Actor Robert Wagner Not a Suspect in Natalie Wood's Death

Actor Robert Wagner Not a Suspect in Natalie Wood's Death

gawker.com

Everyone knows that the authorities have reopened the case of actress Natalie Wood's 1981 drowning death, which is officially still classified as an accident. The police held a press conference in LA today and announced that her husband, Robert Wagner, is not a suspect.

The police said that, "We have several sources coming forward with additional information and we have found it credible enough to take another look at the case."

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article goes on to say :

They didn't say whether or not one of those was the ship's captain, Dennis Davern, who is telling anyone that will listen that Wagner did it. He's even on Nancy Grace tonight.

Despite what the article says had no idea that the police had reopened this case. This article really interests me because i was reading up on this mystery for the first time just a few months ago.

For those of you that dont know 30 years ago Christopher Walken was a guest on a boat with Robert Wagner and his wife Natalie Wood. It was reported that Natalie Wood had been flirting quite openly with Christopher Walken earlier in the night. Then they went back to the boat got drunk together, then at some point during the night Natalie drowned. There has always been a mystery about how it happened. Was it murder, suicide or just a terrible accident?

People might remember Robert Wagner as the guy with the eye patch on Austin Powers:


In the past the captain of the boat (mr Davern) had indicated that there had been a massive drunken row between Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner :

"I made some terrible decisions and mistakes," Davern told NBC News' David Gregory. "I did lie on a report several years ago." He added, "I made mistakes by not telling the honest truth in a police report."

The circumstances of her death remain one of Hollywood's enduring mysteries and continue to create renewed intrigue, with homicide detectives unexpectedly announcing Thursday that they were reopening a case that had long been classified as an accident.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's detective will speak to reporters Friday about the decision to take another look at the Oscar-nominated actress' nighttime demise in the chilly waters off Southern California on Nov. 29, 1981.

Wood drowned after spending several hours drinking on Catalina Island and on a yacht with Wagner, Walken and Davern.

“Was the fight between Natalie Wood and her husband Robert Wagner what ultimately led to her death?” the "Today" show's Gregory asked.

“Yes,” Davern replied.

“How so?”

“Like I said, that's going to be up to the investigators to decide,” the captain said.

Davern said he believes Wagner had intentionally kept the investigation into Wood's death low-profile and didn't do everything he could have done. When Gregory pressed Davern for supporting details, the captain said that was the duty of investigators.

Source

gawker.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah I remember this story from when my Dad told me about it years ago.

I always thought it sounded as if Wagner did it, but of course thats just a sense.

I guess there was a good reason she was so afraid of water her entire life.....just like Richie Valens was always afraid of airplanes.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I vaguely remember this and some of the details. I think I was in 3rd grade, young.

So if the authorities are reopening the case, and stating that her husband was not a suspect, or person of interest...

Who else was on the boat besides her, her husband, Christopher Walken, and the Captain of the boat?

One is dead, one is not a suspect, one is the reason they reopened the case, right?

Does that mean Christopher Walken is a suspect?

Does that mean Christopher Walken is a suspect?

Well the police very quickly said at the end of the video that he is not a suspect but apparently Dennis Davern the captain is still claiming Wagner was the cause.

Wait a minute....I was under the impression that they reopened the case because the ship captain told police that Wagner was responsible. If Wagner is not a suspect, then why was the case reopened?

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Im not on any of those peoples christmas card list....dead is dead, why does it have to occupy my space now?

Originally posted by Aggie Man
Wait a minute....I was under the impression that they reopened the case because the ship captain told police that Wagner was responsible. If Wagner is not a suspect, then why was the case reopened?

I'm thinking the police or district attorney are not yet ready to call Wagner a suspect publicly. He may just be a person of interest, but they are not saying that either, to my knowledge.

He is the suspect.They are just not saying it as of yet.After all, this is jonathon heart.Heart to heart.

I want to know what evidence suddenly pops up after 30 years.

Originally posted by ILikeStars

Originally posted by Aggie Man
Wait a minute....I was under the impression that they reopened the case because the ship captain told police that Wagner was responsible. If Wagner is not a suspect, then why was the case reopened?

I'm thinking the police or district attorney are not yet ready to call Wagner a suspect publicly. He may just be a person of interest, but they are not saying that either, to my knowledge.

Yeah, that is my gut feeling too. My gut is also telling me that there is no way Wagner will be charged with anything. After all, the ship captain falsely reported to police decades ago when recounting the incident...assuming he is telling the truth now. I don't think the D.A. would touch this case with a 10-foot pole. All the prosecutor would have is the captain's testimony...and the defense would shred his credibility....especially since he wrote a book about it.

This case cant be won a prosecutor.It is impossible.I will tell you why.If Robert Wagner pushed her into the water and she drowned,he probably did not mean to kill her.Even if he admitted he pushed her and she fell off the boat,it would be a negligent homicide.The statue of limitations has run out on that crime.It is too late to make a case out of it.Case closed,even with an admission.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
I want to know what evidence suddenly pops up after 30 years.

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.

In a lengthy interview with CNN in 2010, Davern said he now believes the investigation of Wood's death was incompetent and suggested there was a cover-up. He said he regrets misleading investigators by keeping quiet at Wagner's request.

Wagner admitted his jealousy in his book "Pieces of My Heart," also published in September 2009. He acknowledged that there had been a fight with Wood, writing that he smashed a wine bottle on a table.

After Wagner argued with Walken and broke the wine bottle, Wood left in disgust and went to her stateroom, Davern told CNN last year. Walken also retired to a guest room, Davern added, and Wagner followed his wife to their room. A few minutes later, Davern said, he could hear the couple fighting.

Embarrassed, Davern said he turned up the volume on his stereo. At one point, Davern recalled, he glanced out of the pilot house window and saw both Wagner and Wood on the yacht's aft deck. "They'd moved their fight outside ... you could tell from their animated gestures they were still arguing," he said.

A short time later, Wagner, appearing to be distraught, told Davern he couldn't find Wood. Davern searched the boat but couldn't find her. He noticed the rubber dinghy also was missing.

Wagner shrugged and poured them both drinks, Davern said. He suggested his wife had probably gone off in a temper.

www.cnn.com...

....there is much more in this story....follow the link for the rest...too much to quote

Originally posted by brindle
He is the suspect.They are just not saying it as of yet.After all, this is jonathon heart.Heart to heart.

LMAO I actually watched that show when I was a kid....well, my mom did; therefore, it was that or nothing.

Anyway, I like to think of Robert Wagner as "Number 2"

reply to post by Aggie Man


Thank you for posting that information. But I don't see how an account from a captain, 30 years later, after lying, is any kind of evidence to change the course of things.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

Thank you for posting that information. But I don't see how an account from a captain, 30 years later, after lying, is any kind of evidence to change the course of things.

I don't see it either. This morning, when I read that article I wondered "why in the heck would they reopen the case based upon this information"....then, reading that Wagner is not a suspect, I am not just left wondering why the case was reopened, but also wondering why in the heck was this even newsworthy....Now I'm wondering if there is there a Natalie Wood bluray gift set due to be released for the holidays...AND is this a way to boost interest & sales of that release.

Heres the latest detail about why its being reopened





Whats intriguing about this case is that there are so many possibilities as to what happened.

- She could have slipped.
- She could have committed suicide.
- She could have tried to leave in the smaller boat and then fell overboard and drowned.
- Robert could have made her leave in the smaller boat and then she fell in.
- Robert could have pushed her in the water.
- Robert could have killed her and dumped her in the water.

The chances of her trying to leave in the tiny boat are small because she was afraid of the water, unless she was afraid for her life or being beaten at that point. The way i see it , it would have been hard for her to fall in the water and Robert not have seen it happen.

From the CNN article:

The autopsy report shows that Wood had two dozen bruises on her body, including an abrasion on her left cheek and bruises on her arms. Davern said he saw no bruises when the actress was aboard.

Natalie Wood may have gotten that abrasion on her cheek in an accidental fall from the boat, maybe a bruise or two, but that many bruises? I'm not a medical expert, but I believe that much bruising to her body would not have had time to occur in the amount of time she had left after falling into the water, had she sustained them in the fall. Additionally, there are few causes for that kind of bruising other than being repeatedly hit & grabbed at by someone.

I remember when the news of her death originally broke; no additional information has ever surfaced until now. I've never believed she committed suicide, but don't want to speculate further into what may have actually happened based on what is currently known publicly.

I will be very interested in any new results from the reopened investigation. For those who brought up the "dead is dead, why all this now" stuff, many people remember Natalie Wood as a sweet kid who hit it big, deservedly, & later as a lovely woman who never seemed to let her fame get the better of her. Given the circumstances of her death, & as a matter of opinion, many people feel that she deserved better in the form of an inquiry than she received.

The boat captain resembles Christopher Walken in a bad "cave man lawyer" disguise on SNL...what the hell?

If Miss Wood was deathly afraid of water, I really don't see her teetering off the back of the boat in an attempt to "hop" into the rubber dinghy, in the middle of the night no less.

She was fighting with her spouse. Last they were seen was near the back of the boat, he was drunk and angry. A witness in another boat heard a woman calling out for "help". Wood had 25 different bruises on her body and scrapes on her face.

If I had to guess, I'd say Wagner was angry and got physical with her. The rumor was that she and Walken might have had a fling on the set of the current movie they were fiming. Wagner was drunk and yelling about Walken wanting to "F&^#% his wife. Because Wagner was so was drunk, he let it go too far, maybe flung her into the dinghy as a "take that" knowing she was scared to death of water and being tossed out onto the dinghy would be terrifying. I doubt he meant for her to drown, but she did, and he was drunk enough to not realize he went to far until it was too late.

Or she decided to try and get over her fear of water by jumping into a rubber dinghy in the middle of the night, fell in such a way that created 25 bruises all over her body, and lacerations on her face... floated in the water while calling for help and nobody on her boat heard her ( but someone else in another boat did) and she drowned. Seems kind of odd.

However, Walken has hired an attorney. Who really knows. Either way, I don't see new charges being brought. Though the "new" info is probably true, I think this was mainly an effort to fuel book sales.

We'll never know.