Natalie Wood: LA police reopen actress' death inquiry

Police in the US have reopened an inquiry into the death of film star Natalie Wood, who drowned in 1981.Los Angeles police said they had received new information relating to the case, but have not given details.Wood was found dead during a boat trip off the coast of California and her death was ruled to have been an accident at the time. She was 43.Best known for her roles in West Side Story and Rebel without a Cause, she was nominated for an Oscar three times.She won numerous other awards.Wood had been partying with her husband, TV star Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken the night before her death, and the coroner ruled she had been drinking and may have slipped trying to board the dinghy.A news conference on Friday is expected to shed further light on the information that led Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to reopen the case."Recently sheriff's homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning," the department said."Due to the additional information, Sheriff's Homicide Bureau has decided to take another look at the case."Wood's body was found floating in a Catalina Island cove. Police reports say she was found wearing a long nightgown, socks, and a jacket.The post-mortem report said Wood had bruises on her body and arms as well as a facial abrasion on her left cheek.But questions over the exact circumstances of her death have persisted for 30 years. Family members have previously asked for authorities to re-examine the original findings.The Los Angeles Times newspaper cited County Sheriff Lee Baca as saying detectives wanted to talk to the captain of the yacht, the Splendour, about comments around the 30th anniversary of Wood's death.The Times also reported allegations that the captain had remembered new facts about the incident.Natalie Wood's sister, Lana Wood, told CNN last year that she believed she drowned soon after an argument with Robert Wagner on the deck of the yacht."I just want the truth to come out, the real story," she said.And the former captain, Dennis Davern, has published a book entitled Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, alleging the actress died after a fight with her husband.In his book Pieces of My Heart, Wagner acknowledged that there had been a fight with Wood, before she had disappeared.In a statement issued by his publicist, Wagner's family said they supported the reopening of the inquiry and trusted the detectives would "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".Wood was the child of Russian immigrant parents in San Francisco, originally named Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko.As a child, she featured in films like Miracle on 34th Street and The Ghost and Mrs Muir.She was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar her role in Rebel Without a Cause, and for best actress in Splendor in the Grass and Love with the Proper Stranger. She never won the award.