Actress Natalie Wood, star of Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, died on November 30, 1981. Her death was ruled an accident, but rumors of foul play swirled. In 2011, LA County officials reopened the investigation, and new witnesses came forward. Unexplained bruises on her arms and knee led to the change in her official cause of death from accidental drowning to undetermined factors.
The mystery of Natalie Wood’s death has ebbed and flowed over the years, but the case is now at a new phase. A re-examination of the evidence is now taking place, and investigators have identified her husband, Robert Wagner, as a person of interest. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Natalie Wood Death.
The case against Wagner has been re-opened in light of a recent interview by Dennis Davern, the boat captain who helped recover Wood’s body. Davern told NBC’s Today show that he believes Wood was killed by Wagner. He says he feels he can give investigators enough information to treat her death as a homicide, and that Wagner is responsible for it.
On Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, Wood was on a yacht with her husband and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. They were drinking, and the two actors had been bickering that night. Some people speculate that Wood stepped off the yacht to catch a dinghy that had begun to slip away, and she drowned. But other theories abound, and the investigation has never really settled the matter.
A new chapter in the Natalie Wood death story began on Friday, when sheriff’s detectives visited family members to tell them that bruises found on the actress’s body did not match up with the cause of her death. The family members were asked to sign a statement saying they would not talk publicly about the case, and were asked to continue to cooperate with investigators.
At the time, Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi was a well-known “coroner to the stars.” He performed autopsies on John Belushi, Albert Dekker, William Holden, David Janssen, and Janis Joplin, among others. He also did the autopsy on Wood. Noguchi had a reputation for being tough on celebrities and their entourages.
A few months after Wood’s death, Noguchi changed his original verdict of accidental drowning to a verdict of undetermined cause. The change was based on the fact that the bruises on Wood’s body were not consistent with an accident, and that she could have been assaulted before she died. He also said that the dinghy that she was found in had been sitting on the water for hours, and that it might not have been tethered to her yacht.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
When Natalie Wood, the star of movies like West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, died at age 43 in 1981, it was a mystery. She had been vacationing with husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken on their yacht off the coast of Catalina Island. The original coroner ruled her death an accident, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of her death changed to undetermined factors. In February 2018, investigators named Wagner a person of interest in her death.
In her book, Finstad reveals that Wood’s mother, Maria, abused her. She grew up in a world of sex, alcoholism and neglect. Her shattered childhood caused her to carry deep wounds that never healed, even after she found fame and success as an actress. The adulation of the public only served to highlight her insecurities and fears. In her private life, she was a mess.
On Thanksgiving, the day before her death, Wood and Wagner invited several friends to join them for a boat trip off the coast of California’s Catalina Island. Most of them declined, citing less-than-ideal sailing weather. However, the couple’s yacht captain, Dennis Davern, and her Brainstorm costar Christopher Walken did agree to join them.
The two were accompanied by their sons, actor Sean Astin and musician Josh Astin. They were spending the weekend on their yacht, Splendour. The boat was located at the Blue Cavern Point east of Two Harbors. Davern told the Los Angeles Times in 2012 that he checked the kelp line around the area before he spotted her body in the water. She was wearing a flannel nightgown and a red down jacket.
After her death, there were many theories about how she ended up in the ocean. The official ruling by the coroner was that she slipped and fell into the water. He also theorized that her level of intoxication played a role in her death. But there are some compelling new details that cast doubt on the official account of her death. For example, unexplained bruising on her body suggest she was assaulted before she went into the water.
Christopher Walken
After shooting wrapped on Brainstorm, Wood and her co-star Christopher Walken invited friends to join them for a Thanksgiving weekend boat trip to Catalina Island. Most people declined, citing the stormy weather conditions. However, Dennis Davern, the captain of the couple’s yacht, Splendour, agreed to go. He told a book author that Wood and Walken spent hours drinking at Doug’s Harbor Reef restaurant, laughing and seemingly flirting with each other. The group stayed until 10 p.m., when they left in an utterly intoxicated state. The manager of the restaurant even called Harbor Patrol to make sure they reached their yacht safely.
Once on board, the three men began drinking heavily. According to a source, they got floor licking drunk. They also argued with each other over money, which is why the boat’s crew was so irritated when they saw them leave a half-hour before everyone else. The captain said he believed the argument had to do with Wagner’s jealousy of Walken, who was a successful actor in his own right.
The following day, the two men got back on the boat to watch a football game, but by then they were so drunk that they passed out. When they woke up, they found that Natalie was missing. They searched for her all night and drew a blank. They didn’t think she’d drowned, but they weren’t sure what to do.
When the police arrived to investigate, they found the dinghy in the water about a mile away from the yacht. They concluded that Wood must have jumped off the boat in an attempt to save herself. She was wearing a bathing suit and weighed about 90 pounds, so she likely fell into the water easily.
Walken has not spoken publicly about the death of his friend. However, he has said in the past that the argument between him and Wagner on the yacht was “ugly.” He has also been critical of the Los Angeles County coroner’s investigation. He believes that the authorities are trying to cover up what happened to his friend.
Robert Wagner
In the 1950s, Natalie Wood was a major movie star. The three-time Oscar nominee, who starred in West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, had taken Hollywood by storm with her larger-than-life presence on screen. Her glamorous offscreen life matched her fame, as she worked with American legends like John Ford and Elia Kazan and tied the knot with actor Robert Wagner. But all that came crashing down during one fateful weekend in Southern California.
After the three-day disappearance of the blonde beauty, investigators were faced with a gruesome mystery. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department ruled her death accidental, though forensic experts say she may have been killed first. But the case has remained open over the decades, with rumors of murder and conspiracy swirling around.
The reopening of the case in 2011 was prompted by a bombshell report that claimed that Natalie Wood had been murdered by her husband, and that Wagner knew more than he let on. The author takes a look at the evidence and finds numerous red flags. For example, he examines the evidence from the infamous interview with Splendour captain Dennis Davern and finds that his claims of a violent argument between Wagner and Walken on the back deck of the boat are contradictory.
He also cites the findings of forensic expert Dr. Christina Stanley, who explains why he believes the bruises found on Wood’s body were likely inflicted before her death. The book also explores a series of contradictions in the statements made by the police and other witnesses. The authors also explore attempts by Wagner and Walken to distance themselves from the blame with magazine interviews and books.
The book reveals how the couple’s fairy tale Hollywood marriage began to unravel even before her death. The book uncovers gossip and fan-magazine stories that alleged the pair’s marriage was a toxic mess of rage, jealousy, and infidelity. Eventually, this sparked a violent fight between the two. By the time it ended, the couple was estranged and Wagner was convinced that Natalie had cheated on him with his Brainstorm co-star Warren Beatty.