Podcasts focusing on true crime and unresolved mysteries have become all the rage in recent years. With big names such as Serial flooding your Twitter feeds over the last few years, these podcasts have been vital in helping to renew interest in cold cases. Now, a new program aims to solve the mysterious death of American actress Natalie Wood.
Born in 1938, Natalie Wood was a hugely famous American actress. If you’ve ever seen films such as West Side Story, Rebel Without A Cause, or Miracle On 34th Street, you’ve definitely seen her work. However, her career was tragically cut short in 1981 when the 43-year-old drowned in mysterious circumstances.
During a boat trip to Santa Catalina Island off the Californian coast, Natalie Wood drowned in circumstances that have long been the subject of debate. While others were on the boat, including the captain and her husband, fellow actor Robert Wagner, they reportedly never saw anything, and Wagner has long been considered a suspect.
Needless to say, it’s the sort of thing that is worthy of a Hollywood film in its own right, but now, almost 37 years after the fact, a new podcast hopes to put the mystery to rest once and for all.
As Us Weekly reports, Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood is a new twelve-part series which aims to tell the whole story in an attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Hosted by Australian-born investigative journalist Dylan Howard, who has worked with such publications as OK!, The National Enquirer, and The National Examiner over the years, the podcast interviews a number of people close to the investigation, including Ralph Hernandez, a homicide detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“The bottom line is, we have someone who died under very suspicious circumstances, and it’s just as important of a case as a murder, but our job is to get to the truth and to hopefully come up with enough evidence to prove that truth,” explained Hernandez.
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“The fact is that we have a lot of information as to the events of what occurred that evening. We have a lot of evidence that tends to point to a very suspicious death and would certainly indicate the possibility of foul play.”
“Did Natalie jump? Did she slip? Was she unconscious before going overboard? Or was she pushed? And if so – by whom? And why?” Asks Dylan Howard. “It’s a hell of a story. Forbidden affairs. Twisted lies. And murder…. And in the end, the listener can decide what happened to the ultimate screen siren … and just who was responsible for her death.”
Episode one and two of Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood went live on Friday (which just so happened to be Natalie Wood’s 80th birthday), so if you’re keen on checking it out, head over iTunes and give it a listen now.