Filmmaker Jennifer Abbott, 69, was discovered wrapped in a blanket three days after she was last seen alive close to her home near London Zoo in Camden, north London
A film director who was gagged and stabbed to death in her own home may have been targeted for her diamond-encrusted Rolex watch, police believe. Jennifer Abbott, 69, was discovered wrapped in a blanket three days after she was last seen alive close to her home near London Zoo in Camden, north London. Her Corgi dog survived after being locked in a toilet for 72 hours as Ms Abbott lay dead nearby, neighbours said.
Her Facebook page says she grew up in Wimbledon, south London before moving to Los Angeles where pictures show her with stars including Dan Ackroyd, Paris Hilton and Kate Hudson. She had run a film production company and made a documentary she directed called “Gods of War” which she said won several awards.
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Also known as Sarah Steinberg, she was last seen walking her pet corgi on June 10. She was found dead on Friday after neighbours kicked her door down. An ambulance crew was called to Mornington Place, at around 6pm on June 13 and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her son went out to help Ms Abbott’s niece and the pair made the harrowing discovery. Detectives fear she may have been killed for her diamond-encrusted Rolex.
The neighbour 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 her neighbour 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.
“I can’t believe we won’t see her walking the corgi any more. She was very exuberant, very vivacious.
“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.
“You’re never going to see her again and you just can’t take it in. I said to my son: ‘I can’t believe we were sitting here in the living room, maybe watching television, while she was over there going through that and we didn’t know.”
The neighbour said that drug users sit in doorways in the area including near Ms Abbott’s flat.
Another woman living nearby described Ms Abbott as “a woman of taste”, while William Currie, 63, a hairdresser, said: “I just used to see her walking around with her little corgi. We just said hello, waved to each other and smiled.
“She used to walk the dog every couple of days. She kept herself to herself, she wasn’t too sociable but kind, polite and well-mannered. The dog was fat and chubby and barked a lot.”
Police said a post-mortem examination was carried out on Sunday and gave the cause of death as sharp force trauma.
Chief Superintendent 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. Were you out in Camden on Friday?
“Perhaps you had been coming home from work, or at an event nearby? Did you see or hear anything around Mornington Place that struck you as being unusual?
“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.
“Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.”
Anyone with information can call police on 101 or message MetCC on X, giving the reference 6470/13JUN. To remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or online.