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NEARLY FOUR DECADES after his wife drowned, investigators are now calling 87-year-old actor Robert Wagner a “person of interest” in the death of Natalie Wood.
Since 1981, mystery and speculation have swirled around the death of the actor, who had been nominated for three Academy Awards and appeared in West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause.
She was on a yacht with Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and the boat captain on Thanksgiving weekend in November 1981. After a night of drinking, her body was found floating in the water off California’s Catalina Island. She was 43 years old.
Investigators initially ruled it an accident but reopened the case in 2011 to see whether Wagner or anyone else played a role after the boat’s captain said he heard the couple arguing the night of her disappearance. The coroner’s office amended Wood’s death certificate the next year to include “drowning and other undetermined factors”.
‘Suspicious’
Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lieutenant John Corina told CBS News in an interview that aired today that he doesn’t believe Wagner has told the whole story about what happened during the boat trip.
“As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think he’s more of a person of interest now,” Corina said. “I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared.”
Asked whether he believed Wood was murdered, Cornia said: “I think it’s suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.”
After the interview aired, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman, Nicole Nishida, played down the comments, saying there is nothing new with the case.
Investigators have said Wagner has not been interviewed since the probe was reopened. They said in 2013 they had tried at least 10 times to interview him but he refused. Wagner has denied any involvement in his wife’s death and no charges have been filed. His publicist, Alan Nierob, declined to comment today.
Conflicting versions of what happened on the yacht have contributed to the mystery of her death. Wood, Wagner and Walken had all been drinking heavily in the hours before she disappeared.
Wagner wrote in a 2008 memoir that he and Walken argued that night. He wrote that Walken went to bed and he stayed up for a while, but when he went to bed, he noticed that his wife and a dinghy that had been attached to the yacht were missing.
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Wow… 37 years to figure that out..
@Dingleberrycity: Figure what out? They have figured nothing out.
Such a beautiful woman
@David Burns: I loved her in West Side Story.
@Paul Furey: yeah she was amazing it that. So pretty
He always was!
@Colette Kearns: The last person known to have seen someone who was murdered , is always classed as a ”person of interest” .
There will be no new evidence , he’ll go to his grave with what he knows , or doesn’t know .
@Ken Hayden: if they tried Christopher for the crime, he’d end up walken
@Noel James Doherty: to where?
@Mark o’ Leary: Back to happiness .
@Noel James Doherty:
Brilliant pun on that actor’s name!
I know it’s a suspicious death but there’s no harm in having some black humour.
@Ciarán Masterson: brilliant pun? Are you for real. It’s terrible .
@Ciarán Masterson: What wood can’t float? Natalie Wood. Boom!
good case for Mr and Mrs H to solve.Oh and my name’s Max ..and I take care of them
@Michael cunnane: Do do do do,do do do do, do do do do do do do…
Say it ain’t so Mrs H…
@An Observer: when they met it was…….
@Mick Power: murder
@An Observer: He’s a millionaire. and shee’s gorgeous.
She was a stunning woman. Who knows what happened. I have always been suspicious of Wagner. It certainly wasnt suicide as she had a fear of water. So she either fell or was pushed.
@Sinead Hanley:
What motive could he have had?
@Ciarán Masterson: Jealousy. Christopher Walken might have been chatting her up. Or maybe not. But thats what i always read into it. Obviously, i wasnt there!. Just my take on it, no doubt influenced by tabloids.
@Ciarán Masterson: crimes of passion don’t need any other motive
@Dermot Lane: There is no evidence that there was any crime in this case.
Who does Number 2 work for?
Loved him on XFactor
Was she pushed? Or did she go overboard with her drinking..we’ll never know if you catch my drift
What kind of Wood doesn’t float?
@Philip G Roark: Roark wood hopefully.
Pointless story, no new evidence. They were all drinkin, argued, she left.
He refused to talk to police…..
unreal thats taken so long
@BatMon: So you have evidence that it was murder. I hope you have passed on your evidence to the police.
have your say