Detectives investigating the suspicious death of Hollywood star Natalie Wood said on Monday that Robert Wagner’s account of what happened ‘didn’t make any sense’.
At a press conference in Los Angeles, Lieutenant John Corina announced that police had two new witnesses who point to Wagner as the last person to see Natalie alive on her yacht in 1981.
The late star’s husband is now a ‘person of interest’ to the death investigation, after changing his story and refusing to speak to police.
But the true story of what happened that night in 1981 may never be revealed, as the lead detective on the case said the investigation was on its last legs.
‘We’re doing our last shot here, seeing if anybody else will come forward with any more information,’ said Corina.
‘We can’t keep working this case. We work where we can, where there’s information to follow up we will, and when the tips all dry up then I guess we move on to the next case.’
The detective confirmed that Wagner was ‘the last person with [Natalie] before she ends up dead,’ and added that his account ‘didn’t make any sense’.
Detectives investigating Natalie Wood’s death said on Monday that her husband Robert Wagner’s account of that night ‘didn’t make any sense’. Pictured: The Hollywood couple in 1970
The late star’s husband is now a ‘person of interest’ to the death investigation, after changing his story and refusing to speak to police. Wagner (pictured in 2017) was the last person to see Natalie alive on her yacht in 1981, according to officials
Lieutenant John Corina (pictured) said: ‘We’re doing our last shot here…We can’t keep working this case. We work where we can, where there’s information’
The detective said the yacht’s captain, Dennis Davern, told police Wagner was so angry that night he was afraid for his and Wood’s safety.
‘What Dennis Davern heard sounded like a fight going on in the salon and in their state room, their bedroom,’ said Corina.
‘It sounded like Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood were fighting. He came down from the top of the boat because he was so worried.
‘He said Robert Wagner looked so angry, so crazy, that he told us he was afraid for his own safety, so he went back up. ‘Robert Wagner told him ”get out of here”, so he went back up to the top of the boat.
And then they end up on the back of the boat arguing, and everything went quiet.’ Corina said there was evidence that Wood was assaulted before she ended up in the water.
‘There were bruises on Natalie Wood’s body. The coroners say they’re not mechanical, they were caused probably by another person,’ he said.
‘We’re closer to understanding exactly what happened that weekend, and how it went down.’
‘I think before we were all believing the story that she must have gone in a dinghy tried to go into town in her nightgown and her socks by herself when it’s raining out and the seas are really rough and you can’t even see, at midnight.
‘It made absolutely no sense if you really think about it. I think we have a better understanding now what happened.’
Corina said the police did not have enough evidence to arrest anyone, and 37 years later are still treating the case as a suspicious death rather than a murder investigation.
Officials said: ‘There were bruises on Natalie Wood’s body. The coroners say they’re not mechanical, they were caused probably by another person’
West Side Story actress Natalie was found washed up on an island off the coast of California in 1981 amid mysterious circumstances following an alleged blazing row with her husband, Wagner, on their yacht (pictured)
The detective said the yacht’s captain, Dennis Davern (pictured), told police Wagner was so angry that night he was afraid for his and Wood’s safety
‘This is a suspicious death investigation, we’re not putting charges on anyone we’re just trying to figure out what happened,’ he said.
West Side Story actress Natalie was found washed up on an island off the coast of California in 1981 amid mysterious circumstances following an alleged blazing row with her husband, Wagner, on their yacht.
The case captivated the public and Wagner has been dogged by intrigue ever since.
‘I just want the truth,’ Natalie’s sister Lana told DailyMail.com and claims her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer.
Lana had previously said she had no choice but to believe Wagner was somehow involved.
‘I’ve always believed Natalie was killed, nothing has come up to change my mind on that,’ she said.
‘It’s easier for me to believe RJ (Wagner) has nothing to do with it, because the other possibility is heart-breaking, heart-wrenching, horrendous, horrific, that this man that she had known and was married to twice, might be responsible, it’s horrendous for me to even imagine that.
‘I would prefer to believe the other, but unfortunately it doesn’t point that way.’
A few years ago Lana was filmed confronting Wagner in a hotel lobby and asking him: ‘Why won’t you speak to the detectives?’
In video released on Radar Online, Wagner appears furious, saying to his former sister-in-law that she accused him of murder.
Natalie’s sister Lana told DailyMail.com that her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer. In the past Lana has said she believes Natalie’s husband Robert Wagner, in her mind, is the prime suspect, a claim she is less vocal about Natalie Woods’ death investigation being reopened
Lana Wood told DailyMail.com that she is ‘frustrated’ that the LA District Attorney’s Office has yet to press charges against anyone for her sister’s murder
‘Lana, why would you even bring up anything like that?’ said Wagner. ‘Do you realize what you’ve done? …You have accused me! You have accused me of murdering her!
‘I can’t believe that you’d do something like that. I’m amazed that you even talk to me.’
‘I don’t accuse you of anything,’ Lana replied, ‘but RJ [Wagner’s nickname] you’ve changed your story… You never for one minute stopped and said, ‘this is what happened.”
‘Of course I did!’ snarled Wagner, before leaving while muttering, ‘I can’t do this.’
Lana said the encounter made her feel ‘sick to my stomach’.
‘I was nervous beyond belief and the whole moment was surreal,’ she said. ‘I felt sick to my stomach. It was also a very jarring experience because I realized in that moment that I wasn’t talking to the same RJ I once knew.
‘I’ve made it very clear over the years what my thoughts are about what happened that night.’
Three-time Oscar nominee Natalie, who starred in Miracle on 34th Street and Rebel Without a Cause, drowned aged 43 after going missing during a boat trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California.
She was with her husband Wagner, actor Christopher Walken and the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28, 1981.
Natalie Wood was with her husband Wagner (pictured together in 1972), actor Christopher Walken and the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28, 1981
Natalie’s death was originally ruled ‘an accidental drowning’ by a coroner at the time.
But the case was reopened in 2011 when the captain of the yacht, from which she fell to her death, came forward with new evidence.
Skipper Dennis Davern had originally told detectives in 1981 that Natalie got in a dinghy and rowed away, despite the actress being famously petrified of dark water.
But in a sworn statement in 2011 he claimed he saw Wagner having a blazing row on deck with Natalie before she fell, and that Wagner had bullied him into keeping quiet.
Davern was alone in his claim, but now two new witnesses who were in a nearby boat at the time have told detectives Lt John Carina and Ralph Hernandez that they also saw or heard the two Hollywood stars fighting on the deck of their yacht.
This new evidence will be revealed in a documentary by US broadcaster CBS to be aired on Saturday night.