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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Natalie Wood death mystery episode 1: Cold case warms up!

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime, News

4.28.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2017

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Natalie Wood was one of Hollywood's biggest stars when her body washed up on a beach Thanksgiving weekend, 1981. Robert Wagner, also a huge star, has acknowledged that he and his wife argued before she disappeared off their yacht, which was anchored in a Catalina Island, California, harbor. Crime Stories re-examines the cause of death, which the Los Angeles coroner recently reclassified from "accidental" to "undetermined." The first episode in our series is with Sheryl McCollum, head of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Natalie Wood was one of the most popular sought after actresses in Hollywood.

0:10.0

This is America's sweetheart. This story is huge.

0:14.3

It was Thanksgiving weekend, 1981, when Wood and her actor husband Robert Wagner went sailing

0:20.0

on their yacht, the splendor. They were joined by actor and friend Christopher Walken.

0:25.3

This is crime stories with Nancy Grace.

0:28.6

The actor notified Captain Dennis Davern that Wood was not on board.

0:32.9

Then I said to Robert Wagner, let's turn on the search light to see if we can see her.

0:37.0

And he says, no, we don't want to do that right now.

0:39.2

Do you believe that maybe Robert Wagner has been hiding the real truth of what happened

0:44.1

that night all these years?

0:45.5

I fully believe that.

0:47.4

We ever see information which we felt was substantial enough to make us take another

0:51.0

look at this case.

0:52.2

It's old information that was never looked at, that should have been looked at.

0:58.1

He's a beautiful brunette, a mother.

1:02.9

Once you look into those brown eyes, you'll never forget them.

1:09.0

And oh yes, she's dead.

1:13.8

I'm talking about Natalie Wood.

1:16.7

Can you believe the saga of her watery death goes on?

1:23.8

It's still not settled.

1:27.4

What happened to Natalie Wood?

1:30.4

Was she murdered?

...

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