Feb. 6 (UPI) — Los Angeles officials on Monday described actor Robert Wagner as a person of interest in the 37-year-old mysterious death of Natalie Wood.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. John Corina said authorities would like to talk to Wagner, star of TV’s Hart to Hart and It Takes a Thief, since he was the last person to see Wood, his wife at the time of her death.
The sheriff’s department reopened the investigation into Wood’s death in 2011. She drowned Nov. 29, 1981, while on a boat off the coast of Santa Catalina, Calif. Investigators at the time believed her death was suspicious — her body had bruises — but ultimately ruled it as accidental.
Corina said that since reopening the investigation, more than 100 people came forward saying they had information about the case.
“As the investigation progressed, we’ve re-created the timeline, and [Wagner] was the last person on the boat with her,” Corina said. “We’re closer to understanding what happened.”
The lieutenant said Wagner’s story about Wood’s death doesn’t “add up to what we’ve found.”
Capt. Christopher Berner said new information has led investigators to create a “more articulate timeline” of the events leading up to Wood’s death.
Corina described the department’s current efforts as the “last shot” to determine what led to Wood’s drowning.
The original Lead Investigator 37 yrs ago has a lot to answer for. He never interviewed the 3 people in the boat next to the Splendor who heard cries for help/I’m drowning + drunk mocking calls answering those cries. For shame! So glad that the ‘new’ LAPD has finally done the job that should have been done so long ago. Nobody who actually looks at the evidence that night would think for second that Robert Wagner didn’t act with negligence that lead to a death. If you do doubt it, you haven’t yet accessed any of the information available. You can’t just assume, according to your own perspective or wishful-thinking, you must examine what actually occurred. There are now multiple witnesses (interviewed for the 1st time ever) who are calling Robert Wager’s bluff.