Robert Wagner Vs. Shipboard Witness — Natalie’s Final Hours
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Robert Wagner insists that Natalie Wood's mysterious death by drowning can be easily explained — but the captain of his yacht says that the beloved star is covering up the truth!
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Photo credit: NatENQ/Files
On the evening of Nov. 28, 1981, Wagner took his yacht Splendour out to California's Santa Catalina island with Natalie and Christopher Walken. After an evening on shore, recalled Wagner, "we reached the yacht in a happy frame of mind...During dinner, I got into a political debate with Walken, and we continued it aboard the yacht. Natalie left us after half an hour, and we sat talking for another hour."
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Photo credit: NatENQ
Dennis Davern, the captain of the Splendour, remembers the night differently — claiming that Natalie had been drinking and taking Quaaludes with her husband and Walken. Instead of a political debate, said Dennis, Wagner instead became convinced Walken was flirting with his wife, smashing a wine bottle on a table and yelling at Walken: “What do you want to do, f**k my wife? Is that what you want?”
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In both accounts, the doomed actress left Wagner and Walken alone — although Dennis says the "humiliated" actress left the room in tears. According to Wagner, he later "went down to kiss Natalie goodnight, and found her missing. I wasn't alarmed, and casually went looking for her throughout the boat. I noticed the dinghy was missing. I thought perhaps she had gotten moody and gone to shore.”
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Photo credit: NatENQ
But according to Dennis, Wagner was heard from the bridge of the yacht screaming: “Get off my f**king boat!” He told investigators that a later search revealed that the dinghy was missing and Natalie was no longer on board — and Wagner appeared “flushed, anxious, nervous and disheveled.” Dennis says he went to radio for help and turn on the ship's searchlight, only for his boss to tell him: “We are not going to do that. We will wait and see if she returns.”
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Wagner tells a different story: "The idea that any harm had come to her never entered my mind. I got into my speedboat and went to look for her near the shore. I couldn't find her or the dinghy, and then I became worried after returning to the yacht and discovering she hadn't returned." Since then, Wagner has insisted that Natalie slipped and fell into the water after leaving her cabin to secure the dinghy to the yacht.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
"Natalie obviously had trouble sleeping with that dinghy slamming against the boat," he said — adding: "She probably skidded on one of the steps after untying the ropes." A medical examiner would come to the same conclusion after a bungled autopsy. Dennis, however, still says that his boss is covering up Natalie's true fate!
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Photo credit: NatENQ
Wagner “repeatedly told me to remain quiet about anything I knew," said Dennis — who claims to have passed a polygraph test given by police about his own account of Natalie's final hours. "He demanded I say nothing if questioned,” Dennis added, saying his boss instructed him “to never offer any details…surrounding Natalie’s disappearance from the yacht.”
Robert Wagner insists that Natalie Wood's mysterious death by drowning can be easily explained — but the captain of his yacht says that the beloved star is covering up the truth!
Photo credit: Getty Images
On the evening of Nov. 28, 1981, Wagner took his yacht Splendour out to California's Santa Catalina island with Natalie and Christopher Walken. After an evening on shore, recalled Wagner, "we reached the yacht in a happy frame of mind...During dinner, I got into a political debate with Walken, and we continued it aboard the yacht. Natalie left us after half an hour, and we sat talking for another hour."
Photo credit: NatENQ/Files
Dennis Davern, the captain of the Splendour, remembers the night differently — claiming that Natalie had been drinking and taking Quaaludes with her husband and Walken. Instead of a political debate, said Dennis, Wagner instead became convinced Walken was flirting with his wife, smashing a wine bottle on a table and yelling at Walken: “What do you want to do, f**k my wife? Is that what you want?”
Photo credit: NatENQ
In both accounts, the doomed actress left Wagner and Walken alone — although Dennis says the "humiliated" actress left the room in tears. According to Wagner, he later "went down to kiss Natalie goodnight, and found her missing. I wasn't alarmed, and casually went looking for her throughout the boat. I noticed the dinghy was missing. I thought perhaps she had gotten moody and gone to shore.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
But according to Dennis, Wagner was heard from the bridge of the yacht screaming: “Get off my f**king boat!” He told investigators that a later search revealed that the dinghy was missing and Natalie was no longer on board — and Wagner appeared “flushed, anxious, nervous and disheveled.” Dennis says he went to radio for help and turn on the ship's searchlight, only for his boss to tell him: “We are not going to do that. We will wait and see if she returns.”
Photo credit: NatENQ
Wagner tells a different story: "The idea that any harm had come to her never entered my mind. I got into my speedboat and went to look for her near the shore. I couldn't find her or the dinghy, and then I became worried after returning to the yacht and discovering she hadn't returned." Since then, Wagner has insisted that Natalie slipped and fell into the water after leaving her cabin to secure the dinghy to the yacht.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"Natalie obviously had trouble sleeping with that dinghy slamming against the boat," he said — adding: "She probably skidded on one of the steps after untying the ropes." A medical examiner would come to the same conclusion after a bungled autopsy. Dennis, however, still says that his boss is covering up Natalie's true fate!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Wagner “repeatedly told me to remain quiet about anything I knew," said Dennis — who claims to have passed a polygraph test given by police about his own account of Natalie's final hours. "He demanded I say nothing if questioned,” Dennis added, saying his boss instructed him “to never offer any details…surrounding Natalie’s disappearance from the yacht.”
Photo credit: NatENQ
