Posted on 11/17/2011 5:25:50 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
After reviewing the death of famed actress Natalie Wood Wagner in 1981, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department ruled it accidental.
Now authorities are reopening the case, according to an announcement from the department issued late Thursday afternoon.
"Recently Sheriff's Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning," according to the LASD.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbclosangeles.com ...
Book Triggered Homicide Investigation -
Natalie Wood’s death has been reopened as a homicide investigation, primarily because of a book written by the captain of the boat where Natalie Wood spent her last minutes ... a book suggesting foul play ... this according to sources close to the investigation.
We’ve learned Marti Rulli — who co-authored the book — has been in regular touch with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. over the last few months. She has given Sheriff’s investigators documents supporting material in her book, and we’re told the Sheriff is so impressed he has assigned 2 full-time homicide detectives to the case.
In the book — “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour” — Rulli and Splendour Captain Dennis Davern write about the night Natalie drowned. They say before Natalie disappeared from the boat, she was drinking and taking Quaaludes with her husband, Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.
According to the book, Wagner became enraged when he saw Wood and Walken speaking, and smashed a wine bottle, yelling at Walken, “What do you want to do, f**k my wife? Is that what you want?”
At that point, Walken returned to his cabin and Natalie and Robert went to their state room. According to the Captain, he heard a loud argument between the couple and thumping sounds, and eventually silence.
A short time later, the Captain went to the deck and was told by Wagner, “Natalie is missing.”
The book claims Wagner refused to let the Captain call the Coast Guard.
http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/17/natalie-wood-homicide-book-investigation/#.TsXLw_LhdH8
Could be the captain is in a similar situation. Something’s got him talking after all these years.
I remember seeing the movie Brainstorm shortly after her death: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/
That’s the one good thing about getting older is that what mattered when you were younger, matters not when you’re older.
I always blamed Stefanie Powers myself.
Strange and horrible to say, but every time I see Wagner on a TV show or a commercial, I immediately wonder if he may have caused her death. Am I the only one?
She looks a little bit like Katie Holmes there.
I think it every time I see him.
I wonder the same thing about William Shatner.
GOSH, am so very sorry. :(
Natalie Wood once said in a televised interview that her greatest fear was of dark seawater. On November 29, 1981, she drowned in the Pacific Ocean off the isthmus of Catalina Island.
Wood’s body was found floating in the water about a mile away from the yacht.
According to police reports, Wood was found wearing a long nightgown, socks, and a down jacket.
The autopsy report shows Wood had two dozen bruises on her body, including a facial abrasion on her left cheek, and bruises on her arms.
“My sister was not a swimmer and did not know how to swim, and she would never go to another boat or to shore dressed in a nightgown and socks,” said Lana Wood.
Although the county coroner’s office ruled that Wood’s death was an accident, others say the case hasn’t made sense.
In 2010, Lana Wood told CNN she believes a highly charged argument between her sister and husband on the yacht’s back deck preceded Wood’s drowning. She told CNN last year she does not suspect foul play.
“I just want the truth to come out, the real story,” she said last year.
Dennis Davern, the former captain of the yacht Splendour broke his long silence with a detailed account in “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,” a book he wrote with his friend Marti Rulli. It was published in September 2009.
Davern has said he believes Wood’s death was a direct result of the fight with Wagner.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/17/justice/california-natalie-wood/index.html
I love that movie. I wish it was shown on TV more often.
I don’t think he purposely caused her death. I believe there was a fight and an ungodly amount of alcohol consumed leading to her accidental drowning.
An alcohol and cocaine fueled party on a boat is one of the best ways to off oneself, axidentally or on poipose!
I always thought Natalie was the most beautiful actress ever. Her beauty was perfect. Now there’s another one from Russia I think is perfect.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000170/
What’s in that Russian water?
That reverse mortgage may come in handy when it’s time to look for a lawyer.
I heard she slipped and fell because she was drunk. Sad ending, nevertheless.
I fell in love with Chulpan Khamatova after watching "Goodbye, Lenin."
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