lovely," she said.
Ch Supt Jason Stewart added that "someone must have seen or heard something and no piece of information is too small.
"It could be the crucial clue that leads us to identify Jennifer's murderer."
A post-mortem examination carried out on Sunday gave cause of death as sharp force trauma.
No arrests have been made in connection with her death.
Extra police patrols are continuing in the area.
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