Woman 'killed for her Rolex' had 'lost everything' after moving from US
Police say a diamond-encrusted Rolex belonging to Jennifer Abbott, who went by the stage name Sarah Steinberg, was missing from her Camden flat after she was found dead from stab wounds
A film director stabbed to death in her London home had "lost everything" from her showbiz life when she moved to the capital. On Friday, 69-year-old Jennifer Abbott was stabbed to death in her Camden council flat in a suspected robbery after an unknown assailant made off with her diamond-encrusted Rolex, police believe.
Her body was found inside after neighbours raised concerns for her welfare. Speaking to MailOnline, locals said the director, who used the name Sarah Steinberg, moved from the US around 10 years ago and had lived at the address ever since. Jennifer moved in A-list circles and images on her social media show here with the likes of Kate Hudson, Paris Hilton and Dan Ackroyd.
Her next door neighbour Laura, 34, told the outlet: "She was a movie star. She was in a couple of movies. She used to live in Beverly Hills. She said she came over here and lost everything. Everything was stolen off of her."
She added that Jennifer was a friend of hers and that she used to walk her pet Corgi if she was feeling unwell. The neighbour was out at her boyfriend's home at the time of the attack.
Another neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, says she heard the victim's niece screaming before her son used a metal pole to bash the door in and gain entry. Her pet Corgi, Prince, was discovered locked inside the bathroom, and had somehow managed to survive for three days.
The neighbour added: "I heard the girls banging on the door and heard her shouting 'help, help'.
"She was a vibrant, spritely, and intelligent person. We would talk about a lot of things - politics, current affairs, her likes and dislikes, we knew what each other liked."
She said Jennifer had held a number of different jobs over her life, including working as a doctor and a director, earning an award for the movie, War of the Gods.
The Metropolitan Police, which arrived at the scene following a call at 6pm on Friday night, fear she may have been killed for her expensive timepiece.
Locals have been urged to come forward as investigators launch a manhunt for the perpetrator after a June 15 post-mortem found she died by "sharp-force trauma".
Ms Abbot was last seen walking her dog on June 10, with the pooch, a Corgi, having spent several days locked inside a bathroom, where it wasn't able to eat or drink.
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