Uncovering the Truth
Natalie Wood’s death has become one of Hollywood’s most lingering mysteries. After a five-year investigation, Sam Perroni has produced the most far-reaching and in-depth examination of the case to date. Laying bare the corrupt motives that influenced the outcome of the original investigation, Perroni details stunning evidence he uncovered, so you can decide if Natalie’s death was a homicide and, if so, the likely culprit and motives.
Author profits go to charity in Natalie Wood’s memory.
Book Summary
The premature death of Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Wood in 1981 off the coast of Catalina Island, California, has become one of Hollywood’s most controversial unsolved mysteries. In this unique book, Sam Perroni details his investigation of this case as he uncovers new information and insights to produce the most far-reaching and in-depth examination of the case to date. Utilizing official records and photographs, never-before revealed confidential documents, and dozens of interviews with witnesses and forensic experts, Perroni exposes a glossed-over investigation by the local law enforcement agencies and the entrance of powerful Hollywood insiders that helped suppress the truth for four decades.
What happened to Natalie Wood?
Actor Natalie Wood’s death stunned the world. Fans were heartbroken. Reporters from around the globe pressed for answers as to how the beautiful star ended up in the cold Pacific Ocean dead. Whispers and speculation spread like wildfire – Who killed Natalie Wood? But within 36 hours of finding her body, Los Angeles County officials summarily laid-aside Natalie’s fate as an accident. Even the Los Angeles Coroner, who performed a Natalie Wood autopsy, side-stepped a Natalie Wood cause of death.
Natalie’s fear of deep, dark sea water was a matter of public record. So, it simply made no sense that she would leave her yacht, moored in Catalina Island’s secluded Isthmus, on a dreary, starless night in a 13-foot dinghy. Could there have been a Natalie Wood murder? People wanted answers. But, for 40 years, speculative stories were all they were told. Until Brainstorm.
Inspired To Find Truth
Inspired by a biography of Natalie, the author began his dogged pursuit to determine once and for all what happened to Natalie Wood? Following his instincts and training, the author’s private investigation and analysis, conducted like a seasoned prosecutor, set him on a trail leading in the direction of the only logical homicide suspect – Natalie Wood’s husband Robert Wagner.
Natalie’s admirers wanted something more than sensational sound bites or vague accusations about Natalie’s “accidental” demise. They wanted the truth, even if it meant learning Natalie was murdered, and if possible, they wanted to know the true Natalie Wood cause of death.
Official files surrounding the investigations were concealed in agency archives. When those agencies stonewalled his repeated requests for disclosure, the author sued to access critical records, crime scene photographs and the Natalie Wood autopsy photos. When the litigation ended, he had uncovered countless details concerning Natalie’s death that had been shrouded from public view.
The author explored the existence of a Sheriff’s Department cover up in 1981 and their motives for “re-opening” the investigation in 2011. But his solitary mission was to aid the public in understanding the Natalie Wood cause of death and why her death happened the way it did, to permit facts and reasonable inferences to guide individual judgments on who killed Natalie Wood, if anyone. In other words, was there a Natalie Wood murder?
Approaching as a Criminal Probe
Approaching his investigation like an actual criminal probe, methodically building a case with credible evidence to allow readers to decide if Natalie’s death was a homicide, the author presents a hard-hitting account of what transpired on Catalina Island during Thanksgiving weekend 1981 by introducing readers to Natalie Wood and her husband Robert J. Wagner. Covering their backgrounds, their careers, their stormy relationship, setting the stage for the tragic events that followed.
Natalie’s admirers wanted something more than sensational sound bites or vague accusations about Natalie’s “accidental” demise. They wanted the truth, even if it meant learning Natalie was murdered, and if possible, they wanted to know the true Natalie Wood cause of death.
Official files surrounding the investigations were concealed in agency archives. When those agencies stonewalled his repeated requests for disclosure, the author sued to access critical records, crime scene photographs and the Natalie Wood autopsy photos.
Santa Catalina Island California, 2018
When the litigation ended, he had uncovered countless details concerning Natalie’s death that had been shrouded from public view.
The author explored the existence of a Sheriff’s Department cover up in 1981 and their motives for “re-opening” the investigation in 2011. But his solitary mission was to aid the public in understanding the Natalie Wood cause of death and why her death happened the way it did, to permit facts and reasonable inferences to guide individual judgments on who killed Natalie Wood, if anyone. In other words, was there a Natalie Wood murder?
The Body Of The Crime
The author explains that the case was never prosecuted as a circumstantial evidence second-degree murder case due to a basic misunderstanding by the detectives of the legal concept of corpus delicti — “the body of the crime.” In that regard, the author highlights the fact that the detectives made no effort to discover the most fundamental evidence in any unexplained spousal death case – motive.
The author begins his personal investigation of the Natalie Wood death by focusing on the known forensics with his expert, the former Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Rhode Island, Dr. Christina Stanley. Dr. Stanley gives her expert opinion as to the likely cause of unexplained bruising on the back of Natalie Wood’s legs; the cause and timing of a large right forearm contusion she describes as a “defensive wound,” and identifies a scratch in the midline of Natalie’s throat that could have been caused by a fingernail or thumbnail.
The author also consults with a pharmacologist to address the previously unidentified forensic pharmacology issues created by Natalie’s ingestion of prescribed drugs and how her toxicology blood levels help pinpoint her actual time of death. The author also identifies “The Fatal Gap”—the window of life and death between the time Natalie disappeared and the time she most likely drowned.
Time and weather took a toll on Splendour, its starboard side revealing major damage in 2019 (courtesy of Zepure Matossian)
Cold-water Hypothermia?
After the Natalie Wood autopsy forensics, the author examines cold-water hypothermia as a factor in Natalie’s death with a preeminent hypothermia expert, Dr. Robert Pozos. Addressing Natalie’s inability to swim and other factors, Dr. Pozos debunks theories advanced by the media, law enforcement and book authors including Dr. Noguchi, concerning the effects hypothermia had on Natalie Wood’s death.
The author’s interview of on-the-scene witness Paul Wintler, who describes the first hours after Natalie’s disappearance in a whole new light. Contrary to over 42 years of reporting, Wintler, a longtime island troubleshooter, reveals startling actions by Wagner and contradicts Christopher Walken’s age-old claims of ignorance about the night’s events because he was “asleep.” And there is a meticulous analysis of the investigative report of Deputy Bill Kroll, the sheriff’s first responder who was dispatched early Sunday morning before Natalie’s body was found.
The "Investigation"
Profiling actor Jill St. John, Wagner’s current wife, the author reveals the close personal relationships between Wagner, St. John, Frank Sinatra, and Natalie Wood before and after Natalie’s death. For the first time, the author exposes a confirmed timeline establishing that Wagner began seeing St. John less than two months after Natalie died. The author also describes a timetable of Wagner’s suspicious movements between October 28, 1981, and November 14, 1981, two weeks before Natalie’s death, providing a reasonable basis for believing that Wagner was seeing another woman (most likely St. John) before Natalie died.
After discussing the “other woman” motive as evidence of a Natalie Wood murder, the author assesses the questionable investigation of Natalie’s death in 1981 and follows the work of Pamela Eaker, the coroner’s first responder called to Catalina Island after Natalie’s body was recovered. Eaker also sheds light on who took the controversial Natalie Wood autopsy photos, which have remained under lock and key to this day. The author also reveals, for the first time, a confidential memorandum from boating expert Paul Miller to Dr. Noguchi detailing Miller’s examination of Wagner’s yacht, Splendour, and its Zodiac dinghy the day Natalie Wood’s body was discovered. While Dr. Noguchi describes Miller as “a perfectly positioned expert,” he disregards all Miller’s recommendations. Miller’s report also proves that Dr. Noguchi’s chapter on the Natalie Wood death in his book Coroner is nothing but an exaggerated sham and contradicts Wagner’s decades-old defense that Natalie got up in the middle of the night to retie a “banging” Zodiac dinghy, accidently slipping, and falling into the water where she drowned.
The expanding story of Splendour captain Dennis Davern begins with admitted lies to investigators the day Natalie’s body was found and ends 37 years later with striking contradictions he made in a February 2018 podcast is explored in detail. While demonstrating that Davern’s credibility leaves much to be desired, the author makes a convincing case for believing Davern’s core narrative—a violent argument between Wagner and Walken leading to an explosive argument between Natalie and Wagner on the back deck of Splendour shortly before Natalie disappears. This examination ends with the natural questions of, was Natalie Wood murdered? And, if so, who killed Natalie Wood?
So, the author profiles Hollywood’s most controversial and celebrated Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi. Dr. Noguchi grabbed the spotlight with sensational news conferences after his work on a series of celebrity deaths, including actress Marilyn Monroe, rock singer Janis Joplin, United States Senator Robert Kennedy, SLA leader Donald DeFreeze, actor William Holden—and Natalie Wood while engaging in “creative forensic autopsy reporting” to support his public pronouncements and conclusions that the Natalie Wood death was accidental. Using Dr. Noguchi’s own words, the author exposes the coroner’s deliberate failure to perform routine procedures before proclaiming doubtful conclusions in Natalie’s case.
Other Points of Interest
The authors discusses his interactions with Lana Wood, Natalie’s younger sister, by exploring the girls’ violent home life with an alcoholic father, and Lana’s sad and embarrassing personal and family situation in the wake of Natalie’s death. And exposes Lana’s interactions with Davern ten years after Natalie’s death where Davern expresses remorse and tells Lana there are “uglier” facts that she does not “want to know.”
An account of Peter Pitchess, the well-connected Los Angeles County Sheriff in 1981, and his cozy relationship with Frank Sinatra, is explored and shown to impact Natalie’s case. Based on known admissions and facts, including concrete evidence of Wagner’s relationship with Sinatra, the author explains how Sinatra and other known Hollywood “fixers” joined with Pitchess to come to Wagner’s rescue after rumors of murder began to circulate.
The Lead Detectives Actions
The author exposes lead detective Duane Rasure’s actions and conduct in Natalie’s 1981 investigation and eye-opening facts suggesting there was a directive to Rasure from Sheriff Pitchess to close Natalie’s case as an accident. The author’s analysis of a manipulated official report, revealing crime scene evidence including never-before-seen photographs, and the initial statements of Wagner, Walken and Davern, convincingly points to intentional efforts to suppress evidence and cover-up the manner of Natalie’s death. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department possesses the Natalie Wood autopsy photos but has fought the disclosure of same to the author. The author believes those photos contain evidence of who killed Natalie Wood and he unsuccessfully filed two lawsuits to obtain those photographs.
The author uses his knowledge of the facts to expose the conflicting and often false accounts of Natalie’s death and uncovers attempts by Wagner, Walken and Davern to distance themselves from the blame with magazine interviews and books intended to shore up their ever-changing stories. These accounts impact the circumstances surrounding the Sheriff Department’s dramatic reopening of Natalie’s case in 2011 and its sensational claims over the past two years of anonymous “new witnesses” who allegedly saw Wagner and Natalie arguing on Splendour’s back deck Friday and Saturday nights. The author concludes with solid facts to strongly suggest a political motive on the part of Sheriff Lee Baca to use Natalie’s case as a favorable media distraction from investigations into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department by the U.S. Department of Justice—investigations that were serious enough to land members of the department in federal prison, including the Sheriff.
The Probate File
For the first time, the author, consulting with an expert in wills and trusts, dissects the never-before-seen official probate file for the estate of Natalie Wood Wagner. Doing so, the author surprises readers with undisputed evidence of Wagner’s enormous financial gain from Natalie’s death. But more importantly for an additional motive for a Natalie Wood murder, the author reveals what Wagner would have lost if Natalie divorced him a second time, an event supported by Natalie’s own words, statements of witnesses and Wagner’s humiliating actions. The author demonstrates how Wagner’s numerous statements and activities before Natalie’s death and in the years since have created a trail of inconsistencies exhibiting his consciousness of guilt – “guilty knowledge.” Exploring territory ignored by the Sheriff’s Department, the author takes the reader to North Carolina where he exposes new evidence of Wagner’s suspicious jealousy of Natalie’s costar, Christopher Walken, while she was on location shooting her last film. The author presents a solid case that while in North Carolina Wagner made threats, got into a confrontation with Natalie in a hotel restaurant in Walken’s presence, badgered Natalie, and employed spies to help him watch Natalie and Walken before the filming of Brainstorm moved to Los Angeles.
Finally, the author provides readers with a powerful imaginary closing argument by the prosecution that outlines the facts of the case based on the forensic, direct, and circumstantial evidence and applies reasonable inferences to actual California legal principles applicable to the case to give readers an opportunity to decide whether Natalie Wood’s death was an accident or chilling murder.
Meet the Author
Sam Perroni is a former trial lawyer and Adjunct Professor of White-Collar Crime and Trial Advocacy, William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock, Arkansas. He served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, with the last three years being devoted almost exclusively to prosecuting complex criminal cases.
“After four decades, there is still more to learn about Natalie Wood’s tragic drowning. Brainstorm is one man’s passionate quest to unearth the truth.”
–BETH KARAS, Host of Oxygen’s Snapped: Notorious, former prosecutor and investigative journalist
