Interesting conversation With Dennis Davern

Dennis and I were just talking on the phone about when he identified Natalie's body. I asked him if he remembers the blanket Roger Smith claims to have covered Natalie with. Dennis does not recall the blanket. He said there may have been a blanket over Natalie, but what he recalls is Natalie in her cotton nightgown, with shorter sleeves, and the red down jacket lying across her. He saw her arm, he saw her lower legs and saw her blue wool socks. He saw the abrasion on her face. When Dennis saw her, she was that much exposed and he is SURE of it. It took only moments.  

Dennis and I have no way to answer for anyone else who claims to know more about what Dennis saw than Dennis himself does, but Dennis is adamant that he saw several bruises and he described Natalie's nightgown as a "light colored cotton nightie with small flowers on it about the size of an eraser."

Sorry, but I think that's pretty good recall compared to someone who doesn't even remember Natalie's socks or over 25 bruises strewn across her body. I am simply making a point that people have their versions, their recall, and what one person does NOT notice, another may never forget it, especially in the type of hell Dennis was experiencing.

In another example of whose recall is accurate, Marilyn Wayne recalls a party on a boat moored near her boat and the Splendour. Dr. Lyndon Taylor was on his back deck from 10:30 PM to midnight and swears there were no parties on the beach or on any other nearby boat. These type of differences are things I cannot explain; these are the things I can only surmise about, and I believe Marilyn heard enough noise to believe there was a party, but I am as equally sure Dr. Lyndon Taylor is as accurate. These are snags, but snags that do not detract from Dennis's polygraphed account that Wagner was with his wife when she went missing, and these slight differences also enhance the need for a proper investigation into Natalie's death.

When Roger Smith arrived on the scene, Wagner told him he did not call for help because he figured Natalie was off fooling around somewhere, and he wanted to protect his image from bad publicity. This prompted Roger to coin his phrase: "So the rich must die to avoid bad publicity?" Roger's information never made it to the detectives, because the detectives ignored key witnesses, and I still hold fast that although Roger Smith doesn't remember things Dennis DOES remember, Roger Smith is definitely a crucial witness to Wagner's cavalier, snide attitude about a wife lost at sea.

Here's my summary: Roger Smith, Lana Wood, Marilyn Wayne, and Dennis Davern are ALL victims of the tragic Thanksgiving weekend of 1981. I respect each and every one of these victims who have suffered from another's evil intentions: Roger, Lana, Marilyn, and my friend Dennis are the victims, the messengers, and should never be used as the scapegoats for a deed they had nothing to do with.