Natalie Wood

[Jim Eshelman]

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner are back in the news because LA officials, in 2011, reopened their investigation into her 1981 death. Police recently disclosed that Wagner is "more of a person of interest" than he was in 1981.

I thought I'd post some relevant data and let anyone interested examine the event. Might even get back to it myself, but the next week I have quite a few other things to catch up on (before the Caplunar in a few days, in particular).

Natalie Wood was born (AA: birth certificate) July 20, 1938, 11:16 AM, San Francisco, CA.

Robert Wagner was born (AA: birth certificate) Feb 10, 1930, 1:45 AM, Detroit, MI.

She died (drowning) off Catalina Island, CA (33N22, 118W25) on November 28, 1981, her body recovered at 8:00 AM on the 29th. Wagner said she wasn't around when he went to bed (she'd evidently taken a small boat out into the channel). She was somewhat bruised, and had alcohol and a painkiller in her blood (along with something like Dramamine for sea-sickness). Presumably the death occurred very late on the 28th or very early on the 29th; midnight might be a good working time. (Wagner and the captain sounded an alarm at 1:30 AM, so they'd discovered she was missing before that. I'm unclear whether this alarm was after the hour that Wagner spent morbidly drinking after they initially couldn't find her.)