True Crime with Kendall Rae - How Did Natalie Wood Die?

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Natalie Wood was a famous child actress who moved into young adult acting as she grew older. In November 1981, while out on a boat with her husband Robert Wagner, something happened, and she disappeared. Her body was found the next day, and the whole situation seemed highly suspicious. Archive episode disclaimer: This is an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound different compared to newer episodes. And since this is an older recording, it’s possible that certain updates may not be included. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Hatch Green Chef - promo code: 60kendallrae Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hey everyone, it's Kendall Ray. I just wanted to jump in here with an editor's note. This is actually an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound a bit different from my newer episodes. And since this is an older recording, it's possible that certain updates may not be included. Now onto the episode. The case we're going to be talking about today is the case of Natalie Wood. Multiple famous people involved, so this is very, very interesting and I'm excited to get into it. So not only did I want to do this case for talk Tuesday because it's in the news right

now, people are talking about it, but also because my last video was about a drowning victim. And so it's fresh in everybody's mind. And today we are talking about another case of drowning. Last week they announced that someone had come forward in the case and in the press conference last night they announced that the details around this night don't really add up to what we found. So Natalie Wood was born on July 20th of 1938. She was born in San Francisco, California. Her parents were named Maria and Nikolai and they were both Russian immigrants who were born in Russia,

but Maria had this dream of having her daughter be a famous actress. Not only was a show pony from pretty much the moment she was born, she did 18 films as a child. We were living in Santa Rosa, which is a town in Northern California, and a film company came on location, and they just needed some little girl to drop an ice cream cone. I couldn't read, of course. I was only in kindergarten,

so the lines were read to me, and I learned them, you know, just from hearing them. She first appeared in Happyland in 1943, and then another big maybe that she did was Miracle on 34th Street. Come, right down. You know you should run around and other people's houses, you know better than that. But this is my house, mommy.

So what I asked Mr. Feng's story, is it is I know it is. My room upstairs is just like I knew it would be, oh you were right, mommy. Mommy told me things don't turn out just the way you want him to the first time. You still got to believe. Now what's interesting about Natalie

is she had a major fear of water. So much so that she was afraid to go in swimming pools or even wash her hair. And when she was younger, she actually went to a psychic. And this psychic told her that she would become a big star one day and she did. But she also told her to be aware of dark water. So that obviously was always a big factor in her life.

And what's crazy is that her mom continued throughout her childhood to tell her, don't forget, the psychic said you'd die in dark water, like would torture her with that. So great parenting skills. And then she had another insulin with water, which was about 10 years old. She was on a set of the green promise. And there was this bridge. And this bridge was actually great to collapse for whoever was on it to fall off and fall into the water below. And Natalie was obviously really terrified of this, so her mom told her that the bridge was not rigged to go down that she would just go across the bridge. So she trusted her mom and she did this and the bridge broke, she fell in, she broke her wrist and she was terrified of water after that.

And I really question her mom a lot because her mom did not even take her to a doctor to get a wrist fix. She literally just had to like let it heal on her own a broken ring and she had a permanent scar on her wrist that they covered up with a bracelet. I have to tell you about one of my favorite brands and one of my favorite products that is Hatch and the Hatch Restore 2. I can't tell you how much I truly love my Restore 2 and how much I need it to sleep to the point where I don't even travel without it. It comes with me in my suitcase.

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And if you haven't heard of him because he's older now, he was a famous actor. He's almost old Hollywood status. He was in the happy years. He was signed with 20th Century Fox. He was also in with his song in my heart, Transvalent, a true story of Jesse James. It kissed before dying, the pink panther. It takes a thief, switch, heart to heart. He played one of the henchmen for Dr. Evil in Austin Powers and he also

has had a reoccurring role on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. So Natalie and Robert Wagner actually met when she was only 10 years old and he was 18. They met in the hallway when they were both working in the same studio onto for projects. As soon as Natalie turned 18, the pair began dating. And what's interesting is the pair was actually set up by 20th Century Fox as you know, just like a couple for publicity because that is so real. That is not a conspiracy, that is real. Couples do get set up in Hollywood all the time, but they actually did fall in love. And Natalie from a very young age was saying he was the most gorgeous man I've ever seen in my life and I will marry him one day.

So that you got married in 1957 and they actually ended up getting divorced a few years later. And she got remarried and so did he. She actually married a producer named Robert Greggson and that was in 1971. They actually did have a daughter together and her name was Natasha. However, Natalie ended up leaving him and went back with Robert Wagner and he loved his spells too. And the two of them linked back up. They actually got remarried. That is a lot of work to go through a full divorce and then come back together and get remarried.

They actually had their own daughter together named Courtney once they were back together and the two of them raised Natasha and Courtney as a little family. And they had this obsession with water again, which is so weird. They actually got married in a friend's yacht off Catalina Island and she actually sent Robert a little note on the day they got married that that said, Dearest, here's to smooth sailing for us from now on. So they got married on the ocean and they actually fell in love on the ocean as well. Wagner in his book in 2008 said that he saw her one night on his boat that they were having dinner on a boat

lived by candlelight and that's when he knew he was gonna fall in love with her. So water was always a thing for them they even had sort of a logo and it was like two birds above each other, two seabulls. So the ocean was always a thing for them even though Natalie was terrified of the water. Now we're going to jump to the weekend of Thanksgiving of 1981. They had actually bought a boat, they had their own boat, and it was called the Splendor, which was named after one of the movies that Natalie did. At the time Natalie was working on a movie with Christopher Walken, and it was called Brainstorm. And Robert was actually doing his own project at the time called Heart to Heart, and the three of them decided to go on this little boat weekend together. Now, jealousy had always been an issue in Natalie's relationship with Robert.

He had always been jealous. I guess didn't have the confidence in their relationship. He always thought she was going to leave him for someone she was working with and Christopher Walken was a very good looking guy back then. So he was very, very jealous of him and their relationship. They built up quite a friendship working on a show together and Robert was very threatened by this. And the whole time that they were on the boat, Natalie and Christopher Walken were having a great time together, laughing, joking, and Robert Wagner was just seething.

He was so jealous. And that night they docked at Abelon and they went offshore and drank a ton of three of them. They came back to the boat. I'm not sure at Christopher Walkendag he was off on his own, maybe in his own room on the boat, but the two of them started fighting and multiple people saw this and it's accounted for that they were arguing a lot. And it seemed like Natalie was actually the instigator from some of the witness perspective, which these are witnesses that were on other boats near them. So it's kind of hard to say how much they could have actually seen.

That night they were specifically fighting because Robert wanted to move the boat somewhere else and he actually did have a captain, Captain Davern. And he wanted to move the boat, but it was really, really late at night. It was dark and there was actually a storm. So Natalie was fighting with him because she just wanted to keep the boat where it was. I mean late at night. It was dark and there was actually a storm. So Natalie was fighting with him because she just wanted to keep the boat where it was.

I mean, she was terrified of water. So the idea of traveling around the water and the dark really freaked her out. So that's what they were fighting about that Friday night. The fight continued. She got so upset she wanted to get off the boat and go back to shore. She asked Captain Dabbern,

who was their employee to take her back to shore. And he did, he took her back to shore and the two of them got a hotel. She got two separate rooms. He stayed up with her and drank that night and she was talking about all her issues with Robert and she had planned to try to get off the island but it was late at night, she couldn't get a flight.

There was bad weather so she was like, I'll just stay here in this hotel and I'll leave in the morning. I think she was just about done with Robert's jealousy. It was driving her absolutely insane. You guys know how much I love Hello Fresh and another great meal service that I also love is Green Chef, which is now owned by Hello Fresh. And now my listeners can enjoy both brands at a discount with me. Green Chef is the number one meal kit for eating clean, with dinners that work

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island. The tension was building throughout the whole weekend of Robert Wagner being jealous of Christopher walking. Robert Wagner and myself we joined joined Christopher Natalie at the restaurant for dinner. We had dinner, we had drinks. So Robert Wagner showed up and he apparently was really upset. According to witnesses, he was angry because the two of them were actually like they were having more fun without him. They were almost ignoring him, having a great time together. And he was just insanely jealous.

When they left, they were super intoxicated. So intoxicated that the bar owner had to call the harbor master and tell them, hey, look, there's these celebrities is Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Christopher walking, they're like, lawn room. So it's just kind of like a lounge area. And Natalie actually started making a pot of tea. Everything seemed to be fine. And then according to Captain Daubert, this is hard because Captain Daubert waited years before coming for it with this information. He completely went along with Robert Wagner's version of events until he finally decided to get the courage to come forward. But that makes him a really problematic witness because like why did you say something

sooner? But according to him, Robert randomly got so angry that he picked up a wine bottle. The Robert Wagner had picked up the bottle of wine and smashed it right in front of Natalie and Christopher on the coffee table. And then asked Christopher walk in if he was trying to fuck his wife. Christopher stood up and he went directly to his state room.

So obviously, Natalie got really upset because that's not only just ridiculous, but it's embarrassing to her probably. So she left the room, he follows her. Christopher Walken goes elsewhere. It doesn't want to be part of this. And according to Dauver, he could hear them fighting so loudly that it sounded like someone was being assaulted.

That night Robert Wagner Natalie would for OSHA's fight going on. That night, Robert Wagner and Ali would, uh, for OSHA's fight going on, you turned up your music so they would not think in your mind that you were eavesdropping or trying to hear them, but you did hear them. Yeah, I guess I did. Um, Captain Divern actually went down to the

room. He knocked on the door and Robert Wagner answered the door and he said, go away. Then they are going on to the FDEC. Multiple witnesses heard them fighting from other boats and then they all have the same story. Suddenly the fighting just stopped. Moments later, everything became silent. So I thought that maybe they were making up and maybe they were going to go to bed and that was going to be the end of it. And just I I'm gonna go to the F-deck and just see

her things okay. Robert Wagner was standing there, leaning his back against the back of the boat, facing the boat, and he said that Natalie was missing and what I go search the boat. And he just said that she's gone, she's missing. What the hell, off of a boat? That is such a weird thing to randomly come up with

to say at first. I just was so struck by that. So odd. They actually found that the boat's dinghy, which is dinghy if you don't know is like a little life boat that they tie onto a boat in case you have to evacuate the boat or like the oftentimes is mostly used just to get back to short like to go drink in a bar or something. So this thing is tied to the boat. Natalie was nowhere on the boat. I looked in Christopher State state room. I looked in the other empty state room, and she wasn't there. So I said to Robert Wagner, he said to me, he said,

well, he said the dinghy has gone too. I just knew that Natalie was so deathly afraid of the water, not really capable of taking that boat by herself. So Robert said, you know, I'm sure she just went to the town, to go into a bar or something. Let's not freak out. And Captain Daverin was like, well, let's turn on the search

lights, let's call, make a call that we have a missing passenger on the boat. I thought, well, let's turn on the search light and let's just see if we can see her. He said, no. And Robert Wagner was like, no, no, no, no, we don't want to do that. We're not going to do that.

He actually opened up a bottle of liquor and had captain davern sit down with him and drink for an hour. After now, or captain daverns like, dude, she's not back. We haven't heard from her. I have got to make this call. So he's like, okay, yeah, I guess we should probably make a call now. He knew about her being missing at about midnight. The call didn't come in that she was missing to the Coast Guard until 1.30 a.m. Every time that there is an odd lack of reporting or a hesitation to report someone missing, there's something sketch going on. That's such a red flag. So the next day, Natalie Wood's body was found by a lifeguard and the dinghy was found about a mile from where her body was found. Natalie Wood was buried Wednesday and a quiet ceremony.

The services were attended by close friends in the Hollywood community. Frank Sinatra, Saralore and Olivia, Rock Hudson, Jean Kelly, Fred Astaire, Gregory Peck. At the last moment, Robert Wagner bent to kiss the casket in farewell. She was found in a heavy coat, a night gown, and wool socks. This is really weird because she's a celebrity. Like, is she gonna go to town, get on a dany, and go to town, and her nightgown and socks, like this makes no sense. So this was pretty much immediately rolled

and accidental drowning. The story that they believed was that she wanted to get off the boat, maybe she was mad at it, Robert wanted to, you know, get a little break from him. So she took the d untied at herself, got in it and left. And this made no sense, because first of all, she's terrified of water.

This is the middle of the night, like midnight, and it was storming. Why would she leave with a jacket socks and a night gown in the middle of the night, and was also weird, she never asked Captain Dabber to untie the boat for her. Like the night before, literally the night before, she asked him to take her to town, and he did.

Why would she just ask him to do that again? When the medical examiner looked at her body, there were fresh bruises on her. The coroner believes that they were probably made by someone else, and they happened before she drowned. There was an autopsy report that showed that she was drinking probably several glasses of wine. I'm sure she was pretty intoxicated.

But even then, would you just get in a boat if you were that terrified of water? Like I've done things when I'm drunk that are stupid. But I've never done something that I'm like terrified of or have absolutely no knowledge about doing. Her family kind of has mixed feelings on this. Her daughter does not believe that Robert Wagner had anything to do with it.

She's maintained to this day that she believes he's innocent, that it was an accident, and he continued to care for her whole life. After her mother's death, Natasha continued living with her stepfather, actor Robert Wagner, who treated her as his own daughter from the age of one. He is the greatest. I love him so much. There's obviously so much mystery surrounding that night. In 2011, the case was reopened. There was the ship captain who came out and said,

the parents were arguing. You think your stepfather was involved. So you don't think your stepfather had anything to do with it. Oh, I know he didn't. What do you think happened, then? I think it was an accident. Her sister on the other hand is always believed it was Robert Wagner.

Somebody's lying. Somebody hurt her. Somebody's hurting all of us. Lana Wood believes Natalie's now 87 year old husband Robert Wagner is not telling everything he knows. Stand up and tell me the truth. I know things go bad. I know people lose their temper. I know bad things happen when you don't want them to so stand up and tell me that.

Robert had a different theory in his book. He said that he thinks that she was trying to tie the dinghy closer to the boat because it was banging against the boat, making too much noise and she couldn't sleep. So she went out there to tie it closer to the boat. Yeah, right. She was a celebrity who has her own captain to do these types of things.

Like, why would she go out and do this? So he claims that she went onto the swim step, tried to untie the dinghy, slipped on moss, and fell in the water and died. Her sister says that there is no way that not only would have gone in a dark boat that late at night, there is absolutely no way. Like she's terrified especially of dark water. It doesn't make you think of psychics a little differently when you hear that they predicted that not only would she be famous, but she would die in dark water. So like I said, the death was rolled in accidental drowning.

There was never really too much going on with it after that, wasn't making a lot of news after that, because it was kind of just a dent. Everyone sort of accepted that she just died in the water. I mean, that's what her daughter believes. She drowned. It was an accident. Then in 2011, Captain Dabber and came forward

and told the truth and said that they had been fighting. He smashed a wine bottle. There was so much fighting that he thought there was a salt going on. So he comes forward with all this information and it really switches everything on. Then in 2012, the coroner actually stated that she looked like a victim of a salt and they changed the status from accidental drowning to drowning in other undetermined factors. After that, Robert Wagner was considered a person of interest mainly because he was the last person seen. There's always been this kind of cloud of suspicion around him since then, but last night,

they announced their new witness is coming for it and that the details of Robert's story just do not add up. We hope we're all, we're all just taking a look at this case back we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're all we're about the case, so I'd never come forward. So they end up coming forward and tell us their story. And that's one of the things we've run into this case, and in many cases, is like, people don't think their information, what they know might not be important. Well, it wasn't this case,

and it's helped us recreate some of the timeline and what happened on that weekend, and then right up to the point where Nally Wood ends up going into the water. We interviewed a lot of new people and people on the island, people who were more, more near the boat that night or that weekend, people who had a new, a new couple or had knowledge of what was going on that weekend so it's been extremely helpful. Well, you know, this is a suspicious death investigation. It's not a murder investigation. So he's not a suspect of like a comedian, a murder, or a crime.

We're just trying to figure out what happened. The United States of America, we can't, you know, he can say, no, I don't want to talk to you. So, and that's his right. We understand that. And we've tried to talk to him. And so far, he's, I didn't want to, he doesn't want to talk to us.

They just want to talk to Robert and he is refused to cooperate with them. So don't get confused, there's no charges yet. They just believe that they're closer to understanding what actually happened. The biggest part that's not adding up for them is that no one heard a splash of her falling in the water and no one heard the dinghy start up and leave.

The whole story just really makes no sense and I really hope that they figure out what actually happened. Because in my opinion, the fact that they were arguing like that, obviously in a drunken rage, she could have done something to her out of anger. Very, very interesting story. No one quite knows. There's so much confusion around this, but I would love to know your thoughts on it. What do you think actually happened that night? That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode.

And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcast. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.