LA Detectives Reopen Natalie Wood Case

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/142486225/la-detectives-reopen-natalie-wood-death-inquiry?ft=1&f=1001

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Homicide detectives have reopened their investigation of Natalie Wood's death nearly 30 years after the actress drowned in the waters off Southern California.

The renewed look at Wood's Nov. 29, 1981, death comes after detectives received new information about the case, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Thursday.

No additional details were provided, but a detective planned to hold a news conference Friday, and anyone with information about the case was being asked to contact sheriff's officials.

Wood drowned after a night of partying with husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken on the couple's yacht anchored off Santa Catalina Island. Her death was ruled an accident and it was determined that she had been drinking before her death.

A dinghy that had been attached to the couple's yacht, Splendor, was found in a Catalina cove.

Wood, a three-time Oscar nominee famous for roles in West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and other Hollywood hits, was 43 when she died.

The case has become one of Hollywood's most alluring mysteries. Wood's drowning sparked tabloid speculation that foul play was involved, but Wagner and Wood's sister have dismissed any suggestion there was foul play.

Laura Wood wrote in a biography on her sister, "What happened is that Natalie drank too much that night."

Wagner wrote in a 2009 autobiography that he blamed himself for his wife's death.

Phone and email messages to Wagner and Walken's publicists were not immediately returned.