Natalie Wood's sister 'always thought' husband Robert Wagner was responsible for her drowning death: 'I think he's a coward'
Photograph by PA Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
- The circumstances surrounding actress Natalie Wooden's 1981 dying have lengthy been mysterious.
- In "Little Sister," Lana Wooden presents a attainable offender: Natalie's husband, actor Robert Wagner.
- "It might imply all the things to Natalie" if her case was lastly resolved, Lana informed Insider.
Actress Lana Wooden has all the time believed actor Robert Wagner performed a task within the mysterious death of her sister and his spouse, actress Natalie Wooden.
"I've all the time thought so and I selected to not say something," Lana advised Insider. "I simply felt it was greatest to maintain my mouth shut."
However now, 40 years after Natalie drowned off the coast of Santa Catalina Island, Lana is doubling down on her accusations towards Wagner, which she first began making publicly again in 2018 — and this time, she's not holding again.
The previous "Bond Woman," now 75, is diving again into one in every of Hollywood's most notorious unsolved instances — and the trenches of her personal private heartbreak — in a brand new memoir, "Little Sister: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood," telling Insider the guide is supposed to set the report straight on the life and demise of her beloved older sister.
"There had been a lot stated about Natalie; some issues blatantly unfaithful and imply," Lana stated. "No one was portraying her precisely."
"And all of the sudden it dawned on me that as an alternative of simply saying, 'oh, that's nonsense,' I wanted to have Natalie's again."
A dying in 'darkish waters'
The Oscar-nominated Natalie Wooden, who starred in Hollywood hits like "West Aspect Story" and "Insurgent With no Trigger," was 43 when her physique was discovered floating within the ocean off Catalina Island on Thanksgiving weekend, 1981. She had been vacationing on a yacht together with her husband, Robert [RJ] Wagner, her "Brainstorm" co-star and pal Christopher Walken, and the ship's captain, Dennis Davern.
Her preliminary explanation for dying was dominated an unintentional drowning. Wooden's blood alcohol content material was zero.14% and Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi prompt the actress might have slipped into the freezing water whereas making an attempt to tie up the vessel's dinghy.
However from the beginning, Lana was skeptical of the proposed rationalization. Based on Lana, Natalie had a lifelong worry of "darkish waters" and by no means would have tried to re-board the dinghy on her personal in the midst of the night time.
For 10 years, Lana stated she lived in anguish, suffering from unanswered questions on her sister's dying, as Natalie's husband, actor Robert Wagner, refused to offer particulars about Natalie's last night time.
In "Little Sister," Lana alleges that following the demise, Wagner reduce out Lana utterly, "blacklisting" her from the leisure business and trashing her within the press.
A consultant for Wagner didn't instantly reply to Lana's allegations.
Photograph by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Assortment by way of Getty Photographs
Familial struggles
Regardless of the strife between the in-laws, Lana stated for years she kept away from brazenly blaming Wagner for Natalie's demise, in hopes that a relationship could possibly be salvaged with Natalie's two daughters.
Following Natalie's dying, her two daughters, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Courtney Wagner continued to be raised by Robert Wagner — Courtney's father and Natasha's stepfather.
"RJ was the one mum or dad that they had left. That they had no one," Lana informed Insider. "If I used to be being overly vehement and pointing a finger again then, I used to be doing nothing however hurting the youngsters."
Lana stated she was continuously fearful about how the women, who have been 11 and seven when their mom died, have been dealing with the grief. However she had no contact together with her nieces.
"I simply felt it was greatest to maintain my mouth shut and maybe I might see them, maybe I might speak to them once more," she stated. "It was hope. That was all."
Each of Natalie's daughters, now 51 and 47, have lengthy stood by Wagner relating to hypothesis round their mom's demise. In her 2020 ebook, "More Than Love," Natasha mentioned her ongoing religion in Wagner's innocence.
"The circumstances of precisely how Natalie Wooden ended up within the water won't ever be clearly established as a result of she was alone when she died. And so I concentrate on the issues I do know, that as sure as I'm that the earth is spherical, my father [Wagner] would by no means have harmed my mom or failed to save lots of her if he knew she was in peril," she wrote.
Representatives for each Natasha and Courtney didn't instantly reply to Insider's request for remark.
However even again then, there was one more reason Lana resisted accusing Wagner publicly: She needed to consider her brother-in-law, whom she had recognized since she was 9, was harmless.
"I don't hate RJ. I've recognized him all my life," she informed Insider. "It was my feeble hope that maybe it was true that it was an accident."
"However I used to be kidding myself," she added.
A break within the case
In 1992, greater than a decade after Natalie's demise, the yacht's captain, Dennis Davern, contacted Lana, confessing he hadn't advised police the whole lot he knew about that fateful night time. He alleged the vacation had been tense from the beginning and remembered Wagner expressing anger about Natalie inviting Walken on the journey.
The captain additionally advised Lana that he heard Wagner and Natalie preventing behind the boat earlier than studying Natalie had gone lacking. In response to Davern's own 2006 memoir, the captain stated Wagner instructed him to search around for Natalie, however informed him to not radio for assist, out of concern that the publicity may "tarnish his picture."
Davern didn't instantly reply to Insider's request for remark.
Davern's admissions to Lana got here across the similar time that she gained entry to the unique police report, sparking her personal investigation into the incident. Based on Lana, she was struck by various regarding parts, together with reviews that Wagner had been interviewed by authorities for lower than 10 minutes within the instant aftermath of Natalie's dying and witness statements that appeared to have been dismissed by the preliminary investigators.
"Issues like which were completely haunting me endlessly," she stated.
In 2009, a crowdsourced petition, spurred by Davern's new revelations and Lana's newbie sleuthing, referred to as for a brand new investigation into Natalie's dying.
Two years later, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Division reopened Natalie's case, citing "further info," and in 2018, detectives labeled her death "suspicious," for the primary time. However probably the most essential improvement got here later that yr when authorities officially named Wagner a "person of interest" in Natalie's dying. In "Little Sister," Lana describes her less-than-enthusiastic response to the pivotal replace.
"I stored ready to really feel pleasure, or shock, or aid," Wooden writes. "It didn't occur ... 'Individual of curiosity' was progress, however 'not a suspect' meant there was nonetheless an extended solution to go earlier than perhaps, lastly, [Wagner] can be correctly interrogated."
A detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Division advised Insider that Natalie's dying continues to be thought-about suspicious, given the remaining unanswered questions.
"Her husband on the time, Robert Wagner, is the final recognized individual to be with Ms. Woods [sic] previous to her dying, and Investigators want to interview him," Detective Ralph Hernandez stated in a press release. "The objective of the investigation is to verify the reality of how she ended up within the water, thus offering the way of her dying."
The case will stay open till it's solved, he added.
Photograph by Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Pictures
Coming to her personal conclusion
Few consequential updates within the case have come within the years since, and Lana acknowledged it's possible she'll by no means see her sister's case resolved.
"I don't know that it'll," she stated. "I really like surprises. I really like if issues go the correct approach, however I simply critically don't know."
"I simply want he had the capability to easily inform the reality," she stated of Wagner. "I feel he's a coward and I've no respect for him."
The seeming stall in Natalie's reopened case hasn't stopped Lana from conceiving her personal model of what she believes occurred on the again of the Splendour that fateful night time.
"I consider … RJ delivered a blow to the left aspect of Natalie's face that knocked her unconscious," Wooden writes, citing the bruises and reduce discovered on Natalie that have been recorded by the LA Coroner's workplace.
"I consider that, all of the sudden panic-stricken when he realized what he'd executed, RJ made the deadly determination to place Natalie within the water to keep away from being held answerable for what had occurred," she wrote within the memoir. "I consider that every part he did afterward ... was all about overlaying up ... the drunken, jealous, rage-filled second."
A consultant for Wagner didn't instantly reply to Insider's request for remark relating to Lana's accusations. The 91-year-old has beforehand denied wrongdoing in Natalie's dying.
Protecting Natalie's reminiscence alive
The resurgence of curiosity in Natalie's demise in recent times has been each difficult and gratifying. "I don't need Natalie forgotten," Lana stated.
Her memoir comes almost two years after Natalie's daughter, Natasha, produced an HBO documentary honoring her mom referred to as "Natalie Wooden: What Stays Behind." Within the hour-long movie, Natasha sits throughout from her stepfather, whom she calls "Daddy Wagner," and discusses the occasions of November 29, 1981, in an effort to dispel rumors that Wagner performed a task in her demise.
The movie rubbed Lana the incorrect means and partially impressed her to publish her personal interpretation of occasions, she stated.
"It was good that Natasha needed to try this. However all Natasha is aware of is what RJ advised her about it," she stated. "In order that upset me."
Lana advised Insider she doesn't assume there's a lot hope left for a potential reunion between her and Natalie's daughters.
"If there's, that's past fantastic," she stated. "If there isn't, that's the best way it's been for a while now."
However she hopes that this new e-book will assist maintain the reminiscence of Natalie — "not merely as a film star, however as an individual who had a full life" — alive. And maybe even result in some long-sought-after peace.
"It might imply every thing to Natalie" if her case was lastly resolved, Lana stated. "She might relaxation."
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