US police are to re-open the investigation into the death of US actress Natalie Wood, who died in mysterious circumstances while boating in 1981, they said Thursday.The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) said new information had come to light over the death, which was deemed an accident at the time but which has long fueled speculation.
Wood drowned aged 43 while boating off of Catalina Island, near Los Angeles on November 29, 1981. It was investigated by the LASD and the LA County Coroner's Office, who ruled it was an accident.
"Recently Sheriff's Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,"said an LASD statement.
In response, the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau "has decided to take another look at the case," it added.
Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Russian emigre parents in San Francisco, enjoyed a glittering Hollywood career, and is best known for classic movies including "West Side Story," "Rebel Without a Cause."
Wood and husband Robert Wagner, whom she had married for a second time in 1972, were spending the Thanksgiving weekend on their yacht the "Splendour," with actor friend Christopher Walken as their guest. They had eaten at a dockside restaurant before returning to the boat to drink, when a heated row erupted between Wagner and Walken.
Christopher Walken vs. Robert Wagner? I know who my money's on...
Wood left to go to the master cabin, and eventually the two men calmed down, but when Wagner returned to the cabin she was not there. She was believed to have come up on deck to tie a loose dinghy. She was later found drowned.
...and became immortalized as a punchline in one of the most tasteless jokes of all time.
"I have gone over it so many millions of times with people. Nobody heard anything," said Wagner, quoted by the LA Times, which said Thursday that police are particularly interested in new comments by the captain of the boat.
LA County Sheriff Lee Baca told the newspaper that that homicide detectives want to talk to the captain based on comments he had made recounting the case on its 30th anniversary.
"He made comments worthy of exploring," Baca said, without giving any further details.