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Natalie Wood's Death Still Looks Like An Accident, Investigators Say

Natalie Wood in 1960.
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Natalie Wood in 1960.

Two months after announcing they were going to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the 1981 death of actress Natalie Wood, authorities in Los Angeles are saying there's "no evidence to suggest that the cause was anything but accidental," the Los Angeles Times reports.

"At this point, it is an accidental death," William McSweeney, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's chief of detectives tells the newspaper. "Nothing has been discovered to suggest changing that at this time."

Wood, 43, was found in the water off California's Catalina Island on Thanksgiving weekend in '81. She was there with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken. At some point in the night, she left the boat on which they were staying. The investigation was reopened last November after the boat's captain made statements saying he didn't think authorities had fully investigated what happened.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.