The new report has thrown every major facet of the original coroner‘s report into question — but doesn’t go so far as calling it homicide.
By Christine Roberts / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
By Christine Roberts / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood during 38th Annual Golden Globe Awards at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States.
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Natalie Wood
A new review of Natalie Wood’s death suggests that the late actress may have been assaulted before she drowned.
Bruises on the three-time Oscar nominee’s wrists, knees and ankles could have been sustained prior to her "entry into the water," according to a Los Angeles Coroner's Office report obtained by the Daily News.
"A few day old bruises were on the back of [her] right thigh and knee but there were fresh bruises and scratches to the right posterior leg," the report states.
The review, released Monday, calls into question much of the original coroner’s report, which overlooked the bruising and ruled that Wood died from accidental drowning.
But the new review does not label her death a homicide.
“Since there are unanswered questions and limited additional evidence available for evaluation, it is opined by this Medical Examiner that the manner of death should be left as undetermined,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran wrote in the report.
Wood died on Nov. 29, 1981, after a night on a yacht with her husband, actor Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken.
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Robert Wagner, left, told authorities at the time of Wood's death that his wife, right, had fallen off the boat while possibly trying to secure of dinghy.
Wagner told authorities at the time that Wood fell into the water, possibly attempting to secure a dinghy that had been slamming into the side of the 60-foot-long boat.
Her body was recovered hours later floating in the waters near Catalina Island, Calif.
Authorities reopened the case on the 30th anniversary of Wood’s death in 2011 after new sources came forward with additional information.
The boat’s skipper Dennis Davern, for example, claimed to have heard a loud argument coming from Wood’s cabin hours before she went missing, CBS News reported.
In the summer of 2012, Los Angeles County coroner's officials changed Wood’s death certificate to attribute her tragic passing to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
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WOOD DIED AFTER SPENDING A NIGHT ON THE ABOVE BOAT WITH HER HUSBAND ROBERT WAGNER AND CHRISTOPHER WALKEN.
The certificate was also amended to state that the manner in which Wood wound up in the water was “not clearly established.”
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said officials have known about the new report’s results for several months and are not planning to change the status of the investigation, which remains open.
Wagner is not considered a suspect, Whitmore added.
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