Margaux Mirkin, the retired daughter of the founder of Budget Rent A Car, was strangled, beaten and stolen cash and jewelry by a pair of masked thieves who broke into her mansion in the Hollywood Hills on Thursday night, according to reports.
The Los Angeles Police Department told local station NBC4 that the two assailants also allegedly “broke” Mirkin’s jaw during the robbery, which took place at his seven-bedroom home on Lookout Mountain Avenue around 8 p.m.
Mirkin, whose ages are both listed as 68 and 70, was taken to the hospital and eventually released. Police said the thieves fled in a white Honda Accord car.
A neighbor told an NBC affiliate that the house, which is isolated at the top of a dead-end road with no streetlights, was “the perfect street to relax on.”
Mirkin’s father, Morris Mirkin, founded Budget Rent A Car in Los Angeles in 1958 and sold the successful company a decade later. It is now part of the Avis Car Rental family.
Mirkin’s home spans approximately 7,280 square feet and also has five bathrooms and a three-car garage.
Neighbors told NBC that the thieves took cash and jewelry, including some pieces that Mirkin’s husband had given her before he died in a fire at their Laurel Canyon home in November 2024.
A neighbor named Lee Bridges told California Post Residents were shocked by the violent incursion in an area where serious crime is rare.
“This is very unusual for the Hollywood Hills,” Bridges said Saturday. “Our crime rate is people breaking into mailboxes. It’s not uncommon to have home invasions.”
Bridges described Mirkin as a senior person who kept to herself and did not pay attention to her property.
“Margaux is a nice local lady. She’s retired. She’s quite private,” Bridges said. Post, He further added that “He is not ostentatious in any way, not the kind of person who is too flamboyant or flaunts his wealth.”
According to the outlet, Mirkin has owned the home since February 2003.
Mirkin was an active participant in her father’s business. daily Mail Informed.
At the age of 24 she was running her father’s Beverly Hills division, which offered luxury and high-end sports cars for rent.
In a 1982 profile, Mirkin described herself as a “fairy godmother” who was helping her clients “escape reality for a while and live the L.A. dream.”
Most recently, Mirkin was married to William de Rothschild, who died in an accidental house fire at the age of 87. According to previous news reports, they married in Nevada in 1999.
Mirkin’s husband claimed to be a member of the Rothschild banking family, prominent in Europe, but it was later discovered that he had changed his name to “Richard Kaufman” in 1985 and did not appear in the Rothschild family tree.
His brother Richard said, “I am 100 percent sure that my brother was Kaufman, not Rothschild.” Los Angeles Times In 2024.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is a best-selling author of Los Angeles crime novels below the line and nine other crime novels and non-fiction titles. Look lovellcauffiel.com For more information.
