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A missing diamond-encrusted Rolex watch may be linked to the stabbing of a 69-year-old woman who was found dead in her north London flat, the Metropolitan police have said.
Jennifer Abbott, who was known professionally as Sarah Steinberg, was discovered fatally injured with tape on her mouth.
She had last been seen three days earlier, on 10 June, walking her pet corgi in Camden.
An ambulance crew was called to Abbott’s home in Mornington Place, Camden, at about 6pm on 13 June and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her pet corgi had been shut in the bathroom for three days, but survived.
Police said a postmortem examination was carried out on Sunday and gave the cause of death as sharp force trauma.
Detectives are keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the murder but are appealing for information about the watch, which they believe is missing from Abbott’s address.
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, told PA Media that her son went out to help Abbott’s niece and the pair discovered her body.
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.”
The neighbour added that Abbott “had done a lot of things in her life”.
They added: “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.”
No arrests have been made in connection with Abbott’s death.
The Met Ch Supt Jason Stewart said the force was working closely with colleagues in the homicide team to establish exactly what had happened and were appealing for information from the public.
He said: “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.”
Stewart added: “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.”
