Natalie Wood Drowning Death Mystery 'Blown Wide-Open' By Two New Witnesses Who are 'Pointing Fingers at Her Hot-Headed Husband Robert Wagner'
Nov. 28 2024, Published 6:30 a.m. ET
The mystery behind actress Natalie Wood's drowning death 43 years ago has been blown wide open by stunning new evidence that points the finger squarely at her hot-tempered husband, Robert Wagner.
Blockbuster confessions from two new witnesses claimed that Wood was physically abused by the suave Hart to Hart star and was screaming for her life before disappearing from the yacht Splendour off California's Catalina Island at about 11 p.m. on November 28, 1981.
In an exclusive RadarOnline.com interview, author Marti Rulli said she believes the new smoking gun testimony will spark a grand jury investigation that will finally indict Wagner, 94.
"The case will remain open as long as Robert Wagner is alive because he is the suspect", said Rulli, who plans to detail the new witness testimony in her upcoming book, Natalie Wood and the Devil She Knew. "I still hold hope the Los Angeles DA will see fit to let the strong previous evidence, and the new evidence I have gathered, bring justice for Natalie's murder."
The new witnesses came forward after the case was reopened in 2011 and the Los Angeles County coroner changed the cause of death from "accidental drowning" to "drowning and other undetermined factors" the following year.
"The reason the witnesses didn't speak out earlier is because, at the time, the case was declared an accident so fast they just ignored what they saw or heard", explained Rulli, who previously coauthored the book Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour with the yacht's skipper, Dennis Davern.
One of them, a California man who was a 17-year-old worker on a fishing boat moored near the Splendour, contacted Rulli last year, still haunted by Natalie's screams.
"It still bothers him and he wanted to tell me what he knew", revealed Rulli, who asked that we keep the witness' identity private. "He heard an argument, and he told me he heard Natalie's screams that made him feel uncomfortable. But he didn't report it to police because he thought it was an open-and-shut drowning case."
The man's claim supports testimony by Davern, who told police the Thanksgiving weekend cruise turned violent when Wagner accused Wood, 43, of having an affair with her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, who was also on the yacht.
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Davern claims a raging Wagner smashed a bottle of wine on a table and began brawling with Wood just before she vanished.
At one point Davern heard Wagner scream: "Get off my f***ing boat!"
Davern said Wagner stopped him from turning on the searchlights or radioing for help until four hours after Wood went missing! Her battered and bruised body was found onshore the next morning near an inflatable dinghy.
Rulli was also contacted by a dying 80-year-old woman who claimed she was working with Wood in the 1960s when an angry Wagner manhandled the West Side Story sweetheart. "She said she saw Wagner come into their dressing room additional evidence of abuse!"
While Wagner's lawyers adamantly deny he had any involvement in Natalie's death, RadarOnline.com can reveal that another witness contacted police, claiming he lived next door to the celebrity couple in the 1950s.
"He remembers Natalie banging on the door in the middle of the night", said Rulli. "She was asking for a place to stay for the night because [Wagner] was going to kill her!"
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