Natalie Wood's 30-Year-Old Death Case Reopened

On November 29, 1981, after a heated argument with her husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken, actress Natalie Wood drowned in the Pacific Ocean off the isthmus of Catalina Island. Her body was found floating in the water about a mile away from the yacht. Details of the death have always been thought mysterious, and now — almost exactly thirty years later — authorities are reopening investigations of the case based on comments from a boat captain, the New York Daily News reports.

Speculation has surrounded Wood's mysterious death ever since it occurred. “Recently sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Robert Wagner also released a statement. "Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA County Sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA County Sheriff’s Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death," he said.

Wood had a long and illustrious career as an actress. At the age of 9 she played little Susan in Miracle on 34th Street; she was nominated for an Oscar for her work in Rebel Without a Cause, opposite James Dean; and she is perhaps most famous for playing the lead role of Maria in 1961's West Side Story. She was 43 at the time of her death.