For 40 years, rumors and speculation about what happened to Natalie Wood on that dark November night off Catalina Island have surrounded her death.
Dennis Davern, the captain of the Splendour, has spoken out over the years, including in a 1992 Geraldo Rivera special and a 2000 Vanity Fair piece. Keepr reading the article below to learn more about Who Killed Natalie Wood.
In life, Natalie Wood was one of Hollywood’s most alluring actresses, but she died an ignominious death. While she starred in movies like “Gypsy,” “West Side Story” and “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” her acting career stalled after her marriage to Richard Gregson ended in 1972. Despite her best efforts, she could no longer get good roles and found herself drifting toward the fringes of celebrity.
She was 43 when she died. Wood’s enigmatic life and death have left her a mystery to many, but the truth is that we may never know what really happened. Initially, police ruled her death a suicide; they believed that she had taken off in her dinghy, slipped under the stern and drowned. But over the years, the original investigation has been reopened numerous times, and a series of changing accounts by the boat captain, Wood’s sister Lana, and innumerable sensational tabloid articles have cast doubt on what truly took place.
The new investigation was launched after a few dozen people called the Sheriff Department to report seeing the dinghy floating in the water, which is a popular destination for boaters and surfers. A dinghy was found washed up a short distance away from the yacht, but investigators were still not convinced that it was Wood’s. She had relatively fresh bruises on her arms and legs, and the dinghy was missing the ignition and oars; scratch marks on its sides suggested someone else’s handiwork.
In addition to reopening the case, police sought out Doug Bombard, a local fisherman who had been fishing near the location where the dinghy was found. Bombard began checking kelp lines and following a tidal stream, and eventually spotted a red object – a down jacket containing the body of Wood, clad in a flannel nightgown. Bombard alerted the Coast Guard, who recovered her body from the water at 8am the next day. An autopsy showed that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.14 and had traces of motion sickness medication and pain killers in her system.
Who Was on the Boat?
In November 1981, Natalie Wood was spending a weekend on the yacht of her husband, Robert Wagner, moored in the secluded Isthmus of Catalina Island. She had brought along her co-star in the film Brainstorm and the boat’s skipper, Dennis Davern. Wagner, who was a professional seaman, also had a personal relationship with Davern, whom he recruited to deliver his yacht from Florida to California.
According to a 2011 story from The Record, when the case was first reopened, the skipper said that Wood and Wagner got into an argument over him driving the boat at night. “She didn’t want him drivin’ the boat, particularly at this time of night,” Davern told The Record. “It’s not safe to do that.”
She then demanded he take her back to shore in the dinghy, which was still docked at Avalon. According to him, she wanted to go ashore because she was too drunk to return to the yacht on her own. He refused and that’s when she allegedly slipped and drowned.
Various explanations have been offered for her death. Some, like a 2009 book by Marti Rulli and Davern titled Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, allege that Wagner pushed her off the boat. Davern appeared on Megyn Kelly’s Today show in 2012, where he repeated his account of the incident, claiming that Wagner held him hostage to keep him from telling police the truth.
Other explanations, including the one put forth by the boat’s owner, Bill Bombard, have focused on the bruising and scrapes found on her body. The bruises were allegedly caused by Wagner beating her, while the scratches could have been made with his teeth or fingernails.
But a former chief medical examiner says those wounds and other details don’t add up to murder. He also says that the dinghy in which she was found had been in the water for a long time.
For decades, many people wanted answers to the mysterious case of Natalie Wood. But for 40 years, speculative stories were all they got. Now, the case is reopening again, and fingers are pointed squarely at Wagner.
What Happened to the Boat?
In the years following Wood’s death, many have attempted to change the official account of what happened to her. In his 2008 memoir, Wagner claimed that he lost control of the boat after an argument with Wood and that she accidentally fell into the water as she was re-tying the dinghy that had been banging against the Splendour. The skipper, Davern, denied this in a 2010 interview with USA Today and said that Wagner had prevented him from turning on the search lights or notifying authorities.
Despite the claims of various people who have speculated about what really happened to Natalie Wood, there are few forensic details available that can help to shed light on her death. In this episode of Crash Course, we speak with an expert in forensics who can discuss the possible cause of unexplained bruising on the back of her legs; the cause and timing of a large right forearm contusion; and a scratch in the midline of her throat that could have been caused by a thumbnail or fingernail.
A three-time Oscar nominee, Natalie Wood was a legendary Hollywood star known for her roles in West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause, and Hart to Hart. She married Wagner in 1957, but the marriage was rocky and eventually ended in divorce six years later. In her last years, she was plagued with personal and professional problems and had developed a deep fear of being alone at night, stemming from a prophecy that she believed had been told to her by a Gypsy.
Throughout her life, she surrounded herself with people who would take advantage of her, including directors who exploited her and studio executives who looked the other way. Even in her death, she never had a real advocate by her side — not her mother, not the doctors who mistreated her, not the police officers who investigated her case, and certainly not the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department homicide investigators who were responsible for determining how she died. But now, finally, a sheriff’s detective is taking another look at the investigation and making his own determination of what really took place that night.
What Happened to Natalie?
Actress Natalie Wood captivated audiences during her lengthy and celebrated career, appearing in classics like Miracle on 34th Street, West Side Story, and Rebel Without a Cause. But behind the scenes she was a troubled woman who suffered from substance abuse and had a stormy relationship with husband Robert Wagner. Her death on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 was ruled an accident, but some suspect foul play.
Dennis Davern, the skipper of Wood’s yacht Splendour, has told a number of stories about what happened that night. In interviews and his 2009 book Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour he said that he heard the couple fighting before they went out on the water and that Wagner stopped him from turning on the search lights or calling for help. He also alleged that Wagner prevented him from speaking to police.
Other red flags have cropped up over the years: In her autopsy report, investigators found fresh bruises on her body. They are suspicious that she was assaulted before she went into the water and that her death wasn’t a case of accidental drowning.
In 2011, police reopened their investigation and named Wagner, now 91, as a person of interest in her death. However, the reopening didn’t provide any big breaks in the case, and he refused to cooperate with the investigation. He has never been charged in her death and steadfastly maintains his innocence.
While Lana Wood is not convinced of her sister’s guilt, she does believe that the original investigation was flawed and that there are some unanswered questions. She says the bruises on her sister’s body “are the biggest red flag of all” and that she is concerned about what Wagner and Davern have been saying to investigators over the years. Their shifting accounts raise suspicions that they have something to hide. The case is still open and remains one of Hollywood’s great mysteries. It will take a lot of work to get to the bottom of it.