He doesn't say anything about the dinghy. Launching the dinghy would have been a fairly obvious thing to do (and had she actually been successful at it, everyone on deck would have heard the engine fire up). He doesn't say he went to look to see if the dinghy was in the water. In fact, he agrees to look *all over the yacht* for her, which clearly implies that unless he was a complete idiot, the dinghy was still there and he had no reason at first to look in the water for it. He is unable to find her on the boat. He never mentions checking for the dinghy - a rather obvious omission, *because the dinghy was stil there* as I'm guessing he will testify to the LAPD.
He says that he last saw Natalie fighting with Robert Wagner (no details on what kind of fight, but she was found with bruises on her arms) and that he "tried to break it up." That implies more of a physical fight, but it could have been a verbal fight. Wagner yells at him to go away, and just a minute or two later, Wagner is asking him to "try and find Natalie." She had no time to get into that dinghy successfully - even if she climbed down and *tried* to get into the dinghy, it would have been an obvious place for both men to look (and again, if they didn't hear the engine start up, they'd know she was in serious trouble).
The Captain then says he wanted to call the Harbormaster/Coast Guard and turn on the searchlight. Wagner tells him not to. No mention even then of dinghy. The dinghy, I think we can safely assume now, is part of a cover-up.
Yes, it is possible that Natalie fell into the water on her own. But, your response, Miss Kitty, is really callous. Do not people (total strangers even) have some kind of *moral* duty to try and rescue people who are at risk of drowning? It may not legally be a murder or even a negligent homicide - but it is within the range of behaviors that most in society condemn. Wagner knew and says he knew that she was terrified of dark water. If, after 5 minutes of searching, they could not find her on board, they knew she was in a terrified, desperate situation (dinghy or no dinghy). Earlier, the Captain had wanted to move the boat (Wagner says he wanted to, as well), why didn't they turn on the searchlight and start helping her out?
Yes, people like to "put distance" between themselves when fighting, but when that "distance" involves an unsafe behavior (reckless driving, getting into cold dark water, etc.), it's obligatory for the partner left behind to do what they can to persuade the other person to safer behaviors and to respond appropriately if the dangerous behavior persists - that's what good, loving people do (even in the midst of a fight).
Then, if the person is actually missing from a boat where others are still safe, they have a duty to try and help out.
The "other witnesses" include several people (not people you know personally, Miss Kitty, as they are not all friends of each other) who were in the harbor that night and heard a woman calling for help. They were interviewed independently and not found to be unreliable or flakey at all. If they could hear Natalie, why could Wagner and Davern? Let's wait and see what Davern says about that in his formal deposition.
THe fact that Walken has lawyered up is very interesting too - there's another, untold story here that's about to be more fully told, and the outlines of it are already in view and they clearly make Wagner out to be a liar (about the dinghy and about his actions that night - he says he didn't see Natalie once she went into her stateroom, Davern puts the lie to that) and a horrifying evil person (he didn't try to help a wife that had just disappeared overboard).
With Davern at the front part of the yacht and Wagner at the back part of the deck, just how is it possible for *neither* of them to notice her going down into the dinghy? That's why it's good that the yacht still exists - the positioning of the ladder for the dinghy was fixed and even if Wagner ordered the ladder position changed later, that will be visible on the boat. It will be possible to get a much better picture of events; Wagner has claimed he was below deck (like Walken) the entire time.
I believe Davern - he was *not* below deck, he was right next to the dinghy ladder. So if she fell on her own (after he shook her by the arms? The bruises now become something to explain), was it as she attempted to get into the dinghy? That would explain why nearby boaters heard a woman calling for help that night. If she fell as they struggled, then Wagner...isn't a murderer in your view? Fascinating position to take. If she smacked him first and they struggled, they are both guilty of domestic violence - and if in the course of that struggle, she fell overboard, he's guilty of negligent homicide at the very least.
If, as you state, she simply tried to get away from a bottle-smashing, arm-grabbing, furious, yelling husband (smashing a bottle with intent to intimidate can be construed as domestic violence - certainly police involvement occurs in cases of this nature from time to time), and she climbed down the ladder into dark water (of which everyone who knew her says she was terrified, including Robert), then he should have been coaxing her back up. If he didn't see her climb (he turned away momentarily), he should have wanted a searchlight all around the boat once they couldn't find her.
None of these actions are the actions of a moral person - but if he glides by on the side of legality, one will always wonder if he didn't wish her dead, want her dead, and so, somehow essentially got away with a kind of murder...
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