Heiress Margaux Mirkin assaulted in Hollywood Hills home invasion, suspects flee

Three masked suspects forced their way into a Hollywood Hills home Thursday night, demanded money and jewelry from Margaux Mirkin, then beat and strangled the 70-year-old heiress before fleeing, police said.

Officers responded around 8 p.m. to the home on Lookout Mountain Avenue near Wonderland Elementary School. Mirkin was taken to a hospital and later reported in stable condition. The suspects, who remain at large, dropped a bag containing a large amount of jewelry as they ran, and a neighbor’s flashlight helped drive them off, according to local television reports.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division has taken over the case, underscoring the seriousness of a crime that combined home invasion tactics with a direct search for valuables. The attack was not a random burglary in the ordinary sense, but a fast, violent intrusion aimed at cash and jewelry, the kind of assault that leaves affluent neighborhoods exposed because wealth can be visible long before it is protected.

Mirkin was identified by neighbors as the victim. She is also the widow of William de Rothschild, who died in a nearby house fire in 2024, adding another painful chapter to a property already marked by loss. The setting, a hillside home tucked into one of Los Angeles’ most visible enclaves, reflects a broader vulnerability in high-end residential areas where privacy is limited and homes can become targets precisely because they signal status.

Mirkin’s family name is tied to one of Los Angeles’ best-known rental car businesses. Budget Rent a Car was founded in 1958 by her late father, Morris Mirkin, with a $10,000 investment, and the company name was chosen to appeal to value-conscious renters. That origin story stands in sharp contrast to the violence that unfolded Thursday night, when the search for jewelry and money turned a private residence into a crime scene and left investigators pursuing three suspects still on the run.