Welcome To My Book Blog

A place to update and discuss facts surrounding the controversial, tragic death of legendary Hollywood film actress, wife and mother, Natalie Wood who drowned mysteriously Nov. 29, 1981 off Catalina Island. Thank you for visiting.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Why is Retired Detective Duane Rasure Lying?

This is a subject discussed in comments here that bears more attention. Rasure had told me that he would help every way he could if I could convince him that Natalie Wood deserves justice. Well, if a passed polygraph by Dennis Davern, a proven time line, and Wagner's admitted initial lies aren't enough, what might Rasure require to finally admit he hadn't been thorough enough?

Robert Wagner told Rasure he had no clue what had happened to Natalie. Wagner and Walken claimed it had been a pleasant weekend. Neither one of them admitted that it had been a tension-filled weekend. Walken and Wagner were simply allowed to go home.

Rasure knew that Natalie had slept on the Island with her boat captain Friday night and accepted an excuse of "rolling seas" as an explanation, even though Dennis had at first lied to his face about everyone's whereabouts Friday night. Rasure was handed a report from Pam Eaker that claimed the Coast Guard had been called immediately, information he never checked. Natalie's body was filled with bruises and no inquest was ordered: the bruises were virtually ignored. It wasn't until after she was buried that the fabricated story of the "banging dinghy" came into play. Rasure did not perform a body check on any of the three men surviving the cruise.

Years later, when Wagner admitted to smashing a wine bottle, Rasure still defended the closed case. Years later, when told about the true details of jealousy and fighting aboard the yacht, Rasure still defended his flimsy investigation. In 2010 Rasure FABRICATED information, claiming the weekend had been intended to celebrate Natalie having learned to swim. Where did such blatant false information come from? Did Rasure create the lie, or is it something that came from someone he IS willing to listen to?

Rasure has had ample opportunity to admit his blunders in regards to the Wood case. It is because of Rasure's shortcuts that Natalie Wood has not received due justice. I had not questioned Rasure's ETHICS until just this year when his outright lie stunned me (the fabrication in regards to the purpose of the cruise). Natalie had not just learned to swim, nor had she been celebrating anything remotely close to such a thing. 

Yes, Dennis Davern has remained a continual, convenient scapegoat for Rasure. Rasure made sure he insulted Dennis in most all public interviews through the years, as if all of the other suspicious details about Natalie's death could be erased because Dennis had consumed alcohol during the cruise. What kind of an investigation is that? What kind of a person can stand behind such nonsense? Why is Rasure lying?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I can't believe I missed this

Around Easter time this year, Debbie Barth of Three Wise Girls, Blog-Talk-Radio, had emailed me this video. It was hidden in my spam mail for months! What a lovely promotion, what a generous thing to have done for Natalie! And, I missed it until this very day as I've finally spent some time trying to clean up my mail boxes. This post publicly apologizes to Debbie for my oversight (and to mention my frustration with AOL for continually not putting through mail it should while letters of "opportunity" from Nigeria continue to get past spam mail!), as well as to thank her from the bottom of my heart.  Of course, at this time, GNGS is still temporarily out-of-stock, but that will be changing within days, announced with my next post. Thank you to all who have been with me through this endeavor. I appreciate all of you. Check out this link. Debbie is so personable, and so conscientious! Thank you, Debbie.   

Talk Fusion Studio UTC

Also, here is Debbie's profile page, and you will find her shows interesting and worth your time!

Debbie Barth Internet Profile

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Author Kathleen McKenna "The Wedding Gift" release

Amazon.com: The Wedding Gift (9781453701973): Kathleen McKenna:…

My friend, Kathleen, is author of "The Wedding Gift". I haven't read it yet, but I've read a lot of Kathleen's work nearing publication. Kathleen did amazing research on Natalie Wood for a future project, and through Kathleen I was introduced to Roger Smith, the Coast Guard Lieutenent who retrieved Natalie's body and  offered me information for the new release of "Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour."

I'm looking forward to receiving Kathleen's new book "The Wedding Gift" in a few days, and I will review it at Amazon. I thought I'd mention it here for interested readers. Kathleen is a fascinating writer, that much I do know, and her research ability for non-fiction cases and people, and her dedication to justice, is remarkable. Read the reviews about "The Wedding Gift" and maybe you might want to order and enjoy.  

Man missing in Catalina Island Cove

Man missing off Catalina Island, last reported in dinghy

Coast Guard ends search for missing Catalina boater | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Catalina Island Coast Guard have ceased searching for this man. He will most likely be presumed drowned and it may never be known how he fell out of his dinghy, even if his body is located in the future. His two dogs, on the dinghy with him, were found. 

Natalie's body, sans the down-jacket, may never have been found. It was the down-jacket that kept Natalie afloat. The red jacket helped the rescuers to find her body. Had she not been wearing the jacket, we may never have known about her multiple body bruises.

Had an immediate call for rescue been made in Natalie's case, she may have been found alive because the jacket served as a floating device. But, the Coast Guard was not called for over four hours after Natalie Wood was missing from abouard her yacht, Splendour.  What a difference an immediate phone call could have made!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Top FIVE reasons to re-open the Natalie Wood Case.

I've deducted the top reasons to re-open the Natalie Wood Case down to five. I've explained as briefly as possible in categories the details of why the case warrants another look. Also, a top-5 list works better for the new foreword for "Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour" and for media releases. Please look these over: your comments are welcomed. Thank you for all the comments in helping me to construct and condense this list, a difficult thing to do because the case is so complicated in spite of the fact it's so simple to recognize that the intitial investigation was botched!

1) Dennis Davern, former Splendour captain, is the only witness to the immediate circumstances surrounding Wood's disappearance. He has offered to testify under penalty of perjury in a court of law that the three survivors of the November 1981 cruise aboard Splendour—Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and Dennis Davern—all lied to authorities at the scene of Natalie Wood’s death. Dennis Davern has passed a certified polygraph test, including his vital claim that Robert Wagner was with Natalie Wood as they argued on the back deck of the yacht when she went missing. Wagner claimed at the death scene he had no idea how his wife and dinghy went missing. Wagner's initial vague statements are inconsistent with his later admitting his angry smashing of a wine bottle just prior to Natalie’s “disappearance.” Christopher Walken also witnessed the bottle smashing but has never admitted to it. The arguing and violence shortly before Wood’s absence changes the dynamics of the mood initially described aboard the Splendour. There was absolutely no interrogating of surviving witnesses, nor body checks to determine any bruising consistent with Wood’s body bruises.


2) There was never an effort to pursue how Wood received over 25 body wounds and bruises, nor an official effort to determine how or why she had left the yacht. The Chief Coroner, Thomas Noguchi, was fired for offering valid information to the public. Wood’s cause of death was moted as accidental drowning instead of “undetermined” as would have fit the known--and unknown--information  properly. There had been a rush to close the case to avoid valid media questions. Noguchi’s theory claimed Natalie's down jacket weighed her down. In fact, down jackets serve as buoyant life preservers and when wet weigh considerably less than Noguchi speculated. Noguchi theorized Natalie kicked toward shore and became bruised trying to mount a dinghy, yet she was found wearing socks. One simple “sock test” proves the improbability of Noguchi's theory. Wood's body bruises are consistent with domestic abuse.

3) Key witnesses were ignored by case detectives. Marilyn Wayne, moored next to the Splendour, could have offered vital information crucial to establishing a timeline that was never officially composed. Wayne was never interviewed by authorities even after calling and offering her account. Roger Smith, the Coast Guard Lieutenant who retrieved Wood’s body was never interviewed and was quickly transferred and demoted after being vocal about the Wood case. Former lead detectives in the case, Duane Rasure and Frank Salerno, refuse to accept and to report new, verifiable, vital information pertaining to Wood's death.

4) There was a drastic delay in calling for help from aboard the Splendour after Natalie was no longer on board. Wagner and Davern were fully aware of Natalie’s absence from approximately 11:05 P.M. on, yet a ship-to-shore, local call was not placed until 1:30 A.M. and the Coast Guard was not called until 3:30 A.M., a complete violation of maritime protocol. Davern wanted to call for help immediately but was forbidden by Wagner to do so. This inexcusable delay in reporting a person missing from a yacht was never officially examined.

5) The "banging dinghy theory" (what has become the unofficial explanation for Wood’s death) is a senseless theory, and can easily be proven invalid. The dinghy was tied securely at the STERN, with two lines. No questions were asked about dinghy procedure. Wagner has never volunteered the fact that the use of the yacht's swim step is unnecessary in securing a dinghy. Instead, he promoted the theory that Natalie, a woman deathly afraid of water, was in her nightclothes on a dark swim step performing a boat chore. There was no official effort to determine how, when, and by whom Splendour’s dinghy was released. Instead, the death scene was compromised. The dinghy was handled after being found, and detectives left Splendour under the watch of a restaurant owner. The restaurant owner and his employee entered and used Splendour while it should have been considered a sealed-off crime scene until determined otherwise. The master stateroom aboard the Splendour, despite being in peculiar disarray, was compromised rather than scrutinized.