The NEW YORK TIMES bestseller that was the LAPD's source for the re-opening of the investigation into Natalie Wood's death, now with shocking new chapters detailing Suzanne Finstad's explosive findings from her pivotal investigating over the past two decades.
Just after Thanksgiving 1981, every major television network interrupted its holiday programming to report that Natalie Wood's body had been discovered floating off Catalina Island. Beloved since childhood for her roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story, Natalie and her dashing TV star husband, Robert Wagner, were Hollywood royalty. Within 24 hours, as the world grieved, the LA Coroner officially ruled her death an accidental drowning, and less than two weeks later, the L.A. Sheriff's Department closed the case.
Natalie Wood's drowning remained steeped in mystery, despite the LAPD's insistence that there was no foul play. Acclaimed biographer Suzanne Finstad gained extraordinary access to Natalie's past, seeking out hundreds of sources to uncover a tumultuous hidden life of traumas, rape, secrets, and Russian superstitions. As she unraveled the bizarre chain of events that led to Natalie's harrowing drowning and the ensuing hastily-concluded investigation, she was haunted by the truth and the apparent cover-up. Why did detectives conclude that a woman with a phobia of dark water, who couldn't swim, got into a dinghy, alone, on a stormy night? Why didn't they investigate a fight between Natalie and Wagner shortly before she went overboard? Why had the coroner's office ignored bruises on Natalie's body? Why did her husband wait until Natalie had been missing for hours to call for help? Why was he questioned for just five minutes?
Finstad published her original findings in a 2001 New York Times bestseller, where the evidence she amassed became the blueprint for the LA Sheriff Department's historic re-opening of the investigation into Natalie Wood's death in 2011. Now, in NATALIE WOOD: The Complete Biography (Broadway Books, 3/10/20, previously published as Natasha), she shares startling new information from her ongoing investigation. This information was key to the LA Coroner's 2012 unprecedented decision to change Natalie Wood's official cause of death from "Accidental Drowning" to "Drowning and Other Undetermined Factors." And, in 2018, the Sheriff's Department went a step further, re-classifying Natalie Wood's drowning as a "Suspicious Death," naming Robert Wagner as an official Person of Interest. Among Finstad's stunning disclosures in the new chapters are:
. Findings from her unheard-of access to the 1981 detectives' "murder book" - said to have gone missing-including the original homicide investigators' notebooks and crime scene photographs.
. Her discovery of an unpublished memoir where Natalie confirms her fear of drowning and the taboo reason she divorced Wagner, along with new details of his double life.
. A new, confidential source who reveals frightened calls, made just hours after Natalie's body was found, from the Wagners' deckhand with what he really saw and knew.
. Bombshells revelations from a previously unheard-from witness present at autopsy who saw physical evidence-that was ignored-that Natalie was pushed into the water.
In NATALIE WOOD, Finstad brings readers even closer to the vulnerable actress, bringing to light truths that few besides Natalie knew. She shares the story of Natalie's life with sensitivity and grace, revealing a complex and conflicting mix of fragility and strength in a woman who was swept along by forces few could have resisted.
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