Natalie Wood vanished from a yacht on a cold night, wearing only a flannel nightgown and wool socks. Her down jacket was found nearby, and she was later found dead, floating in the ocean.
In an exclusive interview, 48 Hours explores new developments in the case through detectives who led the investigation and Wood’s sister, Lana. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Who Killed Natalie Wood.
1. Her Husband
The death of Natalie Wood, a three-time Oscar nominee for her roles in West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and other films, remains one of Hollywood’s most mysterious unsolved mysteries. In this unique book, Sam Perroni utilizes official records and photographs, never-before-revealed confidential documents, and dozens of interviews with witnesses and experts to uncover the true events that led to her tragic death on the waters off Catalina Island.
On the night she died, Natalie Wood was sailing her yacht with husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken. She had been drinking and was apprehensive about going in the water. At about 7:45 a.m., her dinghy was found beached nearby and she had been found dead in the water 1.6 kilometers from the boat. The coroner determined she had drowned. An autopsy found she had a blood alcohol reading of 0.14, was wearing an oversized parka and had traces of painkillers and motion-sickness medication in her system. She was 43 when she died.
In 2011, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department reopened the case after Dennis Davern, the captain of the yacht Splendour on the night of the actress’s death, published his 2009 testimonial that he had heard the couple fighting just before Wood disappeared. The case was reclassified as suspicious, and the sheriff’s department named Wagner, now 91, a person of interest in her death.
However, Wagner denied involvement in her murder and has maintained that he did not kill her. Nevertheless, in a 2012 interview with The Los Angeles Times, he said that he had wanted to take her out of the dinghy because she was afraid of the water and that he had not meant to harm her.
In the early 1990s, Lana told the New York Post that she had been suspicious of Wagner and Walken when they first started dating in 1960. She also claims that she once overheard them arguing about money and her son. But she was unable to get more answers from Wagner, who cut her off after the death and forced her out of their home on the island. She eventually moved to St. Augustine, where she began selling dolls and worked as a salesperson for Sprint.
2. Christopher Walken
In November of 1981, Natalie Wood was working on the movie Brainstorm, a sci-fi film directed by Douglas Trumbull. She had just five days left to complete the picture, and her death hung like a cloud over the entire production. Her sister Lana argued that her death was not accidental.
Christopher Walken was on the yacht with her that fateful night, and he never spoke publicly about her death until 2011, when he hired litigation specialist Mathew Rosengart to represent him in the case that would be reopened. He defended himself by saying, “Nobody knows what happened. All I can say is that it was a tragic accident.”
The incident occurred off the coast of Catalina Island, where the cast and crew were staying while they filmed the movie. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner, Wood drowned after she slipped into the water from a dinghy and hit her head. He also stated that she had been drinking before she fell into the water.
Dennis Davern was the captain of the yacht where the actors were staying and one of the last people to see Natalie alive. He has claimed that the weekend was full of arguments between Wagner and Walken, mostly stemming from their glaring flirtation with each other. He has told many different stories about what happened, but in 2011 he wrote a testimonial that he believed Wagner smashed a bottle of wine on the deck of the Splendour. He also claimed that Wagner prevented him from putting out a call for help for the missing woman, arguing that she could be in his stateroom and that he didn’t want to draw attention to it.
The testimonial is controversial because it contradicts what Wagner and the other men involved have said. Wagner has always maintained that Natalie was an accidental victim of her fall into the water, and that she was unable to swim and that she would not have left the boat on her own. He has also argued that the emergency call he made did not mention his wife by name, which is inconsistent with his testimony about what happened the night of her disappearance.
3. Dennis Davern
On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood was found dead in the water off of California’s Catalina Island. The 43-year-old actress had been on a yacht with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, and his friend Christopher Walken when she disappeared from the boat. She was wearing her nightgown and slippers at the time of her death, and bruises were found on her body. The cause of her death remains a mystery to this day. Wagner maintains that it was an accident, but he has refused to cooperate with investigators. Davern, who was on the yacht at the time of her disappearance, has been a key witness. He has been interviewed on countless talk shows and in his memoir, “Pieces of My Heart.” In a recent interview with hit podcast “Fatal Voyage,” he says that the couple was fighting and that he heard Wood say she wanted to leave him for Walken.
According to Davern, Wagner and Wood were spending the Thanksgiving weekend on his yacht Splendour. They brought Walken, who was co-starring with Wood in the movie “Brainstorm,” along as a guest. They had been drinking ashore, and when it was time to go back to the yacht, they argued. He claims that after the argument, Wagner became agitated and jealous of Walken and believed that he was flirting with Wood.
When the yacht returned to shore, Wagner did not hear anything from Wood and called the harbor patrol to report her missing. They searched the area for her and located a small dinghy in the water about a mile away from the yacht. Wood’s body was discovered hours later.
In 2011, investigators reopened the case to see if Wagner played a role in her death. They questioned Davern and found several inconsistencies with his testimony. He also lied to tabloid magazines about what he saw that night, and he collaborated with a friend on a book that was published in 2009.
Police brought Davern out to Hawaii where they docked the boat where they had originally reenacted his version of events. Det. Ralph Hernandez said they did this to jog his memory and get his perspective on what happened that night.
4. The Coast Guard
In life she was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but in death the legend of Natalie Wood continues to loom large over Tinsel Town. Her mysterious drowning at age 43 remains a mystery to this day. She was famous for her role in such classics as West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and Splendor in the Grass.
Her last known hours were on a yacht with her husband and co-star, actor Robert Wagner, and a third person aboard. The boat was moored on the secluded Isthmus of Catalina Island. She disappeared from the boat at night, supposedly taking off in a dinghy to go for a swim. Her body was found the next morning floating in the ocean clad in a nightgown and socks. She had been wearing a down jacket that filled with water, adding 40 pounds to her weight.
For decades, rumors of foul play persisted, but no evidence ever surfaced. Wagner claimed in his 2008 autobiography that he and Wood fought before she fell in the water, trying to tie down the dinghy. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office reopened the case in 2011, and sheriff’s detective Ralph Hernandez made it clear that he hoped new information would come forward.
The investigation was complicated by contradictory statements from those who knew the actress, including the aforementioned Wagner and Davern. In a 2012 interview, Davern said he and Wagner had argued. He also claimed that when he told Wagner Wood was missing that night, Wagner prevented him from turning on the search lights or calling for help because he did not want the incident to be publicized.
In 2013, a 10-page update to the original autopsy report changed Wood’s cause of death from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” The update also noted fresh bruises on her arms and knee, as well as a scrape on her neck and a scratch on her forehead, suggesting she had been assaulted before she went into the water. But the case remains open and a person of interest has yet to be named.