William Alfred Kauffman
Soot was found in his airway and an elevated amount of carbon monoxide indicate that he was alive for some time after the fire had started, officials ruled.
According to the report his official cause of death is hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with smoke inhalation being a contributory fact. His passing was ruled as an accident.
Despite his remarks to his neighbors and his surname, he did not appear anywhere on the storied family's official genealogical records and his brother has since identified him as William Alfred Kauffman.
Kauffman changed his name in a petition to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1985, records show.
In his application, he told the judge: 'I want to take my family name, that I prefer to Kauffman, it would simplify my life greatly, taking the name from my mothers side'.
The name change was granted and Kauffman became de Rothschild for the remainder of his days.
'For 40 to 50 years I had no contact with my brother so I just accepted that he had died from some sort of illness. And then I got that phone call,' his younger brother Richard revealed that he had no contact with his brother until after his death.
Richard knew of no family connection to the Rothschilds, so why was his missing brother posing as one?
In disbelief, he fixated on the memory of their unforgettable final conversation, which had been ricocheting through his mind all those years.
'He seemed like he wanted to tell me something else but he was holding back. We had a couple of phone calls after he moved to Los Angeles and then he just disappeared,' Richard said.
'But the last call, I remember, was so strange because it sounded like he wanted to say something, but he never did. We hung up and I never heard from him again.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14744685/rothschild-heir-accident-died-los-angeles-home.html