NATALIE WOOD: accidental or homicide? (1 Viewer)

Couple of things to note from the first report. She had cocaine, morphine and codeine in her body. There were fresh bruises on her face, arms and legs and older bruises on her legs. She was clothed in a woollen nightgown and socks, no underwear and a fleece jacket that came off when they retrieved her body. The boat had been switched off, the key turned off and the oars were still tied down, indicating the boat had not been used and had beached normally rather than crashed. The last time she was seen alive is listed as 23.45 but looks like it was changed from 22.45. Robert Wagner was heard by radio at 1.30a.m. saying she was missing so that appears to be likely when it was reported to authorities. There could be other stuff i may have missed.

In the second autopsy report they changed the cause of death from accident to undetermined but left the manner of death as drowning. She had fresh bruising on her arms and some bruising on her face, shown in the first autopsy report.
 
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Tresir said:
I posted it because it is the immediate local reporting of the event and is pretty detailed. The story has had decades to change but i do not expect the details of the search authorities timings to be inaccurate. I'm gathering data at present. For example, was there an inquest? Most sudden deaths have an inquest, so i shall look for that next. Yes, according to that she took a boat to the island and was found in a cove 200 yds from the small boat. She was not that far from the Splendor at all.
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i did get the point of posting the initial reporting and investigation but was simply pointing out the different things. I of course would have to look back as well but the report of a fight and more was there from very early on.

I wouldn't says an inquest is a common thing here in sudden deaths and even less so years ago. Not sure here but due to the fame it could have meant there of course was one or that there wasn't due to influence and don't recall. We see many cases where something is ruled without much real investigation, however, this one was certainly talked a talked about case from the start.

Yeah as opposed to the two of them dealing with the dinghy and her falling out the hatch. Totally different things. I actually distrust the original one more than the other because that would mean believing she took the dinghy, moored it and then drowned after. If all on her own. And it doesn't even say it was their dinghy. Imo she went overboard from the boat. By accident or push...

I'd also be interested in hearing Walken's statements. I probably have but this is an old case. Supposedly he was sleeping per recent posts during the fight but in the one you posted from back when he was at least up and helping to look for her at some point,,,,

Lots of variations here from day one to now.

Yes, decades to change can mean stories change and the original is closest to the truth but it can also mean the opposite many times. Your own link said the captain has never changed HIS story and that's what I recall. Among other things. Hub did though.

Gotta go here shortly.

Could I convict on what there is, (that we know) hard to say and probably not. That doesn't mean my opinion isn't that he did this because it is.

But I do disagree in not only this case but many in ruling something accidental when there are very contrary accounts and so forth,. It is wrong and it shouldn't go on. Imo.
 
GrandmaBear said:
i did get the point of posting the initial reporting and investigation but was simply pointing out the different things. I of course would have to look back as well but the report of a fight and more was there from very early on.

I wouldn't says an inquest is a common thing here in sudden deaths and even less so years ago. Not sure here but due to the fame it could have meant there of course was one or that there wasn't due to influence and don't recall. We see many cases where something is ruled without much real investigation, however, this one was certainly talked a talked about case from the start.

Yeah as opposed to the two of them dealing with the dinghy and her falling out the hatch. Totally different things. I actually distrust the original one more than the other because that would mean believing she took the dinghy, moored it and then drowned after. If all on her own. And it doesn't even say it was their dinghy. Imo she went overboard from the boat. By accident or push...

I'd also be interested in hearing Walken's statements. I probably have but this is an old case. Supposedly he was sleeping per recent posts during the fight but in the one you posted from back when he was at least up and helping to look for her at some point,,,,

Lots of variations here from day one to now.

Yes, decades to change can mean stories change and the original is closest to the truth but it can also mean the opposite many times. Your own link said the captain has never changed HIS story and that's what I recall. Among other things. Hub did though.

Gotta go here shortly.

Could I convict on what there is, (that we know) hard to say and probably not. That doesn't mean my opinion isn't that he did this because it is.

But I do disagree in not only this case but many in ruling something accidental when there are very contrary accounts and so forth,. It is wrong and it shouldn't go on. Imo.
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An inquest in UK is usually only done if it is a sudden death, as her's was. She had not been sick or had health problems prior so that would normally dictate the need for the inquest and that was done and manner determined as accidental. In 2012 they changed that to undetermined and i think the details of the boat not in gear/key turned off/oars tied down, is possibly the reason. Eg the boat did not crash under power and in gear and throw her out, for example. She had nightwear on and no shoes so she was not dressed to take a boat trip. It is all very weird and Wagner did not call until 01.30 yet says he last saw her at 2330. So what happened in that 2 hour window?
 
Tresir said:
An inquest in UK is usually only done if it is a sudden death, as her's was. She had not been sick or had health problems prior so that would normally dictate the need for the inquest and that was done and manner determined as accidental. In 2012 they changed that to undetermined and i think the details of the boat not in gear/key turned off/oars tied down, is possibly the reason. Eg the boat did not crash under power and in gear and throw her out, for example. She had nightwear on and no shoes so she was not dressed to take a boat trip. It is all very weird and Wagner did not call until 01.30 yet says he last saw her at 2330. So what happened in that 2 hour window?
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Exactly.

As to her nightwear, I don't know would have to refresh but they were on a yacht no? She'd have had clothing on it, Walken was sleeping, I'm sure there are sleeping quarters, etc. What it does mean is she likely did not get in a dinghy for an excursion in her nightwear and barefoot.

Did she fall or was pushed off the boat or leave on her own and moored a dinghy which wasn't even said to be theirs? That story sounds completely false to me or a lie and the story changed by uhm someone,,, These are two very different accounts. Who has the changing stories? I have an educated guess,

And yes it should have been changed to undetermined, always should have been that at minimum in my opinion.
 
Tresir said:
An inquest in UK is usually only done if it is a sudden death, as her's was. She had not been sick or had health problems prior so that would normally dictate the need for the inquest and that was done and manner determined as accidental. In 2012 they changed that to undetermined and i think the details of the boat not in gear/key turned off/oars tied down, is possibly the reason. Eg the boat did not crash under power and in gear and throw her out, for example. She had nightwear on and no shoes so she was not dressed to take a boat trip. It is all very weird and Wagner did not call until 01.30 yet says he last saw her at 2330. So what happened in that 2 hour window?
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Of course, at the time, there was indeed an investigation of her death.

The dinghy was noticed as missing and so it was thought that Natalie must have taken it and so Wagner called for the shore boat and went to the restaurant where they'd been earlier but it was closed and neither Natalie or the dinghy was anywhere around so he went back to the yacht and called the coast guard at about 1:30am.
 
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Regina said:
Of course, at the time, there was indeed an investigation of her death.

The dinghy was noticed as missing and so it was thought that Natalie must have taken it and so Wagner called for the shore boat and went to the restaurant where they'd been earlier but it was closed and neither Natalie or the dinghy was anywhere around so he went back to the yacht and called the coast guard at about 1:30am.
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What about the story of her falling out of the back hatch? Do you know where that originated?
 
Tresir said:
Couple of things to note from the first report. She had cocaine, morphine and codeine in her body. There were fresh bruises on her face, arms and legs and older bruises on her legs. She was clothed in a woollen nightgown and socks, no underwear and a fleece jacket that came off when they retrieved her body. The boat had been switched off, the key turned off and the oars were still tied down, indicating the boat had not been used and had beached normally rather than crashed. The last time she was seen alive is listed as 23.45 but looks like it was changed from 22.45. Robert Wagner was heard by radio at 1.30a.m. saying she was missing so that appears to be likely when it was reported to authorities. There could be other stuff i may have missed.

In the second autopsy report they changed the cause of death from accident to undetermined but left the manner of death as drowning. She had fresh bruising on her arms and some bruising on her face, shown in the first autopsy report.
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Re toxicology and besides alcohol, the report states no drugs detected except for two that I think were a nausea med and a pain reliever.
 
Wagner is the one who has maintained the story she went off in the dinghy on her own.

And the falling or being pushed from the hatch isn't new. It wasn't anything revelatory to me anyhow over all these years. I tried to find the link but did not so far.

And no one said she fell into the dinghy. They are two completely different accounts.

I won't even go into the LAPD over these decades, MOST know.

Many accounts of the physical abuse and his threatening to kill her on other occasions or her fear he would.

Yah, he's a real prize. Imo he never had the star quality she did. And he knew it too. I'd call him a typical type, of a certain type.

There is also, as per the norm, some really poor reporting here. Where one word is wrong and so it gives an entirely different illusion, etc.

This should have never been cleared, but he was named as a POI some time back. Nothing should EVER be cleared when there aren't CLEAR facts to clear a case.

Jmo.
 
Regina said:
I've never heard it even speculated that she was ever inside the dinghy.
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Yeah it's weird definitely. She was found only 200 yds from the dinghy. Strange they both ended up at the same place though.

From the '81 NYT article I posted -

"Miss Wood's body was found floating just beneath the surface about 200 yards from where a small inflatable motorized dinghy was lodged in a small cove at Blue Cavern Point. The point is half a mile from Isthmus Cove, where the Splendor was moored."

Half a mile is 880 yards. So she was only a short distance from the Splendor.

So she took the dinghy to that cove. Beached it, turned of the ignition and power. Then got out of the dinghy and drowned herself.
 
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Regina said:
I'd expect both to drift in the same direction, which they did.
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Hmmm. Not so sure about that. So you don't think she drove the boat at all? You think she fell in while untying the boat in her nightgown and socks and they both drifted off together?
 
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