Robert Wagner Named “Person Of Interest” In 1981 Natalie Wood Death

Actor Robert Wagner is considered a “person of interest” in the suspicious death of his then-wife actress Natalie Wood in 1981.

ROBERT WAGNER ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’ IN 1981 MURDER

Wood, known for her roles in West Side Story, Miracle on 34th Street and Rebel Without a Cause, was found dead in the water at 34-years-old after a yachting trip with her family. Wagner, the captain Dennis Davern and actor friend Christopher Walken were all with her at the time.

Investigators closed the case two weeks following her death, ruling it an accident, but it was reopened in 2011 and Wood’s cause of death was changed from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”

Now, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department told 48 Hours that investigators would like to speak to Wagner, who has remained silent since Wood’s death. An interview with investigators is set to air Saturday, Feb. 3, in a program called Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water. “As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think [Wagner’s] more of a person of interest now,” John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told 48 Hours. “I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared.”

At the time of Wood’s death in 1981, Wagner, Walken and Davern told investigators that Natalie “took off in a dinghy and went ashore.” In previous statements, Wood shared that she was terrified of the water. Wagner and Davern have changed their stories over the years of what occurred that night.

“I haven’t seen [Wagner] tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case,” Corina added. “I think he’s constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just don’t add up.” Corina’s colleague Ralph Hernandez shared that Wood had bruises on her body when it was found – “she looked like a victim of an assault.” When asked if Corina thought it was murder, he said, “I think it’s suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.” He also said that he believed Wagner must have an idea of what happened “because he’s the last one to see her.”

Wagner and Wood began dating when she was 18 and he was 26. They married in 1957, divorced in 1962, but then remarried in 1972. In his 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart, Wagner discussed Wood’s death and how he and Walken had been arguing over his wife’s career that night in 1981. “Nobody knows [what happened]. There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened,” Wagner wrote. “Did I blame myself? If I had been there, I could have done something. But I wasn’t there. I didn’t see her. The door was closed; I thought she was belowdecks. I didn’t hear anything. But ultimately, a man is responsible for his loved one, and she was my loved one.”