Well, surprisingly, we have an update to the mysterious 1981 drowning death of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood. Los Angeles County investigators have told CBS News’ 48 Hours that her then-husband and actor Robert Wagner is a “person of interest” in the case.
“[W]e know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared,” Los Lieutenant John Corina told CBS.
“He’s a person of interest — they’re calling him that for the very first time — because they believe this is a suspicious death and they now believe on what they gathered that he was the last person to see [Natalie Wood] alive,” @EFMoriarty says on Robert Wagner pic.twitter.com/6kvNTdTsh8
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 1, 2018
Now, this isn’t necessarily surprising to many people. In fact, people have been very suss on Wagner for a long time. Wood disappeared from her family’s yacht off the coast of Catalina Island in November 1981 and was found floating in the water the next day, and Wagner was onboard the boat at the time. Also present were Christopher Walken and Captain Dennis Davern.
Though her death was originally ruled an accidental drowning, her death certificate was changed in 2011 to read “drowning and other undetermined factors”.
Davern produced a sworn statement – which conflicted with his earlier statement – claiming that Wood and Wagner had a “violent” argument 15 minutes before she went missing. At the climax of this argument, Davern alleged, Wagner yelled “get off my fucking boat”.
In his memoir Pieces of My Heart, Wagner admitted he and Wood had argued before she disappeared. He told investigators that she disappeared after he went to bed alone that night.
Here’s part of the CBS episode summary, suggesting what might be contained in new or revised evidence:
Investigators today note the autopsy report indicates there were a number of bruises that appeared to be fresh on Wood’s body.
“She looked like a victim of an assault,” says Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Ralph Hernandez.
Do you believe Natalie Wood was murdered?” Moriarty asks.
“I think it’s suspicious enough to make us think that something happened,” Corina says.
In a clip, Detective Hernandez confirms that they haven’t been able to prove it was a homicide, but they couldn’t prove the inverse either.
We have not been able to prove this was a homicide and we haven’t been able to prove that this was an accident either. The ultimate problem is we don’t know how she ended up in the water.
The report will air in the US on Sunday.
