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Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour is the poignant story of a young, cavalier adventurer, Dennis Davern, who landed the position of Splendour Captain and how the Wagner family welcomed him into their hearts and home. Natalie’s death in 1981 sent shock waves throughout the world and remained an enduring mystery. Dennis reached out to me, his friend, and my mission to substantiate Dennis's account led me on a personal quest for truth that spanned decades. Many of the lingering questions are solved.
It still amazes me that so few give any weight to Natalie's fear of water. My own mother was so afraid of water that she refused to allow me to learn how to swim, over my father's strong objections! My mother's older sister, my aunt, has such a great fear of water that once, while traveling, she could not bring herself to look at passing boats beneath the bridge we were on. Not from a fear of heights, but the water. Her younger sister would cover her face in her hands or simply look down at her lap if we were watching a television show or movie with a water scene.
ReplyDeleteFear is fear. It may not be water, perhaps thunderstorms, animals, heights, etc.
That time of night, the rain, the dark water, Natalie in her bedclothes. I believe that only if her very life or that of her children being at stake could have gotten her to willingly leave that boat.
The condition of her body speaks volumes. It is obvious that a great struggle of some kind went on. And why primarily at the wrists and legs? Could that mark on her face have been from a hard slap of the hand or with some other object? Her stateroom, from what I have read, was in a shambles. Why? What happened in that room? Who was Natalie in the room with, as if we all don't already know the answer? I simply cannot understand how this travesty has gone on for so long.
All the statements that came out, starting with Wagner's attorney's statement that Natalie often took the dinghy out alone, and then that she was star gazing: it's ridiculous, and Detective Rasure never once asked about Natalie's dinghy habits. Had he asked, he may have learned that she had absolutely NO "dinghy habits" -- she usually preferred a shore taxi over the dinghy transport to and from the island when they moored or anchored off Catalina Island.
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