For decades, Natalie Wood’s mysterious death off the coast has captivated the public. And now sheriff’s detectives are reopening the case.
The reexamination comes after Dennis Davern, the captain of the yacht where Wood died, changed his story about an argument between him and Christopher Walken the night she drowned. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Who Killed Natalie Wood.
As one of Hollywood’s most popular stars, Natalie Wood lived the American dream. Her larger-than-life presence on screen led to a thriving career and romantic conquests that included Elvis Presley. And, until that fateful weekend in 1981, she seemed to be living the Hollywood dream offscreen as well. But all of that ended on that desolate weekend.
When the story broke of her mysterious death, many believed foul play was involved. But over the years, nothing added up and no charges were ever filed. This book reopens the investigation and presents a new theory of what really happened to Natalie Wood on the night of her untimely death.
The author draws on the forensic evidence and the physical location of Wood’s body to propose a shocking conclusion that, if true, would suggest a crime was committed by someone with a vested interest in her death. He consults with an expert medical examiner, who sheds light on unexplained bruising on her legs and arms. He also reveals for the first time the confidential memorandum from boating expert Paul Miller to the LA county coroner, which sheds light on a key question: who took the controversial autopsy photos that have remained under lock and key until now.
He also focuses on the behavior of Wood’s husband, Robert Wagner, and her co-star in Splendor in the Grass, Christopher Walken, in the days immediately after the actress’s death. He demonstrates how their statements and actions create a trail of inconsistencies that suggest they both knew what had happened to her and that Wagner was responsible.
In addition, he revisits the evidence related to his own theory of what happened that night. He explains how his reinterpretation of the events leading up to and including the alleged argument between him and Wagner has been supported by a number of independent sources, including the restaurant manager who was aware of how drunk the group was at the time and the fact that Walken did not leave Wood alone in her cabin.
Finally, he analyzes the questionable investigation into the case and reveals for the first time the never-before-seen official probate file of Wood’s estate, which, when combined with a new analysis of the evidence, provides additional motives for a murder.
What Happened on the Boat?
The night before her death, Wood had spent several hours on a yacht with Wagner and Christopher Walken, co-star of her sci-fi film Brainstorm. According to interviews with the pair, they were inebriated. Afterward, she asked to be taken back to their home in Catalina, a town on an island off the southern coast of Los Angeles, by boat.
When she arrived at the docks, a few minutes after 8 p.m., the yacht was missing. A four-hour search found her body in the water. The coroner’s report noted she had suffered “fresh” scrapes and bruises, but no evidence of foul play was ever found.
Over the years, rumors have swirled about the circumstances of Wood’s death, but no one ever came close to concluding what happened to her. For many, her death remains the ultimate Hollywood mystery.
But after the investigation was closed in 1981, things started to get strange. Lana began to notice that she and her daughter were being ignored by Wagner, who favored his other co-stars. She also began to hear odd stories from Dennis Davern, the yacht’s captain. He would later write a testimonial that he overheard Wagner tell Walken he wanted to “f-k Natalie,” and that he stopped him from calling the Coast Guard for a missing person.
For a while, Lana ignored these red flags. But she soon realized she was being cut out of her daughter’s life. After she started selling some of her daughter’s clothing, Wagner threatened to sue. He would eventually start treating her with outright hostility and exclude her from his dinners.
When the sheriff’s department decided to reopen the case in 2011, Lana made an offer to do so, claiming she was convinced something had been hidden by the investigators. The reopening of the case uncovered inconsistencies in witness testimony and a number of holes in the original investigation. It also showed that some of the stories told by Wagner, Walken and Davern — who now lives in Jacksonville — had shifted over time, raising suspicions. The new book delves into those shifts, exposing attempts by them to distance themselves from blame with magazine interviews and books meant to shore up their shifting accounts of what actually occurred.
What Happened on the Beach?
When she drowned at age 43, Natalie Wood was one of Hollywood’s most alluring actresses. But her death remains one of its most mysterious, and in the decades since, many theories have sprung up. A new documentary called Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, based on the book by her sister Lana, examines the evidence to decide what really happened.
During the Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, Wood went on one of her frequent boat trips to Catalina Island on her husband, Robert Wagner, and her Brainstorm costar Christopher Walken, along with Dennis Davern, the captain of their yacht, The Splendour. The documentary reveals that she had invited multiple friends to join them, but they all declined citing less-than-ideal sailing weather. The only people aboard the yacht were Wood, Wagner and Davern.
The trio had a champagne-filled dinner at Doug’s Harbor Reef on Catalina before returning to the Splendour around 10:30 p.m. At that point, Wood began drinking heavily. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% when she died.
For a long time, police believed the cause of her death was accidental. But in 2013, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department changed her cause of death from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” This was because the initial autopsy didn’t take into account fresh bruises on her arms, knee and neck, which matched the bruises Wagner claimed to have found on his wife when he returned to the yacht after she disappeared.
However, over the years, witnesses’ accounts shifted, raising suspicions of foul play. Most notably, Wagner and the captain’s accounts of what happened on deck the night before her death shifted. Wagner at first said that Wood slipped off the back of the yacht while trying to re-tie her dinghy, then drowned. Later, he told an interviewer he fought with his wife and she fell into the water because of that argument.
The reopening of the case brought more questions than answers, and though detectives have interviewed more than 100 people, they say no major break has been made. They did, however, name Wagner as a person of interest in his wife’s death. The sheriff’s department didn’t return a call from The Record on Friday to clarify why investigators are now focusing their attention on him.
What Happened to Her Body?
When Natalie Wood died in chilly Pacific Ocean waters on November 29, 1981, fans and the press were desperate for answers as to what happened. She had spent the night drinking on a yacht with her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken while filming their sci-fi movie Brainstorm. The next morning, her body was discovered floating in a Catalina Island cove. It was dressed in a long nightgown, socks, and jacket. She had fresh bruises and a scrape on her neck.
The initial autopsy determined she drowned due to an accident. Her lungs were filled with seawater and her airway was obstructed by foamy water, the coroner explained. But a subsequent investigation based on new forensics indicated the bruises might have been inflicted before her death. They also raised doubts about the cause and timing of a rash on her upper body, which was never analyzed by the original lab.
Wagner and Walken have both spoken about the night of her death, but their stories don’t quite add up. In a 2008 memoir, Wagner wrote that the two had argued that night. He said he went to sleep afterward and when he woke up, he saw that his wife was missing. He believed she got up to retie their rubber Zodiac dinghy and accidentally fell into the water, but he also noted that she was not a great swimmer.
Bruises and scratches on her neck and head suggested that she might have been assaulted prior to her death, but the evidence was inconclusive, and no charges were filed against anyone. Wagner and Walken were both questioned multiple times on the matter, but their accounts of what happened that night didn’t always match up.
Since her death, Wood’s sister Lana has accused Wagner of treating her with outright hostility before and after her death. She claims that he would exclude her from dinner parties and other social events, and even drag her mother through the media when she sold some of Natalie’s clothes. Wagner has denied the allegations in public statements, but he did admit that they had fought on the night of her death in his book Pieces of My Heart.
