Natalie Wood death inquiry reopened
Police in Los Angeles say they will reopen the file on the death of film star Natalie Wood after new evidence from the captain of the boat from which she was said to have fallen.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that murder squad detectives will re-examine an investigation into the drowning three decades ago of film star Natalie Wood, after new information was given to them. The news follows a campaign by author Marti Rulli for the case to be reopened.
“Recently sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the department said in a statement.
The body of Wood, 43, was found floating in a cove at Catalina Island, southern California, in 1981. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning by the Los Angeles county coroner.
The star of Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story had spent the night before dining and drinking on the island and on a yacht with her husband, television star Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken.
Allegations in a book on the death co-written by Ms Rulli and the captain of the boat state Wagner and Wood had a row after Wagner accused Mr Walken of flirting with his wife.
The captain claims to have heard thumping sounds “and eventually, silence”. Later, the captain claims, Wagner told him Wood was missing.
Petition
Ms Rulli carried out her own investigation, culminating in the launch of a petition to the LAPD to get the case reopened.
A spokesman for Wagner said the actor’s family had not been contacted by the sheriff’s officials but “fully supports” the department’s efforts.
Celebrity website TMZ quoted a statement from Mr Wagner’s family saying it “trusted” that the evidence would be evaluated to establish that it came from “a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of [Natalie Wood’s] tragic death”
Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Russian immigrant parents in San Francisco, appeared as a child in such films as the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
She was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar as a teenager for her role opposite James Dean in the classic 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.
Wood was nominated twice for best actress Oscars, for parts in 1961’s Splendor in the Grass and Love with the Proper Stranger two years later. She never won the award.