In 1981, Oscar-nominated actress Natalie Wood drowned in the chilly waters off Southern California. At the time, three men aboard the yacht with her — actor Robert Wagner and crew members Christopher Walken and Dennis Davern — told detectives she took off in a dinghy.
But those statements shifted over time, raising suspicions that something was amiss. Now, 30 years later, investigators are re-examining the case of Who Killed Natalie Wood.
After starring in hits like Gypsy and West Side Story, Natalie Wood fell out of the spotlight and was plagued with drug addiction and insecurity. She eventually found stability in a remarriage to actor Robert Wagner, with whom she had a daughter in 1974. However, the couple’s happiness would be short-lived.
Over Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, Wood invited her costars from the movie Brainstorm, including fellow actor Christopher Walken, to join her and Wagner on their yacht, Splendour. During this time, she and Wagner had an argument. At some point, she went back to her cabin, where he was sleeping. When he returned, she was nowhere to be seen and a dinghy was missing from the boat.
The dinghy was later found in the water with her body nearby. An autopsy revealed bruises and a high blood alcohol level, which led investigators to believe she had slipped while trying to board it or retie it. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled her death accidental and blamed her high alcohol levels.
But detective Ralph Hernandez was suspicious of the official account. He found multiple inconsistencies, including a number of bruises on her body that were not mentioned in the initial investigation. He also discovered that the three men on the boat, captain Dennis Davern and actors Wagner and Walken, all told conflicting stories about what had happened.
Years after the actress’s death, Hernandez has continued to uncover new information. In 2011, 30 years after her drowning, the case was reopened and LA County investigators made public claims that they had new witnesses that corroborated a fight between Wood and Wagner.
In addition to the witness testimony, Hernandez has also uncovered attempts by Davern and Wagner to distance themselves from the blame with magazine interviews and books that were meant to shore up their ever-changing stories.
In consultation with an expert in wills and trusts, Hernandez dissects the never-before-seen official probate file for Natalie’s estate. This discovery reveals evidence of Wagner’s enormous financial gain and an additional motive for his involvement in her murder.
Christopher Walken
Actor Christopher Walken was friends with Natalie Wood and was co-starring with her in the movie Brainstorm at the time of her death. Walken has said very little about the night of her death for years, but in one interview he suggested that Wood hit her head before falling off the boat and floating away to her tragic end.
The night of her death, the three actors dined at Doug’s Harbor Reef in Two Harbors, then returned to their yacht. Hours later, employees found her body, which had bruises on her arms and legs and a slashed left cheek. A medical examiner ruled that she drowned.
Dennis Davern, who was captaining the yacht that night, has given several interviews and written a book about it. He claimed that after Wagner and Walken left for their state rooms, he heard an argument between them on deck that became louder and more heated. He then went to check on them, and saw that Wood was gone. He never saw her dinghy or heard a distress call from her.
According to her sister Lana, it was not a typical argument between the stars. Apparently, the dispute was over money and Wagner’s treatment of her daughter Courtney. He would often invite her mother and daughter to dinner, but exclude his wife. He also ragged on Lana in the press and made her feel bad about selling some of Natalie’s clothes.
During the weekend, there was jealousy, fighting and drama between the couples, fueled by alcohol. Walken and Wood were supposedly flirting, while Wagner was jealous of his on-screen relationship with William Holden’s girlfriend at the time.
Davern changed his story from the initial report, which led to the reopening of the investigation in 2011. He said that after the argument, Walken left for her state room and he heard the dinghy leaving. He didn’t see her fall off, but did hear her cries for help in the water. He claims that the dinghy had scratch marks on it, and they may have been from Wood’s struggle to pull herself into it.
Captain Dennis Davern
The person who killed Natalie Wood has been a mystery for decades. The case was originally ruled an accident, but investigators have reopened the investigation in 2011 to see whether there was foul play involved. Captain Dennis Davern, who skippered Wagner’s yacht on the night of her death, has spoken to the press and claimed he heard Wagner and Wood arguing that evening. He also said he was told by Wood that dark water was her greatest fear.
The boat was anchored in Catalina Island on Thanksgiving weekend 1981, and Wagner, his wife Lana Wood and her actor-husband Christopher Walken were aboard. The trio had a few drinks, and shortly afterward, the 43-year-old actress disappeared in the dark water off the California coast. Her body was not found for several days, and her death was ruled accidental.
In a 2011 interview, Davern spoke about the incident for the TV show 48 Hours Mystery. He was a crew member on the Splendour, and was one of the last people to see Natalie alive. He told the detectives he remembered the weekend being filled with arguments, most of them stemming from the apparent flirtation between Walken and Wood.
He claimed he heard the couple fighting, and that Wagner became so upset that he smashed a bottle of wine against a table in the main salon. This caused everybody to shield themselves from the broken glass. Davern said that Wagner then chased Wood into her stateroom and continued the argument.
After the argument, Davern recalled hearing a splash from the back of the boat, and then he saw a light in the distance on the shore. He wanted to turn on the spotlight to see if it was a dinghy in the water, but he was told by Wagner not to do so. He then searched the whole yacht for her and could not find her.
Davern, who has spoken to the press about his account of what happened on the day of the disappearance, has been grilled by journalists on national television this week. He appeared on the NBC program Today, and was questioned by Nancy Grace on CNN. His version of events has changed very little, and he is not considered a suspect by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi
In 1981, Oscar-winning actress Natalie Wood, famous for her roles in West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and Hart to Hart, died on a yacht off the coast of Catalina Island. At the time, she was sailing with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, his co-star in the movie Brainstorm, Christopher Walken and the boat’s skipper Dennis Davern. The four were drinking and arguing on the trip, according to Davern’s 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart.
But the coroner who performed her autopsy, Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Thomas Noguchi, ruled that it was an accident. He determined that she slipped into the water while trying to get on her dinghy, which was floating nearby. She had a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent and was taking a prescription painkiller, which Noguchi said could have affected her balance.
However, despite Noguchi’s ruling, there was speculation that her death was a murder. The bruises on her body, which were photographed and noted in the autopsy report, resembled those that might be left by a beating, and the fact that she was found dead close to where she had been drinking raised suspicions.
Noguchi was a renowned pathologist who presided over the autopsies of many Hollywood stars in the ’60s and ’70s. He also authored three books on his work and often spoke to the press about his cases, something that angered some of his colleagues and led to his demotion from the position of chief medical examiner in 1979. He still does autopsies at the County-USC Medical Center and teaches at USC. If he has any regrets about his departure from the coroner’s office, he doesn’t show it.
Sam Perroni’s new book uses photographs and official records, never-before-released confidential documents, a battery of expert interviews and cutting-edge forensic science to produce the most far-reaching, in-depth examination of the case to date. He consults with a pharmacologist to address Wood’s drug use and forensic toxicology, and he talks to cold-water hypothermia experts to identify the “fatal gap” between when she disappeared and when she most likely drowned.