Robert Wagner Named ‘Person of Interest’ in Natalie Wood’s 1981 Death

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Investigators open up about their findings as they look into the actress’ mysterious drowning.

Speaking to CBS News’ 48 Hours, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Investigators say that Natalie Wood’s then-husband, actor Robert Wagner, is a person of interest as they look into the circumstances around her mysterious death in 1981.

“As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think he’s more of a person of interest now,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant John Corina says of Wagner in an interview with 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty. “I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared.”

Wood drowned off the coast of Catalina in November 1981 after she went missing from her family’s yacht, Splendour. Wood, Wagner, Christopher Walken and yacht captain Dennis Davern were all on board the boat the night before Wood was found floating in the water, wearing a red down jacket and flannel nightgown. The death was originally ruled an accident, following a two-week investigation, but in 2011, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department reopened the death investigation and a year later the L.A. coroner’s office amended Wood’s death certificate to change the manner of death from accidental drowning to “drowning and other determined factors.”

There have long been rumors of foul play surrounding Wood’s death, and Wagner and Davern’s shifting accounts of what happened the night Wood, famously terrified of dark water, went missing, have raised red flags for investigators.

Investigators, speaking to 48 Hours about new witnesses, evidence and theories about what happened that night — want to speak with Wagner about the circumstances surrounding her death.

But Wagner has refused to speak with investigators, and Corina tells 48 Hours that he doesn’t think the actor has told the whole story.

READ MORE  HERE AT HollywoodReporter.com