Natalie Wood, Dennis Davern and Robert Wagner

Many people are speculating about what happened the night Natalee Wood drowned out at sea in 1981. She was 43 years old. She was on Robert Wagner’s boat with Christopher Walkens, and the boat captain Dennis Davern. Davern came out last week publicly and said he believes there was foul play on the boat that night, though he remained silent all these years. He has co-authored a book on this as well.

The question is: Is Davern believable?

I have to say when I watch him speak, he is consistent and and he doesn’t appear to be the type who would be motivated for money. He is emotionally flat in demeanor and comes off as average or above average in intelligence, an introvert and yet social awkward. The word Asperger comes to mind when I think of Dennis Davern, though I have no idea if he does or does not have the syndrome. The fact that he didn’t speak out all of these years, however, does not contradict his personality, from what I see.  So from what I have seen to date, I do not see any red flags. 

On 48 Hours on Saturday, the lead investigator on the Wood case, Duane Rasure, spoke out and said that he has now become aware that Robert Wagner has changed his story, though he still believes Wagner. Rasure originally found broken glass on the boat, and Robert Wagner said it was because of rough seas earlier in the week. But in Wagner’s memoir, he wrote, “At one point, I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces. Natalie was below decks at that point.”

Why on earth would Wagner lie about that if he was totally innocent?  This is, without question, a red flag. I am also troubled by the fact it took so long for Wagner to call for help or conduct a search. If he thought Natalie was missing, and it was dark, late and Natalie was deathly afraid of the water, you think he would have launched a search immediately.  If they had a fight, and he thought she fled, did he tell that to police?

We must remember, after 30 years, if a crime was committed the stakes have dramatically reduced and the pressure on all parties is much less than what it was 30 years ago. We cannot forget that, and so while I am suspicious, I would like to see more before I make any decisions…

Do you think Robert Wagner or Christopher Walkens will speak out and address direct allegations?  A few of you have submitted older  videos of Wagner talking briefly about the night Natalie died, but he doesn’t say a lot from what I have seen. I’d like details.