The heiress to the Budget Rent a Car fortune was brutally choked and beaten by a gang of masked thieves who broke into her Hollywood Hills home Thursday night and made off with jewelry, according to police.
The two attackers broke the jaw of Margaux Mirkin, 70, during the horrific 8:30 p.m. home invastion at her posh residence on Lookout Mountain Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department told local station NBC4.
The thugs also choked Mirkin before stuffing jewelry into their pockets and fleeing, cops said.
The two men were wearing masks and dark hoodies. KTLA5Mirkin was rushed to the hospital and later released — while the attackers escaped in white Honda Accord, cops said
Property records obtained by NBC show the owner of the home is Mirkin, whose father, Morris, founded Budget Rent a Car in 1958 in Los Angeles.
The pair took cash and jewelry, including some pieces that Mirkin’s husband gave to her before he died in a Laurel Canyon house fire less than two years ago, neighbors told NBC.
The home is a “perfect target” because of its location on the dark and quiet street, said one neighbor named Chris.
“It’s a dark street. It’s at the top. Dead-end street. Not many people on it,” he told NBC.
“So, of course, it’s like the perfect street for a break-in.”
Another neighbor, Lee Bridges, told The Post that residents were stunned by the violent break-in in an area where serious crime is rare.
“It’s very unusual for the Hollywood Hills,” Bridges told The Post on Saturday.
“Our crime rate tends to be people breaking into mailboxes. It’s not normal to have a home invasion.”
Bridges described Mirkin as a low-key presence in the neighborhood who did not draw attention to her wealth.
“Margaux is just a nice local lady. She’s retired. She’s rather private,” Bridges told The Post, adding that “she’s not flashy in any way, not the kind of person who’s very flamboyant or flashes her wealth around.”
Two thugs attacked an elderly woman in a Hollywood Hills home. KTLA5She added that Mirkin was well-liked by neighbors despite keeping mostly to herself.
“She’s not super sociable, but when I see her, I would describe her as friendly and respected. Certainly, she’s never caused any trouble in the neighborhood.”
Public records show the home — a sprawling seven-bedroom, five-bath property perched on Lookout Mountain Avenue — spans roughly 7,280 square feet and sits on a winding street in the Hollywood Hills’ Laurel Canyon enclave.
The property is currently estimated to be worth roughly $2.8 million to $4.7 million, with an average valuation of about $3.8 million, according to real estate data.
Mirkin has owned the home since February 2003, when she took out a $1 million mortgage tied to the property, records show.
Mirkin is the daughter of Morris Mirkin, who founded Budget Rent a Car in Los Angeles in 1958 before selling the company a decade later.
She was married to William de Rothschild, a man whose claimed ties to the famed European banking dynasty were later called into question in press reports.
The couple wed in Nevada in 1999, according to public records cited in prior reporting.
De Rothschild died in a Laurel Canyon house fire in 2024, with authorities later ruling the death accidental.
The Mirkin family cashed out when Budget Rent a Car was sold decades ago, and there is no public record indicating that Margaux Mirkin holds any ownership stake in the company’s current parent.
