Op-Ed: Why Reinvestigate Natalie Wood's Drowning?

Iconic actress Natalie Wood drowned on Nov. 29, 1981, while spending the weekend with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, and their guest Christopher Walken aboard their yacht, Splendour. 

Wood's fear of water and her inability to swim were well known. In fact, she spoke about it in a TV interview. Yet in his 2008 Memoir Pieces of the Heart, Wagner said that after an arguement had ensued with Walken, he went below and noticed Wood was goine: "Strange. I went back up on the deck and looked around for her and noticed the dinghy was gone. Stranger. I remember wondering if she'd taken the dinghy because of the argument, and then I thought, No way, because she was terrified of dark water, and besides that, the dinghy fired up loudly, and we would have heard it, whether we were in the salon or on deck."

When her body was recovered, it was severely bruised and her death was ruled an accidental drowning. That was 30 years ago. 

So why are they reopening the case? Because Dennis Davern, the man who captained Splendour that night, wrote a book and is making media rounds promoting it. Davern claims that after dinner in a restaurant, Wood, Wagner and Walken came back on the boat and drank. Emotions flared, an argument ensued and Wood disappeared. 

Davern noticed the missing dinghy. He says that Wagner directed him NOT to turn on the searchlights, saying,..."It will teach her a lesson." Davern says he complied.  He also alleges that Wagner did not alert authorities for hours. Again, Davern complied.

Wood's sister, Lana, told CNN that her family never believed the initial story as it was reported. In addition to Natalie's fear of water, she was also unable to swim, making it implausible that she would take the dinghy or even get close enough to the water to untie it.

Davern now says that he feels Wagner is responsible for Wood's death. 

If Davern's story is true, and he did nothing to try to find or save Wood, is he equally responsible for her fate?  He admits to making mistakes.  Why is he profiting from a book and not being punished? 

It seems unfathomable that the captain of a boat would passively stand back and do nothing to rescue someone - regardless of what his famous employer was saying.  

How is this different from the many who knew and stood silently in the ?  Those people are being singled out and punished - as they should be. 

Their collective looking the other way enabled unspeakable crimes to continue and repeat for years.   Regardless of the law, moral responsibility should dictate a call to action when anyone is in danger.  Especially extreme danger.   

Sometimes, it's impossible to help. A few days ago, a man died when he apparently .  It happened so quickly that the horrified eyewitnesses had no time to react.

Sadly, as that incident shows us, sometimes tragedy cannot be averted, but there are other times, as in the Wood and Sandusky cases, when it might be possible to change things. Those who allow bad things to happen to others, simply by doing or saying nothing, bear some responsibility for what happens.