The mysterious death of Hollywood screen beauty Natalie Wood during a wild night on the yacht belonging to her husband, actor Robert Wagner, has fascinated the world for more than four decades.
Robert, now 94, has always maintained that his wife, just 43, drowned on a solitary late-night ride in a dinghy. However, one question has always lingered over the tragic events of November 29, 1981 – was Natalie’s death an accident or did her husband kill her?
Two eyewitnesses have now come forward, including one male who says he heard Natalie’s screams the night she died. He didn’t come forward initially because her death was ruled a drowning.
The witnesses have spoken to author Marti Rulli for her new book, Natalie Wood and the Devil She Knew.
“It still bothers him,” Marti told RadarOnline.
Marti says the male witness was a 17-year-old worker on a fishing boat moored near Robert’s luxury yacht Splendour in California’s Catalina Sound. He came forward when the case was reopened in 2011 after the Los Angeles County coroner changed Natalie’s cause of death from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors”.
“[The witness] heard an argument, and he told me he heard Natalie’s screams that made him feel uncomfortable,” Marti says.
“But he didn’t report it to police because he thought it was an open-and-shut drowning case.”
Robert was named “a person of interest” amid a renewed probe into the case in 2018. However, he was cleared in 2022.
Marti also claims there is “additional evidence of abuse” from an 80-year-old woman who worked with Natalie in the 1960s. She reached out to reveal that she saw Robert manhandling Natalie in their dressing room.
Dennis Davern, the captain of Splendour, also told police that the cruise turned violent when Robert accused Natalie of having an affair with her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. Christopher was also present during the ill-fated trip.
Dennis says he saw Robert smash a wine bottle on a table. He then heard him scream: “Get off my f–king boat!” Dennis also claimed Robert refused to turn the searchlights on or radio for help for four hours after Natalie disappeared. Her bruised body was found the following morning.
Natalie’s sister Lana remains convinced Robert is responsible for her death. However, Natalie and Robert’s daughter Natasha Gregson-Wagner says the accusation is “preposterous”.
“He was always making her laugh, and she was always making him laugh,” Natasha told USA Today in 2020.
“It just seemed like they were basking in each other’s sunlight all the time.”
Robert has always denied the claims. He was cleared of all involvement in Natalie’s disappearance in 2022, maintaining that she headed off in the dinghy and never returned.
