CA - Natalie Wood, 43, drowned off California coast, 29 Nov 1981

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  • #261
I thought perhaps all the bruises on her legs were from her attempt to get herself in the dinghy but since her socks were still on it was speculated that that wouldn't have been the case. Her socks would have come off. Also, I still think it is strange that the light didn't work on the dinghy. Natalie and Davern took the dinghy to shore the night before. It seems dangerous not to have a light...not only couldn't you see but others couldn't see you. And, why did RW want to move to a more secluded area the night before? A lot of things seem suspicious.

I forgot who brought this up but it was a very good point. Why would RW want to stay on the boat with CW if they didn't really get along, while his wife and the captain stayed ashore? Just to move the boat?

No matter what drug or drinking problems NW had, she certainly did not deserve to die!!
 
  • #262
Guardian's take on the Marilyn Wayne matter:

Natalie Wood case: witness feared for life
A potential witness in the reopened investigation into the death of Hollywood actor Natalie Wood claims to have been told to keep quiet if she "valued her life" in the days following the incident almost 30 years ago.

Stockbroker Marilyn Wayne's yacht was moored 50 yards from the boat on which Wood had been partying with husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken off Catalina island near Los Angeles. She says her family has never been interviewed by police.

"I had a 'client box' designed for clients to drop off their messages through a slot in the front," said Wayne in a statement. "Three days after Natalie died, I found a scribbled message on a torn piece of paper in my box that read, 'If you value your life, keep quiet about what you know'."
---
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more at link above
 
  • #263
  • #264
Plumeria5 said:
I thought perhaps all the bruises on her legs were from her attempt to get herself in the dinghy but since her socks were still on it was speculated that that wouldn't have been the case. Her socks would have come off. Also, I still think it is strange that the light didn't work on the dinghy. Natalie and Davern took the dinghy to shore the night before. It seems dangerous not to have a light...not only couldn't you see but others couldn't see you. And, why did RW want to move to a more secluded area the night before? A lot of things seem suspicious.

I forgot who brought this up but it was a very good point. Why would RW want to stay on the boat with CW if they didn't really get along, while his wife and the captain stayed ashore? Just to move the boat?

No matter what drug or drinking problems NW had, she certainly did not deserve to die!!
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I don't think anybody has said she deserved to die.

But when you look at the situation, you have 4 drunk people.

Not 3.

People who are intoxicated do not think the same as they would sober. So, IMO there are many things that could have happened that night.

With no physical evidence, how in the world will anybody ever be convicted for murder in this case?

The captain should have told the truth to begin with if there was a murder. It should not have taken him 30 years and a book.
All the evidence that MAY have been on that boat is long gone.
 
  • #265
  • #266
Plumeria5 said:
I thought perhaps all the bruises on her legs were from her attempt to get herself in the dinghy but since her socks were still on it was speculated that that wouldn't have been the case. Her socks would have come off. Also, I still think it is strange that the light didn't work on the dinghy. Natalie and Davern took the dinghy to shore the night before. It seems dangerous not to have a light...not only couldn't you see but others couldn't see you. And, why did RW want to move to a more secluded area the night before? A lot of things seem suspicious.

I forgot who brought this up but it was a very good point. Why would RW want to stay on the boat with CW if they didn't really get along, while his wife and the captain stayed ashore? Just to move the boat?

No matter what drug or drinking problems NW had, she certainly did not deserve to die!!
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After Natalie Wood she cooked breakfast, which she did after returning from Avalon the yacht was moved to the Isthmus. ...DID THEY MOVE THE BOAT THAT NIGHT IT SAID WHEN THEY BOTH RETURNED N AND D, RW AND CW WERE SUFFERING WITH A HANGOVER AFTER BEING ALONE ON THE BOAT ALL NIGHT. WHY DID DAVERNE FEEL HE HAD TO STAY WITH NATILIE ALL NIGHT .
 
  • #267
If she has the note would any DNA be detected on it.
 
  • #268
  • #269
Strange RW did not identify the body.
 
  • #270
Kimberlyd125 said:
I wonder if she still has the note. That would be physical evidence.
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It sounds like a brief note, but maybe they could analyze the handwriting or paper somehow-- if she still has it.
 
  • #271
kINGFISHER said:
After Natalie Wood she cooked breakfast, which she did after returning from Avalon the yacht was moved to the Isthmus. ...DID THEY MOVE THE BOAT THAT NIGHT IT SAID WHEN THEY BOTH RETURNED N AND D, RW AND CW WERE SUFFERING WITH A HANGOVER AFTER BEING ALONE ON THE BOAT ALL NIGHT. WHY DID DAVERNE FEEL HE HAD TO STAY WITH NATILIE ALL NIGHT .
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I don't believe they did move the boat. If they'd been in that secluded spot then possibly no one would have heard the screams (NOT saying that is why RW wanted to move it--maybe he just wanted more privacy ).
 
  • #272
Strange RW did not identify the body. LIKE HE DID NOT WANT TO FACE WHAT HE HAD JUST DONE, COWARD.
 
  • #273
Kimberlyd125 said:
From what I've read they were all drunk. So whose drunken statements are we to believe.
IMO anything could have happened.

NW may have tried to leave because they were arguing and in her drunken state, she thought leaving was a good idea. She could have stumbled, fell, hit her head, and drowned. Unfortunately we will never hear her statement.

RW in a drunken state may have made her leave. He may have hit her. He may have pushed her over. He says none of that happened.

The captain in a drunken state, could know nothing and is just trying to cash in on this story. He could have seen her fall and not helped. He could have tried to help. He could have seem RW push her.

WHO knows???? When you have 4 highly intoxicated people on a boat, and something goes horribly wrong, it's hard to know who to believe.

IMO there is no physical evidence that points to murder. IMO it's all statements from those who were there and could be trying to cover up something.

IMO this man (the captain) is 30 years too late if he wanted this solved.

Just my thoughts.
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bolded by me.

Exactly! Since they were all extremely drunk and/or high, none of their stories about what happened could very well be considered to be factual.

The only facts we have are things like: documented time of telephone calls, place where the boat was moored, time rescue people arrived at boat, time she was found and condition of her body (autopsy report), witnesses who heard screams, etc.

I believe that Davern has been trying to live with some secrets about it for the past 30 years but wasn't able to drink away the truth. No one is going to believe him, though. He's the one who gave them quaaludes the evening it happened so maybe he feels tremendous guilt about that, but I think there is something else, too. Unless he has sobered up in the past 2 years, he's not going to seem believable. (Apparently he was still drinking heavily when he wrote the book 2 years ago).

With people getting written death threats no wonder people waited so long to come forward. After all these years of drinking maybe Davern feels he's so wasted now, it doesn't matter anymore and wants to get things off his chest.
 
  • #274
Columbo said:
It sounds like a brief note, but maybe they could analyze the handwriting or paper somehow-- if she still has it.
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That's what I was thinking. Handwriting analysis.
 
  • #275
Columbo said:
I don't believe they did move the boat. If they'd been in that secluded spot then possibly no one would have heard the screams (NOT saying that is why RW wanted to move it--maybe he just wanted more privacy ).
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Or maybe he was too shaken up and didn't want to see her that way.

There are a lot of possibilities. Nothing about this story is cut and dry except NW drowned IMO.

There are so many variables.

Anything could have happened. I don't think anybody will ever know for sure.
 
  • #276
Columbo said:
Did anyone see Lana Wood on Today this morning? It was interesting, although she didn't say too much. She is very scared to have the case re-investigated. She has had "no relationship" with RW since her sister died. That's interesting--seems like most families would "circle the wagons" in the face of a tragedy like this...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/natalie-wood-death-robert-wagner-lana-264405
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I watched it this morning. I found it odd she didn't mention fear of water unless I missed it. She talked about the Captain still calls her and cries about how RW was miserable and he feels he let her down and that he is usually drinking when he does that. She said it's like he needs to unburden sometimes. I thought it odd that she had no relationship at all with RW and had known him for so many years. I personally just think RW is an a** and most likely threw her off the boat not in the literal sense but leave in the dinghy and turned and never looked back. But then again, other stories being told lighten that one for me but this death has always set my hinky meter off.
 
  • #277
The Captain also wanted to get into show business. RW got him roles on Hart to Hart. He also moved in with RW for a while. Then he accused RW of blackballing him and not being able to make it in Hollywood. Right. That's part of why it looks like a vindictive act to me.
 
  • #278
Chewy said:
BTW I keep seeing everyone mentioning her horrible fear of water.

Someone who is terrified of water the way everyone says usually doesn't buy a boat, and certainly doesn't go for dingy rides to the shore as she did earlier that night.

So I think the fear of water, while true has been somewhat exaggerated.
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Fears aren't always rational. I am terrified of heights, TERRIFIED. I can't go higher than the 4th rong of a ladder, will not do ferris wheels either. Yet, have no problem getting on an airplane:waitasec:

My parents always had a huge sailboat. I am fine as long as I can see the shoreline. PANIC sets in if I can't.

I have no idea how I or anyone else would behave all liqueured up taking 714's.
 
  • #279
Chewy,

Although I do not subscribe to the theory that RW intentionally caused Wood's death, and agree with some here who say it's unlikely new charges will be filed--I beg to differ with the claim of "no evidence" and the notion that posters are only speculating about the re-opened case based on internet rumor.

As I understand it, as verified by their own press conference, LAPD feels they have "new evidence" to consider in this case, and the declarations from the neighboring boater and the Coast Guard paramedic who recovered NW's body are a matter of record at this point. Actually, the neighbor's account of hearing a drowning woman's plea for help was reported at the time. Her account was simply not taken into account in the initial investigation.

If authorities think there is enough reason to re-investigate, who am I to argue? However, in terms of legal protocols, the challenges presented in dealing with a"cold
case," and the standards needed to be met to make criminal charges--much less make them stick--I am doubtful that justice will be served. Justice would be to have brought criminal negligence charges against the captain and RW for not alerting the Coast Guard as soon as they discovered Ms. Wood missing from the boat.
 
  • #280
Great post Sandrine, the thing is, the charges that were never filed should have been filed against the CAPTAIN for not following protocol. He is the only one who can be proven by his own confession to have broken a law and not been charged. RW had no legal obligation to do so, the captain did.

I will laugh my arse off if this happens but I doubt it will. Be he is the only one who legally 100 percent committed a crime.

I doubt it will happen though. But I hope the DA has the balls to do it.
 
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