In November 2011, the decades-old case of Natalie Wood’s mysterious death was officially reopened after a key witness admitted he had lied to police during the original investigation. The witness, Dennis Davern, was the captain of Wood’s yacht on the night she disappeared in 1981. He claimed that Wood and her husband, actor Robert Wagner, argued that evening, and that Wood flirted with actor Christopher Walken, which enraged Wagner. Davern alleged that Wagner prevented him from turning on the searchlights and from notifying authorities about Wood’s disappearance, effectively placing blame for her death on Wagner.
Christopher Walken, who had been on the yacht that night, hired a lawyer and cooperated fully with the reopened investigation. Authorities did not consider him a suspect at any point. The case saw several significant developments after it was reopened. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Chief Coroner amended Wood’s death certificate, changing the official cause of death from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors.
” This subtle but important change reflected the uncertainty surrounding the circumstances of her death. In January 2013, the coroner’s office released a 10-page addendum to Wood’s original autopsy report. The addendum suggested she may have sustained bruises before entering the water, though this could not be definitively confirmed. The finding added new questions to a case that had long been considered closed.
The investigation reached another turning point in February 2018, when police officially named Robert Wagner a “person of interest” in the case. Authorities confirmed that Wagner was the last person to see Wood alive before she disappeared from the yacht in the waters off Catalina Island. Despite these developments, Wagner was never charged with a crime in connection with Wood’s death. All claims against him remain speculation and unproven allegations.
Wood’s death continues to be one of Hollywood’s most enduring and unresolved mysteries.