NATALIE WOOD: accidental or homicide?
- Thread starter Romulus
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- natalie wood suicide unsolved
Remember, she was wearing a down jacket over her nightgown but anyway, I think she went out to tie the dinghy more securely to the yacht and fell off before she could retie it.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
No, she doesn't believe she was ever in it. I lean towards the same. If she ever was, she was put in it and did not operate it imo. I don't think she likely was though. However, I think from there I would likely disagree on what her opinion likely is. Respectfully of course.
I can see we are all going to differ in this one lol. For those that have formed opinions anyhow.
I don't think we are going to hold the same opinion on this one Regina. Lol. We are used to that though.
I gotta go. Be interesting to see later the continuing discussion here if there is one.
Tresir
Well-known member
I don't understand why she would even do that when they have a paid captain to ensure that sort of thing, plus two other guy's on board. She was in nightwear and no shoes. Unless he said "get off my f'ing boat" so she untied the dinghy to try and get away from him and fell in while attempting to get in the dinghy.
Him not allowing the captain to call anyone or put searchlights on is what actually killed her imo.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
That's an interesting take on it. You may well be right, had he reacted in the way any caring normal human would and tried to find and save her, she'd perhaps be alive.
Only the one scenario really makes sense to me and it would be the obvious one. They were fighting, he got physical, and he wanted her off his effing boat and he made sure she got off it and was never found alive.
Well, I'm home. I fell at work. I turned to help a customer and felt myself losing my balance and knew I was going to go down and go down hard. At the last second, the female customer grabbed my arm and held on hard as my momentum was taking me down and kept me from going down as full force as I would have unbroken without her intervention but I still fell. Then I couldn't get up without her assistance. Then I was going to try to shake it off but she called for assistance. And I figured I had better let them know as well at that point. And I was majorly shook up, still am really. Had to do the full fledged incident report because a customer was involved, even though I said there was no need as I'm sure I may be sore for a few days but think I'l be fine in the long run. At most may need a chiro appt. and within the hour I was already sore. I'm not real happy about it, I don't need this. Anyhow, I got to come home and I have sick pay built up so that was no issue although I intended to save it up. They watched it on camera and can't tell what happened for sure either. I feel I turned too fast or didn't turn right and lost my balance OR tripped and they said it looked the same but couldn't really tell. The customer I couldn't thank enough, she saved me from a fully going down unbroken fall I felt coming but I think it wrenched me some her try to hold me back while my momentum was taking me down hard. So the back hurts already in the shoulder blade area and I suspect more will hurt as the day goes on and tomorrow.
I would have loved to have a day off but not this way. I'm very upset it happened actually. I feel like a bother, even though they didn't make me feel that way, it's just my nature. Anyhow, so here I am with unexpected time off but not feeling up to doing a thing.
Tresir
Well-known member
Sorry to hear about your fall. Take some painkillers and relax in a bath. You will probably be sore tomorrow but, yeah take some days off. You should not have to take your sick leave IMO as it was an injury at work. They should pay you. I nearly slipped over in the frigging wet muddy yard today when doing the neddies. So sick of this wet miserable weather.
I don't disagree that your boat scenario may be what happened either.
Hey can you get a copy of your fall and we can laugh about it in the basement? Maybe make a GIF out of it LOL.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Dry and sunny here but very cold.
Take care around the mud, I'm sure you do, I mean I don't even know what happened with me, honestly, I either just turned wrong, turned too fast, took a wrong step or tripped over something I'm unaware of. I had customers around me so I maybe tried to turn tight due to others near. No idea. I just knew when I knew I was losing my balance and couldn't regain it that I was going to go down hard. Then she grabbed me. Work asked if I had felt faint, etc. but it was nothing like that at all.
I'm already sore, think I will be worse tomorrow but will be okay, I don't doubt may need a couple of chiro adjustments, shall see. Hoping though to be back to work on Tuesday. Age doesn't help meaning I'm sure I will be out of whack, back and neck already feels that way. But thinking I can go back and just take off for a chiro appt or few and that will be the end of it. I'd hope.
I doubt I can get a copy. I am sure if I was the type to get an attorney and sue, he could get a copy but that's not me. I think I'll be fine, just sore for a bit. I don't think you'd find it that funny but I may be mistaken lol. It wans't like a clumsy or dumb thing, it was pretty major and the customer recognized such immediately and stepped up and reacted fast. Thank God.
Yeah as far as this case, the other scenarios seem pretty unlikely to me for various reasons, including ones you've mentioned.
I don't know anything about Wagner not allowing anybody to do anything and I don't believe Wagner told Natalie to get off their boat.
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Yes, we are and no, we aren't, lol!
Re the dinghy, to my knowledge, the state in which it was found has always been the primary reason why no one believed she was ever in it, plus no one heard it start.
The thing was that since Natalie and the dinghy were both missing- as unthinkable as it was that she'd have taken it out alone- at that point in time, the logical conclusion was that she must have.
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GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
I have to chuckle at your first sentence because it's sure the case and we both know it lol.
You still astound me in some cases where I can't quite see how you come to the conclusions you do lol, however, I am used to it but still don't always see it.
I'm actually surprised when we do agree on one which we do, on just a few to my knowledge.
You said though, did you not, you don't believe she was ever in the dinghy?
So what is it you think, she just fell off the yacht and drowned?
Guess Who
Well-known member
Yeah, I had forgotten that she wasn't actually in it when found.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
I agree. He's been consistent and the other claims make little sense. Not that all that happens makes sense sometimes but some things are just a major leap to believe. And some are logical.
I have not for one day ever believed this wasn't foul play. Since back in the day. And still.
He's in his 90s and free and should thank his lucky stars.
Jmo.
I know he's repeatedly referred to as the Captain of the Splendour but he wasn't the captain of that yacht- his job was as caretaker of the yacht- but anyway, he's the one with different "versions" and different from what he'd told authorities.
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Tresir
Well-known member
He was in charge of the boat so it is correct to call him the Captain. Wagner was the owner of the boat. The Captain would be responsible for Health and Safety on the boat and technical operations, so i am surprised he was not charged with anything actually. I have not seen any differing accounts from him so far but maybe i haven't seen them all.
He apparently passed a lie detector test but in this article it says he admitted lying initially. Doesn't say what about.
Natalie Wood Mystery: Captain of Yacht Passes Polygraph Test
Get breaking national and world news, broadcast video coverage, and exclusive interviews. Find the top news online at ABC news.
Natalie Wood Mystery: Captain of Yacht Passes Polygraph Test
By ABC News November 23, 2011
Archive Photos/Getty Images
The recently reopened case of actress Natalie Wood’s drowning death focuses on new information that may implicate those on board the boat the actress fell from 30 years ago, including the boat’s captain, who has passed a lie detector test.
Dennis Davern, the captain of the Splendour, the yacht which the actors were staying on, said that he heard Wood and husband Robert Wagner arguing moments before she disappeared. Davern has said that he believes Wagner had a role in Wood’s death.
Davern had a lie detector test performed on him by examiner Howard Temple, who says that the results of the polygraph “indicated he was telling the truth.”
In this exclusive interview with “Good Morning America,” Temple said Davern told him that after Wood’s death Wagner instructed him to not speak about the drowning.
“Davern made the statement that he stayed at the Wagner home … [was] told not to talk …Wagner paid for his therapy, and Davern could not leave the estate without bodyguards,” Temple said.
In an NBC interview last week, Davern said ”Yes I would say so,” when asked about Wagner’s responsibility. He admitted that he may have been at fault as well, saying, “We didn’t take any steps to see if we could locate her. It was a matter of don’t look too hard, don’t turn on search light, don’t call anyone.”
Davern also said that he lied to officials in the initial police report. It is unclear whether he could face charges if that’s true.
Davern’s motives in revealing this new information regarding the night of Wood’s death have been called into question after he co-authored a book about the actress’s death. He and Marti Rulli wrote the 2009 book “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,” about the circumstances surrounding the actress’ death. He and Lana Wood, Natalie Wood’s sister, asked authorities to re-open the case last year.
ABC News has learned that detectives have now interviewed Marilyn Wayne, the boater who was aboard a ship 40 yards away that night in 1981. She claims she heard Wood screaming for help moments before she allegedly drowned off the coast of Catalina Island in California.
“They talked to me about what I remember from the case all those years ago,” Wayne told “Entertainment Tonight.”
Wood, the star of film classics like “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause,” apparently drowned while boating with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken, with whom she was filming what would be her last role in the movie “Brainstorm.”
The official cause of Wood’s death was determined to be accidental drowning, but because there has been little concrete information about the circumstances surrounding the events of that night, speculation has been rife and the case remains one of Hollywood’s longest-running mysteries.
Lifeguard Roger Smith, who pulled Wood’s body out of the water, has told “Good Morning America” that he believes the actress may have floated alive for hours.
“I could have saved her,” Smith said, adding that he was “not called in time.”
So far Wagner and Walken, the two men with Wood that night, are keeping quiet regarding the reopening of the case.
When gossip website TMZ.com caught up with Walken in West Hollywood Tuesday to ask him what he thinks about the reopening of the case, Walken simply said, “I don’t know.”
Wagner, the now 81-year-old star of the TV series “Hart to Hart,” is still hard at work, making an appearance as a murder suspect on an episode of CBS’ “NCIS” this week.
Wagner was not charged in Wood’s death, and police plan to reach out to him as part of the re-opened investigation. They say he is not a suspect.
With reporting by ABC News’ Abbie Boudreau, Suzan Clarke and Sheila Marikar
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He wasn't in charge; he was a deckhand.
Tresir
Well-known member
In the autopsy he is described as the Skipper of the boat. And in the 2011 article he is described as the Captain of the boat. Where do you get he was just a deckhand?
Wagner has said that Davern wasn't "Captain".
And yeah, I don't know why the autopsy report refers to Davern as "Skipper".
Tresir
Well-known member
Well i am not inclined to believe Wagner. I am more inclined to believe the autopsy report. Unless you have a link for when he said that, maybe in a statement to LE or the rescue services perhaps?
Tresir
Well-known member
I have found this from 2019. I will also try and find the video of the interview.
www.dailymail.co.uk
The captain of the boat on which actress Natalie Wood was last seen before she mysteriously drowned has spoken out on the fateful night, nearly 40 years after her death.
In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz set to air on Tuesday, Dennis Davern described the room where Wood and husband Robert Wagner had an explosive fight before she died, and how actor Christopher Walken broke down in tears after learning she was missing.
'It looked like a storm went through that room. Everything was just all over the place, it was a mess. I found one of her earrings, it was thrown somewhere in the corner,' Davern said.
Scroll down for video
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Natalie Wood, 43, was found washed up off the coast of Catalina Island in southern California after disappearing from the couple's yacht, the Splendour, in November 1981. Her husband, actor Robert Wagner, was named as a person of interest in 2018
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In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz set to air on Tuesday, boat captain Dennis Davern described what he remembered from the fateful night
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View gallery
The Los Angeles Sheriff's department re-opened its investigation in 2011 after Davern came forward with new evidence saying he saw the couple having an explosive fight on deck of the Splendour (pictured)
'I don't know if it was just ripped off her ear or what, but there was an earring, the pillows were all over. The room was a mess. There was a full on fight in that room.'
Wood, 43, was found washed up off the coast of Catalina Island in southern California after disappearing from the couple's yacht, the Splendour, in November 1981.
The case captivated the public after conflicting reports about the events leading up to her death emerged.
Wagner, to whom she was married twice, was named as a person of interest in 2018.
At the time, Wood was filming sci-fi movie Brainstorm, and had been on a weekend boat trip with Wagner, Davern, and co-star Christopher Walken.
Davern revealed the moment the actor broke down after he found out Wood had disappeared.
'He didn't say a word, he just cried,' he told Dr Oz.
'I mean he was devastated standing there, here is all the authorities, this is all on the back of the boat. He was full of tears.'
Dennis Darven describes room after Wood and Wagner fight to Dr. Oz
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View gallery
Natalie's husband Robert Wagner was named a person of interest in 2018
The case captivated the public after conflicting reports about the events leading up to her death emerged
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View gallery
At the time of her death, Natalie had been filming Brainstorm with Christopher Walken. The actor broke down in tears after learning she had gone missing, Daverfn said
Wood's cause of death, initially ruled an accidental drowning, was later changed to 'drowning and other undetermined factors,' after the Los Angeles Sheriff's department reopened their investigation.
Davern came forward with new evidence in 2011 after originally telling detectives Wood had rowed away in a dinghy, even though she was known for being petrified of dark water.
He claimed he saw Wagner arguing on deck with Wood before she fell, and that Wagner had bullied him into keeping quiet.
Davern's interview with Dr Oz will air on Tuesday, November 5.
Captain on Natalie Wood's boat speaks out on that fateful night
In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz set to air on Tuesday, boat captain Dennis Davern described the room where Wood and husband Robert Wagner had an explosive fight before she died.
- Dennis Davern was the captain of the boat where actress Natalie Wood was last seen before she mysteriously drowned in 1981
- In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz airing on Tuesday, Davern described the room on the boat following Wood and husband Robert Wagner's explosive fight
- 'Everything was just all over the place, it was a mess. I found one of her earrings, it was thrown somewhere in the corner,' he said
- Wood, 43, was found washed up off Catalina Island in southern California, after disappearing from the couple's yacht, the Splendour, in November 1981
- Davern said Wood's co-star, Christopher Walken, who was on the boat that weekend, broke down in tears after learning she was missing ie
The captain of the boat on which actress Natalie Wood was last seen before she mysteriously drowned has spoken out on the fateful night, nearly 40 years after her death.
In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz set to air on Tuesday, Dennis Davern described the room where Wood and husband Robert Wagner had an explosive fight before she died, and how actor Christopher Walken broke down in tears after learning she was missing.
'It looked like a storm went through that room. Everything was just all over the place, it was a mess. I found one of her earrings, it was thrown somewhere in the corner,' Davern said.
Scroll down for video
+8
View gallery
Natalie Wood, 43, was found washed up off the coast of Catalina Island in southern California after disappearing from the couple's yacht, the Splendour, in November 1981. Her husband, actor Robert Wagner, was named as a person of interest in 2018
+8
View gallery
In an exclusive interview with Dr Oz set to air on Tuesday, boat captain Dennis Davern described what he remembered from the fateful night
+8
View gallery
The Los Angeles Sheriff's department re-opened its investigation in 2011 after Davern came forward with new evidence saying he saw the couple having an explosive fight on deck of the Splendour (pictured)
'I don't know if it was just ripped off her ear or what, but there was an earring, the pillows were all over. The room was a mess. There was a full on fight in that room.'
Wood, 43, was found washed up off the coast of Catalina Island in southern California after disappearing from the couple's yacht, the Splendour, in November 1981.
The case captivated the public after conflicting reports about the events leading up to her death emerged.
Wagner, to whom she was married twice, was named as a person of interest in 2018.
At the time, Wood was filming sci-fi movie Brainstorm, and had been on a weekend boat trip with Wagner, Davern, and co-star Christopher Walken.
Davern revealed the moment the actor broke down after he found out Wood had disappeared.
'He didn't say a word, he just cried,' he told Dr Oz.
'I mean he was devastated standing there, here is all the authorities, this is all on the back of the boat. He was full of tears.'
Dennis Darven describes room after Wood and Wagner fight to Dr. Oz
+8
View gallery
Natalie's husband Robert Wagner was named a person of interest in 2018
The case captivated the public after conflicting reports about the events leading up to her death emerged
+8
View gallery
At the time of her death, Natalie had been filming Brainstorm with Christopher Walken. The actor broke down in tears after learning she had gone missing, Daverfn said
Wood's cause of death, initially ruled an accidental drowning, was later changed to 'drowning and other undetermined factors,' after the Los Angeles Sheriff's department reopened their investigation.
Davern came forward with new evidence in 2011 after originally telling detectives Wood had rowed away in a dinghy, even though she was known for being petrified of dark water.
He claimed he saw Wagner arguing on deck with Wood before she fell, and that Wagner had bullied him into keeping quiet.
Davern's interview with Dr Oz will air on Tuesday, November 5.
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