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!
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This person drowned off the shores of Catalina during the summer, and presumably he could swim. Maybe he got focused on his dogs and did not save himself. Maybe it was too cold in the water, even in August, to survive for very long, or impossible to climb back into the dingy. Although he could probably see the shore, it might have been too far for his swimming abilities. He had many more advantages in his unfortunate situation than Natalie had, and still he could not survive.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, that his body will probably never be found. Without a life jacket or a down-filled jacket like Natalie had, his body will simply disappear forever.
Too bad Wagner was more concerned about his image than his drowning wife. Having people think you tried to murder your wife is ultimately preferable to having people think you did murder your wife.
I think the down jacket backfired on Wagner, and if I'm not mistaken, Marti, I think that's what you tried to portray in your book. I think he put it on her to sink her but to make it look like she was leaving the yacht for whatever reasons if she was found. But it backfired as the jacket is what kept her drifting alive, and is responsible for finding her body fast after a delayed search because of him.
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't "think" he murdered her. I KNOW he did.
According to another paper, the man's dogs ended up back on the boat. Evidently he returned them and then took off again and disappeared. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Wagner now, I think of evil. His gleaming smile is a facade. He will answer to what he did.
The four hour wait to call for professional help was to give Natalie's body enough time to sink to the ocean floor, never to be seen again. Wagner's visible shock when told Natalie was dead was not from hearing that she was dead, it was shock that her body had been found. IMO.
ReplyDeleteI think Wagner thought the coat would sink her, then he noticed that it made her float. He was probably scared shitless at that point because he knew he couldn't bring her in without her destroying him. So, he waited hours upon hours, hoping she'd be gone by the time he made a call. I wish he didn't see that the coat floated her. Maybe he would've called for help earlier, then he would've been SHOCKED that she was found ALIVE! Evil to the core, this man.
ReplyDeletethink about how cruel that it, to put a heavy jacket on his wife, the mother of his child, so that she would drown quickly and quietly.
ReplyDelete