LOS ANGELES – A yacht captain says he lied to investigators about Hollywood actor Natalie Wood’s mysterious death 30 years ago and blames her husband, Robert Wagner, for her drowning in the sea off southern California.
However, murder detectives who have reopened an inquiry into her death said yesterday that Wagner was not considered a suspect in the case.
The circumstances of Wood’s death, on November 29th, 1981, remain one of Hollywood’s enduring mysteries and continue to create intrigue.
Los Angeles county sheriff murder detective John Corina said yesterday the original finding that Wood’s death was an accidental drowning had not changed.
However detectives had reopened the investigation based on new information from several sources “which we felt was substantial enough to make us take another look at this case”, he said.
Asked by reporters if Wagner, now 81, was considered a suspect, Mr Corina responded: “No.”
Wood drowned after spending several hours drinking on Catalina Island and on a yacht with Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and the ship’s captain, Dennis Davern.
Mr Davern told NBC TV's Todayshow that he made mistakes by not telling the truth about events leading to the death and had urged murder investigators to reopen the case. "Was the fight between Natalie Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner, what ultimately led to her death?" show host David Gregory asked.
“Yes,” Mr Davern replied.
“How so?”
“Like I said, that’s going to be up to the investigators to decide,” the captain said.
Mr Davern said he believed Wagner had intentionally kept the investigation into Wood’s death low profile and did not do everything he could have done.
When Gregory pressed Mr Davern for supporting details, he said that was the duty of investigators.
Wagner’s spokesman Alan Nierob said: “Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA county sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA county sheriff’s department and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death.”
Wood’s death sparked tabloid speculation that foul play was involved, but Wagner and Wood’s sister have dismissed any suggestion the actor’s death was anything more than an accident. Coroner’s officials at the time agreed.
Wood, a three-time Oscar nominee famous for roles in West Side Story, Rebel Without a Causeand other Hollywood hits, was 43 when she died. She and Wagner, star of the TV series Hart to Hart,were twice married, first in 1957 before divorcing six years later. They remarried in 1972.
Wagner wrote in a 2008 autobiography that he blamed himself for his wife’s death, “but the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened”. – (AP)