L.A. sheriff reopening Natalie Wood case

Actor Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood on board the Queen Elizabeth II in April 1972, after a hectic storm at sea, where they announced that they would remarry.

/ AP

(CBS) Hollywood icon Natalie Wood, star of "Splendor in the Grass" and "Rebel Without a Cause," ended up drowning in the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night in 1981 under what many believe was suspicious circumstances. Now, Los Angeles police believe they have enough information to reopen the investigation into her death, reports CBS-2 TV in Los Angeles.

More details will be announced Friday at a press conference in Los Angeles Sheriff's Homicide Detectives said they decided to look into the case again because they were recently contacted by "persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning."

Pictures: Natalie Wood
Pictures: Robert Wagner

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that comments made by the captain of the boat off which Wood drowned on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her death prompted the reexamination.

Captain Dennis Davern was recently interviewed for a collaboration between the magazine Vanity Fair and the television series "48 Hours Mystery" that focuses on Wood's death. A primetime special airs Saturday, Nov. 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Natalie Wood Wagner - married at the time for the second time to actor Robert Wagner - died on Nov. 29, 1981.

She drowned - while boating with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken - off the Isthmus of Catalina Island. Her death was investigated at the time and ruled an accident by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

Robert Wagner on Natalie Wood's death
48 Hours Presents Vanity Fair: Hollywood Scandal

Time magazine reported at the time that Wood was "full of wine" when she stumbled "off a quarter-million-dollar yacht in her nightgown...while her actor-husband sits oblivious with her film co-star a few yards away."

Wood's sister, Lana, asked for the case to be re-opened last March.

When her body was found, Wood was wearing a parka and it was believed at the time she fell overboard and the parka filled with water and caused her to drown.

40 Photos

Natalie Wood

[Tarzan98]

Walken and Wagner were having gay sex. Natalie caught them fudge packin'. The rest is maritime history.

[ampsanne]

Dallasdiamonds you are probably right about that captain. I got a look at him this morning on the TV. He looked like he crawled out from underneath a rock and is in need of some money. That's why he is claiming what he heard that night. Why is that these people never speak out when needed,instead wait until years later? Probably if the truth be known they were all in such a drunken stupor they really don't know what happened.

[raycatcher]

I think the chances of proving anything beyond a reasonable doubt after such a long time are very slim. This can only result in a media circus and perhaps a showy trial that will keep the public entertained for a while. Let her rest in peace.

[andelman]

Conspiracy theorists will find much to think about in a 2009 Mr. Media audio interview with Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood's yacht captain, Dennis Davern, and his 'Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour' co-author Marti Rulli. Was it an accident -- or was it murder? Listen to it here: http://www.mrmedia.com/?p=826 .

[PSolver2]

Robert Wagner and/or Christopher Guest shoved her to shut her mouth when she put on her parka and discovered what they were doing on that boat deck at 1 am while they thought she was safely knocked out from wine and didn't look back. I don't know how either one of them live with their self. It Takes a Thief, or 2.

[mari1963]

I have never believed that Wagner or Walken were innocent. They know what they did, now it needs to be proven so they both can go to jail. I hope they are found guilty. And Robert Wagner was seeing Jill St. John probably before Natalie died too. Cheater !

[dallasdiamonds]

Christopher Guest is married to Jamie Lee Curtis..it was Christopher Walken on board The Splendour.....in any case...I think the Captain is old and broke and wanting to profit .....reeks of " my 15 minutes of fame"