January 14th, 2013
02:30 PM ET

Coroner amends Natalie Wood's death certificate

Citing questions about bruises on the body of actress Natalie Wood, whose body was found floating off Catalina Island in 1981, the Los Angeles County coroner's office has changed the cause of death from "accidental drowning" to "drowning and other undetermined factors."

"With the presence of fresh bruises in the upper extremities in the right forearm/left wrist area and a small scratch in the anterior neck, this examiner is unable to exclude non-accidental mechanism causing these injuries," wrote Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, the chief medical examiner.

"The location of the bruises, the multiplicity of the bruises, lack of head trauma, or facial bruising support bruising having occurred prior to entry in the water. Since there are unanswered questions and limited additional evidence available for evaluation, it is opined by this medical examiner that the manner of death should be left as undetermined."

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Filed under: California
soundoff (4 Responses)
  1. Cindy Anderson

    Wow-this is mind blowing! Have had a bad feeling for a long time. Just too much time wasted in searching for her...

    January 14, 2013 at 3:21 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Mauricio Zuniga

    tsk tsk Christopher! smh

    January 14, 2013 at 4:21 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Scottish Mama

    She was beautiful. First watched her as a girl, Westside Story.

    January 14, 2013 at 7:44 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Tiffanie

    I hope that finally there will be justice for Natalie Wood and her family! I don't she just fell off! Someone helped her off and bruised her before she fell into the water. I am trying to wait til I hear I all the evidence but I find it weird that Robert Wagner waited to report her missing! I believe in Karma and that what goes around comes around. I know its a thirty-year-old case and all the evidence is gone but I hope they can charge somebody with something! They deserve it!

    January 15, 2013 at 12:05 am | Report abuse |