Natalie Wood, the actress who starred in the movie adaptation of West Side Story, died in 1981 amidst mysterious circumstances. She was 43 when she died. She went overboard from a yacht and though some of the plethora of rumors surrounding her death suggested foul play, none of those rumors were sustained.
The facts of the case at the time are that Wood was on her yacht called "Splendour" with her husband, Robert Wagner, and their friend and fellow actor Christopher Walken on Thanksgiving weekend. The official story of what happened, TMZ explains, was that Wood, who had a known phobia of water, was trying to secure a dinghy from banging against the hull when she slipped and fell overboard. She'd reportedly had "seven or eight" glasses of wine. The suspicious aspects of the case are that a woman on a yacht close to Wood's said she heard a woman cry for help around midnight. Moreover, Wagner and Walken supposedly had a fight over Wood's career when they were both drunk.
Wood's sister Lana unsuccessfully attempted to have the L.A. County Sheriff's Department re-open the case of Wood's death. In November of 2011, Wood's case was reopened as a homicide after investigators said they had new information.
Late last month, Natalie Wood's death certificate changed from "Accident" to "Undetermined" TMZ has learned.
Members of Wood's family tell TMZ that detectives made the change, in part, because some of the bruises on Wood's body were inconsistent with death by drowning. Authorities also told the family that her death was definitely the result of drowning, but they're unsure if she ended up in the water accidentally or through force.
This investigation is still active, say members of law enforcement.
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