Foul Play?

Natalie Wood Autopsy Hints at Assault

New report details “fresh” bruising, scratching.

A year after the LAPD reopened the 1981 drowning case of Natalie Wood, a new autopsy report suggests the late actress may have been assaulted before she plunged into the Pacific Ocean. The coroner has amended Wood’s cause of death from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors,” detailing bruises on her body that “appeared fresh” along with scratches down her legs. It remains unclear whether the abrasions resulted from falling off the dinghy, attempting to climb back on, or something potentially darker. There were also conflicting statements as to when Wood went missing and whether or not she had a confrontation with her husband, Robert Wagner.