Natalie Wood death probe reopens in US

US police are to re-open an investigation into the death of screen legend Natalie Wood, the West Side Story star who died in mysterious circumstances while yachting in 1981.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said new information had come to light over the death, which was claimed to be an accident but which has long fuelled speculation.

Ms Wood, aged 43, drowned while boating off of Catalina Island, near Los Angeles on November 29, 1981.

Her death was investigated by the LASD and the LA County Coroner’s Office, who ruled it was an accident.

“Recently Sheriff’s Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” said an LASD statement.

In response, the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau “has decided to take another look at the case”.

Ms Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Russian emigre parents in San Francisco, enjoyed a glittering Hollywood career, and is best known for classic movies including West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause.

She and husband Robert Wagner – whom she had married for a second time in 1972 – were spending the Thanksgiving weekend on their yacht the Splendour, with actor friend Christopher Walken as their guest.

They had eaten at a dockside restaurant before returning to the boat to drink, when a heated row erupted between Mr Wagner and Mr Walken.

Ms Wood left to go to the master cabin, and eventually the two men calmed down – but when Mr Wagner returned to the cabin she was not there. She was believed to have come up on deck to tie a loose dinghy.

She was later found drowned about a mile away from the yacht. Police reports said she was wearing a long nightgown, socks and a down jacket, had multiple bruises on her body and arms, and an abrasion on her left cheek.

“I have gone over it so many millions of times with people. Nobody heard anything,” said Mr Wagner in the LA Times.

Last year the actress’s sister Lana Wood and the captain of the yacht, Dennis Davern, asked the sheriff’s office to re-open the case, although it was not clear if Thursday’s announcement was in response to that.

Lana Wood told CNN last year that she believes a fierce argument between her sister and husband on the yacht’s back deck preceded Ms Wood’s drowning, but said she does not suspect foul play.

“I just want the truth to come out, the real story,” she said, according to the broadcaster.

LA County Sheriff Lee Baca told the newspaper that homicide detectives want to talk to the captain based on comments he had made recounting the case on its 30th anniversary.