Natalie Wood Murder Investigation Focuses On Mysterious Bruises

Natalie Wood's mysterious death remains under investigation, and now cops have confirmed that they want answers about the mysterious bruises found on her body — after a bungled autopsy left the medical examiners dismissing her death as an accident!

In a bombshell press conference, Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide division once again confirmed The National ENQUIRER's scoop in 2015 that Robert Wagner was a "person of interest" in the death of his screen-legend wife — and noted: “There were bruises on Natalie Wood’s body.”

The detective added that the Los Angeles coroner “said they are non-mechanical and probably caused by another person…I can’t say who caused the injuries. We know the last person who was with her before she went in the water — and that was Mr. Wagner.”

As earlier reported by The ENQUIRER, Natalie's autopsy left many questions unanswered after her body was found floating off Catalina Island in California on the morning of Nov. 29, 1981. She had been reported as missing from the yacht Splendour during the night. Her autopsy was finished shortly before Dr. Thomas Noguchi was demoted from his position as Chief Medical Examiner after claims of alleged mismanagement.

Despite the unexplained bruises on Natalie's right forearm — along with scratches and a scrape on her forehead — Noguchi had originally ruled that the "West Side Story" star died from an “accidental drowning.” In 2013, the coroner’s office changed the cause of Natalie’s death from that original ruling to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”

"With the presence of fresh bruises in the upper extremities in the right forearm/left wrist area and a small scratch in the anterior neck, this examiner is unable to exclude non-accidental mechanism causing these injuries," wrote chief medical examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran — noting that it was possible the injuries did not occur in the water.

The ENQUIRER reported on how other witnesses also came forward after the close of the original investigation. That includes Splendour skipper Dennis Davern — pictured here taking homicide detectives on a tour of the boat. The captain went to police with his own claims that Wagner got into a drunken fight with Natalie shortly before her disappearance.