Natalie Wood was an actress who was on a yacht with her husband where she mysteriously died and was found dead in the ocean. She suspiciously disappeared from her family’s boat on November 29, 1981, near Santa Catalina Island. Did Natalie Wood die from a tragic accident or was it her husband, Robert Wagner, who murdered her? There’re two conspiracy theories about the death of Natalie Wood. Theory 1: Robert Wagner murdered his wife. Theory 2: Accidental drowning by falling overboard. Let’s look through Natalie’s case and the possibility of murder or an accident by drowning.
Natalie Wood was a troubled star. She was pressured by her mother into doing movies, “she made up her mind that her second child, pretty, dark-eyed Natasha, was going to be a star. In 1943, when the little girl was just 5” (Rubin 1). According to Rubin, “Natalie had good cause to rebel, especially after her mother broke up her first serious romance with a high school sweetheart”. Natalie didn’t just want to be just any star.
Natalie Wood was isolated, she felt like an outsider because she was “miscast as a white girl who was abducted” raised by Native Americans (“Natalie Wood” 1). Wood wanted to commit suicide by overdosing but failed to do so. Wood enjoyed popularity and seeking attention by others; she was depressed and heartbroken after her split from Wagner, the first time around.
The actress could be so hurt and still manage to disguise her true feelings; “Natalie Wood is emotional and vulnerable” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). When Wood would get upset or depressed, she would be very temperamental and self-interested. She would not care about other’s feelings. When grumpy, “Wood can succumb to sarcastic remarks, which can be painful to those around her” (“Natalie Wood Life Path Number 3” 1). She would let go of her true emotions and just be blunt.
Wood fearful of dark waters since she was a child, “As a child, Natalie was terrified of water” (Ventura 1). As the years went on, Wood's fear grew more and more, when she had her own movie sets that related to her background story. The fear got more serious when seeing mysterious water related accidents on movie sets, such as when she was on a set, she had to walk a bridge during a thunderstorm where she had an accident. The producer had done something wrong, and she ended up breaking her wrist, on a set where they’re on a boat. Her honeymoon was cancelled when she and her husband [on a cruise ship] found out a vicious storm arose right before their trip. “I don’t know if it was just being a child who didn’t want her mom to leave or what it was, but I didn’t want her to go”, said Natasha Gregson Wagner (McNeil 1). Natalie Wood’s mother did not want her to go out on the yacht, where she went the night of her death.
People say that she was full of energy, always multitasking. Her energy was so strong. Natalie Wood would put her mind to something she would make action out of her words. She continuously put pressure on herself and stayed busy, both physically and mentally. But before anything, Natalie thought before she acts, “Her physical stamina is strong, and she loves mental and physical exercise” (Mcneil 1).
According to her co-workers, Natalie Wood got along well with others and taught them to appreciate. She beat all the many setbacks she had. Wood was very over organized, says a source: “Natalie can be a great inspiration force in the world” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). The actress once was an uplifting character towards others, full of happiness, whenever she would. A very successful woman, she was, “bringing much success” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). She was a very social human being, very bullish, always positive. Wood was very aggressive: “She was a pioneer” (“Natalie Wood Personality 1” 1).
In this case of Natalie Wood, two conspiracy theories are presented. The first theory is that her husband Robert Wagner killed her. The second theory is that she accidentally drowned. The possibility of Wagner being the suspect in his wife’s death is high.
The first conspiracy theory proposes that Wagner pushed his wife off the yacht and killed her. Wood's sister, Lana Wood says she thinks Robert killed her sister. According to Verhoeven, Lana Wood said, “I know exactly what happened from what Dennis Davern [the boat’s skipper] has told me” (1). Lana Wood had an interview about what she truly thinks happened to her sister. She claims the couple had a bad fight before Wood’s death (1). Davern told Lana Wood that it sounded like furniture was being tossed everywhere. And soon after that he claimed he went to knock on the couple’s door, and then Wagner opened it a tad bit and told Davern to “mind your own business” and then shut the door again (1).
Lana Wood continued to tell Kelly [the producer], that Davern went outside and tried to avoid the screaming by turning up the music. He then started walking towards where the boat was and when he turned the corner, Wagner was already there. Wagner just stood there, and Davern then asked, “Where’s Natalie?”, and Wagner answered,” She’s gone” (1). Everyone knows Wagner was the very last person to see Natalie before her disappearance. According to Pasquini, Wagner wrote in his memoir, “I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces” (1). This event, that Wagner wrote, happened right after, he was in an argument with Christopher Walken, over Wood’s career.
Marilyn Wayne, an eyewitness, was on a boat with her family the same night of Wood’s disappearance. She told Farberov that on November 28, 1981, she “heard screams from a woman yelling for help” (1). Wayne also claimed she heard a woman shout, “help me, somebody please help me, I’m drowning!” (1). Wayne kept telling her son to keep tract of time, so they could show their evidence, but the yelling eventually stopped. She also told Farberov, “so we had a minute-by-minute history of the time frame and the yelling went on from five after eleven until 11:25, and then it stopped” (1). Wayne’s husband told her, that they would not make it in time to save her. There were other witnesses, on shore, who say they overheard yelling and thumping sounds coming from the room where the couple were. More witnesses say they identified a man and a woman arguing on the back of the boat. These statements differ from each other, from what was originally told by previous witnesses.
It was mentioned that Davern claims he told Moore that he had seen Wagner by the swim steps and then noticed that Wood and the dinghy were nowhere to be seen (1). It is also told that Davern wanted to start a search for the missing actress. But Wagner said, “no, no, let’s not do that. Let’s just stay; let’s have another bottle of wine” (1). The skipper continued to tell Moore that when Wood’s body was found, it was he who was there to identify her body, not Wagner (1). It was the next morning, after her disappearance, when they found her body near the dinghy, a half mile away from the Splendor (1).
Wagner has continuously and repeatedly said he does not know what happened to Wood. He says she fell off while trying to board a dinghy. The late actress’s husband has refused to speak with investigators, since they have recently begun to reopen the case of Wood’s death. This theory, after all the evidence that was mentioned by witnesses and Lana Wood, Wagner not wanting to talk in interviews, makes it seem like he is hiding something from the world. Also, Wagner being the top interest right now, puts him in the rocks with being the number one suspect.
In this second theory, it was said that Natalie Wood’s death was an accidental drowning. Wood’s drowning was quickly assumed as an accident by a coroner. It was said that before she slipped and fell off, she was trying to board the dinghy tied to the side of the yacht. According to Jackson, “An investigation ensued but was closed only two weeks later, when the coroner, Thomas T. Noguchi, found that Wood slipped and subsequently drowned” (1).
When Wood was found, there were bruises on her left cheek, an injury she could have possibly gotten when she took her fall off the yacht. According to Fisher, the medical examiner, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reported that “The location of the bruises, the multiplicity of the bruises, lack of heat trauma, or facial bruising support, bruising having occurred prior to entry in the water” indicated that she might have died from the fall (1). There was accordingly not enough evidence says the medical examiner and the death should just be left as undetermined (1). Maybe there wasn’t enough evidence for this theory to be an accidental drowning because it doesn’t add up. Authorities should look more into it.
Natalie Wood had a fear of the ocean that it is assumed to be called, “dark waters” (1), since she was a little girl. According to Ventura, Lana Wood said, “Mothers fortune teller told her that she would have a child, who would be known all over the world and that someone was going to die from drowning” (1). Their mother told them to stay away from the water and that stuck to Wood after all these years. Her fear continued and affected her TV sets that were based off of mysterious water related accidents (1). “While shooting The Green Promise, young Natalie had to walk over a bridge during a thunderstorm. When she did, the technician flipped a switch prematurely, and the bridge collapsed, throwing Natalie into the treacherous waters and breaking her wrist” (1). According to Sherwell, Lana Wood said in one of her interviews, “she had a great fear of it, she didn’t go into her own swimming pool at home” (1).
According to Moore, at Wood’s wake, Davern says he was approached and introduced to Walkens’s lawyer (1). Weeks after Wood’s passing, Davern says, Wagner spent his time crying and drinking. “Later, it crossed my mind they didn’t want me to say anything about what happened on the Splendor” (1). Wagner’s side of the story does not add up after all the evidence that’s been published, because of her being terrified of the water, her being close to the edge do not make sense.
In 2011, the case for Natalie Wood reopened, due to new details that arrived at the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department. More people have confessed that the public is closer to finding out what truly happened the night of her mysterious disappearance that lead to her death. These theories will remain, until someone confesses or until it’s solved. Authorities will need the people who were on the boat to confess more details, or this case will never have a solution. If anything, everyone that was on that yacht, could be a suspect. But hopefully one day, this will all go away, and Wood can finally rest in peace.
Natalie Wood was a successful actress, who was found dead after her night of disappearance. There’re two conspiracy theories about the death of Natalie Wood. Theory 1: Robert Wagner murdered his wife. Theory 2: Accidental drowning by falling overboard. The best solution that solved this theory is that Robert Wagner killed his wife.
Works Cited
T “Natalie Wood.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 Feb. 2018, www.biography.com/people/natalie-wood-9536320.
T Tommer, Shlomo. “Natalie Wood.” Celebrities Galore - The Spiritual Encyclopaedia Of The Famous, www.celebrities-galore.com/celebrities/natalie-wood/home/.
S Ventura, Varla. “Natalie Wood's Dark Waters.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 8 Sept. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/varla-ventura/natalie-woods-dark-waters_b_3567946.html.
S Pasquini, Maria. “Natalie Wood's Sister Thinks Robert Wagner Killed Star: 'I Know Exactly What Happened'.” PEOPLE.com, 27 July 2018, people.com/movies/natalie-woods-sister-thinks-robert-wagner-killed-star-i-know-exactly-what-happened/.
P Dailymail.com, Hannah Moore For. “Captain of Yacht Natalie Wood Was on before She Died Says Her Husband Robert Wagner Killed Her.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6111855/Captain-yacht-Natalie-Wood-died-says-husband-Robert-Wagner-killed-her.html.
S Fisher, Luchina. “What to Know about Natalie Wood's Still Unsolved 1981 Drowning Death.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 6 Feb. 2018, abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/natalie-woods-unsolved-1981-drowning-death/story?id=52880042.
S Dailymail.com, Snejana Farberov For. “Witness Says Natalie Wood Was Heard Crying for Help for 20 Minutes.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6115403/Witness-says-Natalie-Wood-heard-crying-help-20-minutes.html.
T Sherwell, Philip. “Natalie Wood Was Too 'Terrified' of Water to Try to Leave Robert Wagner on Yacht by Dinghy.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 19 Nov. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8901179/Natalie-Wood-was-too-terrified-of-water-to-try-to-leave-Robert-Wagner-on-yacht-by-dinghy.html.
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