The mysterious drowning of Natalie Wood off the coast of California in 1981 remains one of Hollywood’s great mysteries. Her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken have long been considered suspects, but did they push her overboard?

In his memoir Pieces of My Heart, Wagner claims he and Wood got into an argument and she left for her state room, where she heard the noise from the dinghy. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Who Killed Natalie Wood.

Natalie Wood was a talented actress who appeared in many popular movies in the 1940s and 1950s. She was famous for memorizing not just her own lines, but also those of the other actors on set. She was a dedicated worker who took the business seriously and earned a reputation as “One Take Natalie.” But even so, she rebelled against her mother’s tight control over her career and started to spend time with friends outside of work.

When she was 43, she was in the middle of filming her final movie. It was a sci-fi called Brainstorm, starring Christopher Walken. It was a period of great personal and professional success for both actors. They had become friends in real life and had a close bond onscreen. They had dinner and drinks on land on the evening of her death, then returned to their yacht around 10 p.m. According to her daughter Lana and Wagner’s 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart, they had gotten into an argument on the boat and Walken pushed her.

According to Los Angeles coroner Thomas Noguchi, she died of accidental drowning and hypothermia. His theory is that she slipped getting into the dinghy to leave and fell in, drowning. He did not suspect foul play, despite the fact that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.14 and a painkiller in her system when she died.

Noguchi’s ruling set off an explosion of tabloid speculation, but his conclusion that she was the victim of a drunken accident remains the official position to this day. The author points to manipulated evidence and eye-opening admissions (including concrete proof of Wagner’s cozy relationship with Frank Sinatra) suggesting that police were determined to close the case as an accident.

The author also reveals new information about the crime scene, including never-before-seen photos that contradict Noguchi’s account of events. The book’s expert medical examiner explains the cause and timing of unexplained bruising on Natalie’s back, as well as the location and significance of a scratch on her throat that may have been caused by a fingernail or thumbnail.

The Accident

Actress Natalie Wood was a beloved figure in Hollywood for decades, but her real-life death in a boating accident has remained a mystery. She was just 40 when she disappeared on a Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 while sailing her husband Robert Wagner’s 60-foot yacht, Splendour, off California’s Catalina Island. She had been accompanied by her Brainstorm costar, Christopher Walken, and the yacht’s skipper, Dennis Davern.

Almost immediately, suspicions were raised about the circumstances of the actress’s death. The Los Angeles County coroner initially ruled that she drowned, but later changed the cause of death to undetermined factors based on a closer examination of her bruises. In 2011, the sheriff’s department reopened the investigation after Davern came forward with details about an alleged fight between Wood and Wagner just moments before her death.

The new evidence that emerged in the case was shocking. It included a gruesome alleged story that Wood’s body was left floating in the water because she was hung in her jacket with her head above the surface by the neck strap. A new witness, a male employee of a boat moored near the yacht, also testified about hearing an argument. He told Marti Rulli that he thought the woman was screaming for help.

It did not make sense that Wood, who could barely swim, would leave her cabin in the middle of a storm to retrieve mail in her nightgown. Lana Wood said her sister was scared of the water and would never have done such a thing, not even to get some food from the grocery store.

Also, Lana Wood questioned the account of events given by Wagner, Walken and the yacht’s skipper. She said it didn’t sound plausible to her that they all got so intoxicated after dinner at Doug’s Harbor Reef that they were unable to return to the yacht in their dinghy, and that Wood would then take off into the water in such a small boat with no life vest. She also pointed out that her sister had a fear of water and was “terrified” to be in a boat.

The Drowning

When Hollywood star Natalie Wood drowned in 1981, the investigation quickly became a cold case. In the years that followed, many questions were raised by inconsistencies in witness testimony and holes in the police report. But it wasn’t until a sheriff’s homicide detective took the lead in the case that a new chapter of the story opened up.

At the time, Natalie Wood was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, thanks to her starring roles in West Side Story and Rebel Without A Cause. She was also a mother with two children from her relationships with actor Richard Gregson and TV producer Robert Wagner.

On the night of her death, Wood and Wagner were partying with friends on a friend’s yacht called Splendour. After a few drinks, the pair fought and Wagner went to talk to Walken. When he returned to his room, he saw that Wood was gone. He assumed she had taken the dinghy out to go party hopping but when ten or fifteen minutes passed and she didn’t return, he began searching for her. The next morning, the Coast Guard found her body floating a mile from the Splendour in the water wearing only her cotton nightgown and parka.

Coroner Thomas Noguchi ruled her death accidental drowning and hypothermia, with her blood alcohol level at 0.14 and a painkiller in her system. He based his conclusion on the theory that Wood, who couldn’t swim, got up in the middle of the night to re-tie the dinghy and slipped, drowning.

But the evidence didn’t add up. For one thing, a forensic expert said fresh bruises on Wood’s arms and knee, as well as a scratch on her neck, indicated she had been assaulted before she died. In 2011, the year after her death, the Los Angeles County sheriff reopened the case and changed her cause of death to drowning and other undetermined factors, citing the new evidence.

And in 2018, the sheriff’s department classified her death as suspicious, naming Wagner—who was almost 90 at the time of his arrest—a person of interest in the case. The investigation continues.

The Murder

Actress Natalie Wood, whose starring turns in films like West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause made her a major Hollywood star, died mysteriously at age 43 during a night of wild partying on her husband’s yacht. The original investigation ruled her death accidental, but a flurry of new evidence reveals a much more sinister conclusion: homicide.

On November 28, 1981, Natalie Wood boarded her husband Robert Wagner’s luxury yacht Splendour along with co-stars Christopher Walken and Dennis Davern to spend the night aboard. The trio had just wrapped filming on the science-fiction movie Brainstorm off the coast of Catalina Island. At approximately 8 a.m., the boat’s captain discovered that Wood was missing. After ten to 15 minutes of searching, he called Harbor Patrol and reported her missing. The next morning, her body was found a mile from the Splendour in an isolated cove known as Blue Cavern Point.

A number of bruises were photographed and recorded on the autopsy report, and Detective Ralph Hernandez’s suspicions grew when he realized that the location and timing of these marks lent credence to the theory that she had been assaulted by one or more assailants before her death. Other suspicious details included the location and timing of a large contusion on Wood’s right forearm, and a scratch on her throat that could have been made by a fingernail or thumbnail.

Another red flag was the conflicting stories told to the investigators by Wagner, Walken and Davern. In his 2008 memoir, Wagner wrote that he and Wood argued over the dinghy and she fell in the water when he tried to retie it. Davern later claimed he had withheld his version of events because he feared repercussions from Wagner and was intimidated into silence.

And then there were the claims by Wood’s sister, Lana, that her sister was terrified of water and that she would never have ventured into the sea on her own. Lana Wood also pointed out that Natalie was wearing her pajamas and boots when she went to the dinghy.