Sheriff reopens investigation into Natalie Wood drowning

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has re-opened its investigation into the 1981 death of actress Natalie Wood, one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries.

Officials had ruled that her drowning death while boating off Santa Catalina Island was an accident.

But there has been much speculation about what happened in the boat.
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''Recently, sheriff's homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning. Due to the additional information, Sheriff's homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case,'' the department said in a written statement.

Wood and Robert Wagner first married in 1957 and divorced five years later.

Both went on to marry other people - and have children - only to remarry in 1972.

In 1981, Wagner and Wood had invited Christopher Walken to be their guest on that Thanksgiving weekend on Catalina aboard their boat the Splendour.

On the evening of November 29, they had dinner and drinks at Doug's Harbour Reef.

They returned to the boat and continued to drink until a heated argument erupted between the two men.

Wagner said in 2008 that the argument was about how much of one's personal life should be sacrificed in pursuit of a career. He was upset that Walken was advocating that Wood give all to her art, even at the expense of her husband and children.

Wood left to go to the master cabin's bathroom. Wagner says he and Walken eventually calmed down and said good night. When he went to bed, he says, Wood wasn't there. It was believed that the dinghy had become loose and Wood came up on deck to tie it up.

''I have gone over it so many millions of times with people,'' Wagner said.

''Nobody heard anything.''

- Los Angeles Times

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/sheriff-reopens-investigation-into-natalie-wood-drowning-20111118-1nmfi.html#ixzz1e2PhRy2s

AnnaEsse wrote:The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has re-opened its investigation into the 1981 death of actress Natalie Wood, one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries.

Officials had ruled that her drowning death while boating off Santa Catalina Island was an accident.

But there has been much speculation about what happened in the boat.
Advertisement: Story continues below

''Recently, sheriff's homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning. Due to the additional information, Sheriff's homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case,'' the department said in a written statement.

Wood and Robert Wagner first married in 1957 and divorced five years later.

Both went on to marry other people - and have children - only to remarry in 1972.

In 1981, Wagner and Wood had invited Christopher Walken to be their guest on that Thanksgiving weekend on Catalina aboard their boat the Splendour.

On the evening of November 29, they had dinner and drinks at Doug's Harbour Reef.

They returned to the boat and continued to drink until a heated argument erupted between the two men.

Wagner said in 2008 that the argument was about how much of one's personal life should be sacrificed in pursuit of a career. He was upset that Walken was advocating that Wood give all to her art, even at the expense of her husband and children.

Wood left to go to the master cabin's bathroom. Wagner says he and Walken eventually calmed down and said good night. When he went to bed, he says, Wood wasn't there. It was believed that the dinghy had become loose and Wood came up on deck to tie it up.

''I have gone over it so many millions of times with people,'' Wagner said.

''Nobody heard anything.''

- Los Angeles Times

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/sheriff-reopens-investigation-into-natalie-wood-drowning-20111118-1nmfi.html#ixzz1e2PhRy2s

Snap AnnaEsse, I was just about to paste another report on this. There was always a bit of a mystery about how Natalie Wood died,
no mention about the additional information, after all this time , but it must be important to re-open the case.

Panda wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has re-opened its investigation into the 1981 death of actress Natalie Wood, one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries.

Officials had ruled that her drowning death while boating off Santa Catalina Island was an accident.

But there has been much speculation about what happened in the boat.
Advertisement: Story continues below

''Recently, sheriff's homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning. Due to the additional information, Sheriff's homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case,'' the department said in a written statement.

Wood and Robert Wagner first married in 1957 and divorced five years later.

Both went on to marry other people - and have children - only to remarry in 1972.

In 1981, Wagner and Wood had invited Christopher Walken to be their guest on that Thanksgiving weekend on Catalina aboard their boat the Splendour.

On the evening of November 29, they had dinner and drinks at Doug's Harbour Reef.

They returned to the boat and continued to drink until a heated argument erupted between the two men.

Wagner said in 2008 that the argument was about how much of one's personal life should be sacrificed in pursuit of a career. He was upset that Walken was advocating that Wood give all to her art, even at the expense of her husband and children.

Wood left to go to the master cabin's bathroom. Wagner says he and Walken eventually calmed down and said good night. When he went to bed, he says, Wood wasn't there. It was believed that the dinghy had become loose and Wood came up on deck to tie it up.

''I have gone over it so many millions of times with people,'' Wagner said.

''Nobody heard anything.''

- Los Angeles Times

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/sheriff-reopens-investigation-into-natalie-wood-drowning-20111118-1nmfi.html#ixzz1e2PhRy2s

Snap AnnaEsse, I was just about to paste another report on this. There was always a bit of a mystery about how Natalie Wood died,
no mention about the additional information, after all this time , but it must be important to re-open the case.

I wasn't surprised to see that the case had been reopened. There has always been that mystery around the drowning.

Yes, it was always suspicious.

Morning Panda, thanks for this.
Imo this reads to me like the Authorities are just following their rules, if they were saying this at the end of the inquiry, then yes I would believe it, but when its said at the beginning I don't, could it be that the Ploice just want to settle the media down to stop them getting to excitied.
I would put my Grandmothers house on it that Wagner is a suspect, this kind of denial always reminds me of the PM always giving their full support of any "naughty" MP's then the following week they are sacked

Time will tell.....
The only thing I dont quite understand is the person coming forward after 30 years, what stopped them 28/9 years ago?

Lillyofthevalley wrote:Morning Panda, thanks for this.
Imo this reads to me like the Authorities are just following their rules, if they were saying this at the end of the inquiry, then yes I would believe it, but when its said at the beginning I don't, could it be that the Ploice just want to settle the media down to stop them getting to excitied.
I would put my Grandmothers house on it that Wagner is a suspect, this kind of denial always reminds me of the PM always giving their full support of any "naughty" MP's then the following week they are sacked

Time will tell.....
The only thing I dont quite understand is the person coming forward after 30 years, what stopped them 28/9 years ago?

Morning LillyoftheValley,

I think it is the skipper of the Boat who has written a book about it who is claiming that Natalies"s death was not an accident. Robert
Wagner says it was, but I do question the skipper.........why bring it up after all these years and is the book writing recent?

Panda I remember my Mother speaking of this case at the time it happened, she was sure that something was very suspicious about this case, and said that she had read that they had a very volatile relationship, but without her input I remember thinking (I was 23 at the time) that Wagner just didn't seem like he was truly that upset about his wife's death, and remember him laughing not long after (or was it that we could have had another narcissistic personality).

Lillyofthevalley wrote:Panda I remember my Mother speaking of this case at the time it happened, she was sure that something was very suspicious about this case, and said that she had read that they had a very volatile relationship, but without her input I remember thinking (I was 23 at the time) that Wagner just didn't seem like he was truly that upset about his wife's death, and remember him laughing not long after (or was it that we could have had another narcissistic personality).

I suppose the fact that they divorced and remarried 5 years later suggests it was a stormy marriage........what I do not understand is who is bringing this up and why, the Sheriff is still saying Wagner is not under suspicion......could it have been Christopher Walken?