Media attention surrounding the drowning death of actress Natalie Wood nearly 30 years ago played a key role in Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's decision to officially reopen the case on Friday, TheWrap has learned.
"Increasing news media attention likely is what caused more than one person to recently come forward with several pieces of new information," Lt. John Corina told TheWrap on Saturday morning. He said that a two-year-old book by captain Dennis Davern and co-author Marti Rulli did not “have an impact in the decision.”
Police decided to reopen the investigation just as CBS producers were closing out a “48 Hours” program spotlighting Wood’s death that was originally intended to air Nov. 26. Since then the captain for Wood and husband Robert Wagner’s boat has gone on the interview circuit, and CBS has moved the program up to Saturday night.
Also read: Detective in Natalie Wood Case Insists Her Death Was an Accident (Video)
Police, meanwhile, are talking with the current owner of the Splendour in Hawaii.
It’s a fast-moving story sparked by a 10-year-old article in Vanity Fair that is the basis for the “48 Hours” investigation. The magazine, which tied a special edition about Hollywood scandal to the CBS program, quickly took credit for its role in the reopened investigation. But the “48 Hours” program seems to have really accelerated the process.
Also read: CBS Juggles Robert Wagner as Suspect on 'NCIS' ... and Himself on '48 Hours'
"We're grateful for the opportunity to drive the discussion and motivate the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to take a second look," "48 Hours" executive producer Susan Zirinsky told TheWrap during a break from the editing room Saturday afternoon, where they were rushing to prepare the segment for air.
At the very least, she believes their impending show compelled the Sheriff's Department to hurriedly announce the new investigation -- which, in turn, compelled "48 Hours" to move things up by a week.
Also read: Sheriff's Department: Robert Wagner 'Not a Suspect' in Natalie Wood's Death (Updated)
Zirinsky said that as of Tuesday, “48 Hours” was prepared to report that “the L.A. County Sheriff's Department was looking at the material and they would decide, based on their assessment, whether or not they would reopen the case.
"On Wednesday, we were clarifying and checking in again, because we were doing the final post-production on the show that would air Thanksgiving weekend -- and they flagged us and said, 'Well, you know what, you don't have to say 'looking at it to assess.' Call it 'opened'."
Explosive allegations about the actress's death have been out in the open for two years -- ever since Davern, the captain of her ill-fated voyage, collaborated on tell-all book “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour” with Rulli. Both figure prominently in the "48 Hours" piece.
Zirinsky said that a big part of what drove the "48 Hours" segment and, she believes, the police's willingness to take another look at things has been the petitioning organized by a Washington, D.C.-based
