Did Hollywood actress Natalie Wood really drown on this day 42 years ago? The autopsy report confuses investigators
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When a famous Hollywood actress who can’t swim ends up face-down in the ocean off of Santa Catalina Island, it definitely becomes a case that turns heads.
“West Side Story” actress Natalie Wood’s death has tracked “tabloid speculation and whispers of a deeper story” for four decades, especially when the L.A. County coroner changed the cause of her death.
Around the 30th anniversary of her death, in November 2011, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case and changed Wood’s cause of death from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors,” according to the L.A. Times.
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Why did the coroner change the cause of death in Natalie Wood’s case?
A 10-page supplemental note was added to Wood’s autopsy report in 2011 where it was detailed that there were both “recent bruises” and “a few day old bruises” with “no particular pattern.”
Some of these reported bruises and “abrasions” were found on the “extremities” and on the “left side of the face.”
The note elaborated that the “bruises especially in the upper extremities appeared fresh and could have occurred before (Wood) entered the water.”
After describing the injuries Wood had apparently sustained, the supplemental note continued saying that, “there are conflicting statements as to when the decedent went missing from the boat and whether there were verbal arguments between the decedent and her husband.”
“This medical examiner is unable to exclude non-volitional, unplanned entry into the water,” the note L.A. coroner’s report determined.
NBC News reported on this document’s findings saying that Chief Coroner Investigator and Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said, “there will be no further statement by the coroner regarding the Natalie Wood death injury.”
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What is the timeline of Natalie Wood’s death?
The Natalie Wood death timeline states the following order of events:
Nov. 28, 1981: “Wood and her then-spouse Robert Wagner boarded their yacht with Christopher Walken and boat captain Dennis Tavern.”
Nov. 28, 1981: “Wood went missing at 11:05 p.m. that evening.”
Nov. 29, 1981: “Following Wood’s disappearance, a ship-to-shore call was made at 1:30 a.m.. The Coast Guard was alerted thereafter at 3:30 a.m..”
Nov. 29, 1981: “Wood’s body was discovered at around 8:00 a.m. in the water approximately a mile away from the boat. Her death was initially considered a drowning accident.”
Sept. 1, 1997: “Walken offered a theory into the night of Wood’s death in an interview with Playboy, saying: ‘Anybody there saw the logistics — of the boat, the night, where we were, that it was raining — and would know exactly what happened.’”
Nov. 17, 2011: “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened their initial investigation into Wood’s death after receiving ‘additional information’ by person who contacted authorities.”
Jan. 14, 2013: “Wood’s cause of death was changed from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
Jan. 18, 2013: “Wagner refused to speak with detectives despite not being a suspect, police said.”
Harpers Bazaar reported that in a dinner prior to Wood’s disappearance and death, Wood, Wagner, Walken and Davern “enjoyed a champagne-filled dinner at the restaurant Doug’s Harbor Reef in Catalina before re-boarding the yacht for the evening.”
“The fact that her stomach contained 500 cc of partially digested food material supports the opinion of the time of death being around midnight, especially given the information that dinner was consumed between 8 and 9 p.m.,” the supplemental report detailed.
The report further determined that “given the temperature of the water and the time of death opined in autopsy report, it looks as though that Ms. Wood drowned within a short time of her entry into the water.”
With the location of her bruises leading investigators to reportedly assume, “bruising having occurred prior to the entry into the water.”
The coroner’s report in Wood’s case detailed, “it is opined by this Medical Examiner that the manner of death should be left as undetermined.”
