Natalie Wood Death Investigation: Death Certificate Amended, [Photo]
The death certificate of Natalie Wood has been altered to better show the uncertainties that have surrounded the actress' death on Nov. 29, 1981. The then 43-year-old had drowned in the Pacific Ocean from unknown causes.
The document had been amended in early Aug. from an accidental drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors," according to the Associated Press. It also now states that the reasoning on how Wood wound up in the Catalina Island waters is "not clearly established."
The switch occurred 9 months after the sheriff's homicide investigators re-ignited Wood's investigation.
The Chief of Detectives William McSweeney stated that the decision to amend the death certificate had been made by the coroner's office, who have been told by the detectives not to disclose any information on the case.
"I would just say undetermined is descriptive," he stated.
McSweeney said that the detectives still have some work ahead of them on the high-profile case. However, that is not to say that a major change in their approach is coming.
"We don't close these cases. These cases have active periods and more passive periods. We're moving toward the end of an active period," McSweeney said.
The death certificate alterations were granted permission from Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran at the end of June, but were not officially recorded until Aug. 1st. The document was made public recently.
Conflicting stories of what had actually occurred aboard the Splendour yacht that had Wood, actor-hubby Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken on it have contributed to the unsolved mystery of her death.
Investigators had re-opened the case in Nov. 2011 but have yet to release any major information about its progression.
View Natalie Wood's amended death certificate here.
