Natalie Wood's travesty of justice: why Coroner Thomas Noguchi couldn't do more.

Because technically (medically) Natalie drowned, that had to be reported and documented as the official cause of death. Therefore, it would have been impossible for Noguchi to rule non-accidental without reason from the authorities to do so, although he could have ruled undetermined, which only would have raised a slew of media questions, and no one wanted that at the time. The vicious little "catch 22" was that the authorities needed more from Noguchi as well to finish their report differently than "accidental drowning."

What Noguchi should have done was to demand a psychological report. That would have required extensive interviews with everyone involved, even people on the outskirts of the tragedy. But, when Noguchi told the media about an argument on board the Splendour, the case detectives were infuriated, and Rasure didn't like being undermined. Immediately, when the truth of an argument was released by Noguchi, the detectives became enraged and sent a media statement undermining Noguchi's statement.

When writing Goodbye Natalie, I contacted D. P. Lyle, M.D., at the writers' forensic community Web site.
I presented Dr. Lyle with the basic information about Natalie Wood’s autopsy and asked his professional opinion. Dr. Lyle works primarily with authors of fiction, and, ironically, I sensed he knew that I was asking about the high-profile Natalie Wood case because he told me he wanted nothing to do with the case, especially because one of his neighbors was very good friends with Robert Wagner. I promised him I would not use his information in GNGS, and I asked him if he would at least explain to me his opinion on why Noguchi couldn't have done more. Dr. Lyle obliged me, and wrote:

A coroner must look for signs such as bruises, head bruises, or bruises on the shoulders, arms or legs, that would indicate if a victim had been injured, dragged, or held down, then homicide would be suspected. Bruises on the neck, shoulders, arms, or legs might indicate that the individual had been restrained or held underwater. Sometimes these bruises are in the pattern of fingers so that the coroner would know that someone indeed held the victim. But, each of these findings could also have innocent explanations and might not represent a homicidal occurrence. A bruise to the scalp could have occurred from an accidental fall in which the person then fell into the water. Or they could have struck their head in a fall and staggered to the water and fallen in and been drowned. Drugs and alcohol are often involved in accidental drownings. Bruises, even those that appear as if the person had been restrained, could have happened hours before the actual drowning event and that altercation could be completely unrelated to the drowning death. The bottom line is that the coroner often has difficulty in determining drowning as the actual cause of death and further difficulty in distinguishing between accidental, suicidal, and homicide as the manner of death.

Interestingly, Dr. Lyle helped more. He explained to me that Noguchi should have studied in much further detail to determine HOW Natalie acquired her bruises. I don't think Dr. Lyle bought the theory that she clung to the dinghy and acquired bruising by trying to mount it. In fact, by the time Dr. Lyle and I were done discussing all of the details of Natalie's situation, he wrote to me and gave his permission for me to use ANYTHING I wanted that he had discussed with me, which I did, but it was also another part the original editor's cut for space. I think it's extremely important to establish how as well as why Natalie's case fell through the cracks. It truly is one of the worst investigated cases in American history.