The sudden death of Natalie Wood, clad in a flannel nightgown and down jacket, on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 off the coast of California’s Catalina Island remains one of Hollywood’s most controversial unsolved mysteries.
A new look at bruises found on her body and the changing accounts of her husband, Robert Wagner, and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken raised suspicions, and prompted authorities to reopen the case in 2013. But was foul play involved? Keep reading the article below to learn more about Natalie Wood Murder.
In November of 1981, Natalie Wood drowned off the coast of California’s Catalina Island. Her death was ruled an accident, but speculation about foul play persists to this day. She was 43 and had been drinking. She was on a boat, the Splendour, with her husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. Officially, she slipped and fell into the water. But her body was recovered the next morning a mile away from the boat, in a rubber dinghy.
For decades, this case was a mystery wrapped in a scandalous Hollywood story. Tabloid speculation, countless celebrity TV shows and movies have tried to make sense of what happened to the actress with the luminous brown eyes. In 2019, her oldest daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, released a powerful HBO documentary on her mother’s death.
This book, written by award-winning journalist Sam Perroni, takes a fresh look at this case with never-before-released documents and interviews with witnesses and experts. The author uncovers new evidence that proves the official narrative about Wood’s death was a lie from the beginning. He also reveals how powerful Hollywood insiders suppressed the truth for over four decades.
One of the most shocking revelations in this book is that Wagner was aware of the danger to his wife, and he did nothing about it. One of the investigators interviewed for this book tells how he heard from a source that after a night out with Wagner and his friend Walken, that Natalie was afraid that her husband would kill her. He says that she ran to a neighbor’s house, banging on the door and screaming, “He’s going to kill me.” The man who took her in said that she was crying for help and asked for food.
Another revelation that emerges is that Wood’s body was found in the kelp line, and the dinghy she was in bore scratch marks on its side. The investigators who retrieved her body believed that she had jumped off the boat after an argument with Wagner and that she was trying to get into the dinghy to escape. But the author interviews a forensic expert who explains that there was no way that her body could have made those scratch marks.
Why Did She Die?
After her sudden death, Natalie Wood was the subject of intense speculation and conspiracy theories. She was a beautiful, glamorous Hollywood icon who rose to stardom at a young age, with leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and Rebel Without a Cause, and received Academy Award nominations for Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. She had a long-term relationship with actor Robert Wagner and the couple had two daughters together. Her sudden, unexplained death has haunted Tinsel Town for more than four decades.
The initial conclusion was accidental drowning, based on the medical examiner’s office citing bruises on her body that were likely from falling on the yacht’s dinghy and scratches on the dinghy itself, which was consistent with Wood’s attempt to board it. The autopsy also found high levels of alcohol in her blood, and a close examination of her bruises indicated that she was assaulted before her death.
In 2011, police reopened the investigation into Wood’s death after the boat captain, Davern, wrote a book claiming that he and Wood had argued about flirting with Walken on the night of her death and that Wagner was enraged by it. The coroner’s office then changed her cause of death to accidental drowning and other undetermined factors, bringing the case back into the spotlight.
Throughout the book, the author consults with experts in a variety of fields to examine the evidence and explore possibilities about her death. He begins by exploring the known forensics with the expert who conducted the original autopsy, the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner of the State of Rhode Island, Dr. Christina Stanley. She debunks many of the forensics touted by the media and various book authors, including Dr. Thomas Noguchi, regarding Wood’s drowning death.
He then talks to a forensic pharmacologist, who addresses Wood’s ingestion of prescribed medications and shows how her toxicology results help to pinpoint the actual time of death. He also discusses the physics of cold-water hypothermia with a noted expert on the subject, and dispels theories that have been advanced by various experts, law enforcement officers, and other authors.
Who Killed Natalie Wood?
The case of Natalie Wood has fascinated and captivated the public for over four decades. Her sudden death at age 43 left many questions unanswered. The mystery has been complicated by conflicting stories from those who knew her best. There have been innumerable tabloid articles and gossipy celebrity TV segments that have attempted to cast doubt upon what really happened. In 2020, Wood’s daughter from her second marriage released the HBO documentary, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, which aimed to dispel many of the myths surrounding her tragic death and offer a clear-eyed look at what is known as well as what remains unknown about it.
Throughout the years, Wood’s sister Lana, boat captain Davern and authorities have offered different theories of what really happened to the actress. One of the most widely believed is that Wagner was to blame for her death. In fact, the case was reopened in 2011 and Wagner was named as a person of interest.
In this book, a former prosecutor who specialized in white-collar crime and complex criminal cases examines what is known about the case and what reasonable inferences can be drawn. He applies actual California legal principles to the case in order to allow the reader to decide whether the evidence reveals a simple accident or a chilling murder.
The author begins by discussing the forensic evidence that is known with his expert, former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Christina Stanley, who discusses the likely cause of unexplained bruising on Natalie’s back and the probable timing of it; the possible meaning and significance of a scratch in her throat near the center line, which could have been made by a fingernail or thumbnail; and the probable cause and timing of a large right forearm contusion that could have been caused by a defensive wound.
The author then discusses what is known about the timeline of events leading up to the night of Natalie’s death. He then reveals a never-before-heard autopsy report that will change everything you thought you knew about the case. Finally, the author outlines the different scenarios that could have led to the death of Natalie Wood and offers a powerful hypothetical closing argument by the prosecution based on what is known about the case.
Was She Drowned?
The death of Natalie Wood, a beautiful movie star who had reached her zenith as an actress in classics such as West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, remains one of Hollywood’s great mysteries. Wood drowned on November 29, 1981, while boating with her husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken off the coast of Catalina Island in California. Her body was found about six hours later, floating face down in the ocean. She was 43. At the time, the cause of her death was ruled accidental drowning.
In the years after her death, a number of investigators sifted through evidence to try to determine what actually happened. The prevailing theory was that Wood fell off the yacht and struggled in the water to get back on, resulting in bruising and scratch marks on her body. However, many doubts have lingered, not the least of which is that fresh bruises were seen on Wood’s body just two days before her death.
For decades, fans of the actress demanded answers. Many hoped to know if she had been murdered, and if so, why. Others simply wanted to see that a full and fair investigation was conducted. This was no easy task, especially given that, for the most part, both Wagner and Walken kept quiet about her death.
Even when people began to speak out, there were few clues about what really happened on that fateful weekend. For instance, in 2009, Davern published a book in which he said that he heard Wagner and Wood fighting in the cabin before she disappeared. But he did not reveal how he knew, and there is no proof that his version of events is true.
Now, after nearly five years of investigation, Sam Perroni has uncovered stunning new evidence in the case of Natalie Wood’s untimely and mysterious death. By approaching the investigation like a prosecutor would — using forensic, direct, and circumstantial evidence to build a strong case for prosecution — he makes it possible for readers to decide whether the actress’s death was a murder or a chilling accident.