Don't Go Near the Water: The Sequel

Back in January, I blogged about the reopening of the Natalie Wood cold case, segueing into other matters as is my wont.

http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2012/01/dont-go-near-water.html

This week in July, the cold case heated up. Well, talk about a comeback! Natalie's in the news big-time even without anything new to promote.

First, I read in National Enquirer about the latest news on the investigation. Frankly, many a gossip piece in the Enquirer is later published as legitimate news from other, more reliable sources, including The New York Times. The Enquirer, of course, doesn't burden itself with fact checkers. Neither does The New York Post as a rule. Of the two tabloids, I personally find National Enquirer generally more reliable.

"Bombshell new evidence," Enquirer said of Natalie Wood's mysterious death, suggests it "could have been murder!" (Gasp!) The paper then recommends that Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken, the other two passengers on the yacht, Splendour, expect some "legal trouble brewing." Ya think?

Wouldn'tcha know, though, only a couple of days later, the gossip made its way into legit news sources.

"The mystery surrounding Natalie Wood’s death deepened this week as a report emerged that her official cause of death had been quietly changed from an 'accident' to 'undetermined,'" wrote New York's Daily News. "The change was reportedly made because the coroner's original ruling [in 1981] was too hasty and did not account for the fact that there may have been another cause behind the bruising Wood sustained." Getting the shit kicked out of her is the inference I'm getting here.

Los Angeles Times blogged: After the new investigation began, the captain of the boat, Dennis Davern, gave several television interviews expressing skepticism about the original investigation and saying he believed that Wood was a victim of foul play. Of course, Cap'n Dennis' trustworthiness leaves something to be desired (see link).

Co-author Marti Ruli, obviously licking his lips that sales for his book, Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, may rebound, is quoted in The Sun Daily as saying, "It would have been virtually impossible to acquire that many bruises in so many areas of her body with one fall." Is this one of the reasons "a publicist for [husband] Wagner said in November that his family supported the police probe, while warning against people 'trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death"?

But Lana Wood, Natalie's sister said, in an interview with TMZ: "[W]hen Natalie was in the water, [Wagner] had forbidden the captain from helping her and said: 'Leave her there, teach her a lesson'." She insists that good ol' Cap'n Dennis Davern told her that. "He (Dennis) said that everyone was quite drunk and that a fight broke out and that Natalie was in the water and he and RJ did nothing to pull her out."

According to retired stockbroker Marilyn Wayne, she tried to report the star’s 'last desperate cries for help" but was ignored. 


Meanwhile, I certainly hope this doesn't all bring back a barrage of tasteless Natalie Wood jokes from the '80s. Such as: 


What did Princess Grace have that Natalie Wood could have used? A good stroke.
What’s Natalie's middle name? Drift.
You wouldn’t get drunk and jump off a boat, would you? Natalie Would.


 Look to National Enquirer for further updates. 

Ta-ta!