The sister of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood has said she believes police are ‘close’ to finally solving the mystery behind her sibling’s death now brother-in-law Robert Wagner has been named a ‘person of interest’.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com Lana Wood, 71, said she is ‘frustrated’ that the LA District Attorney’s Office has still yet to press charges against anyone after all these years.
She said: ‘I feel we’re so close to finding out what happened to my sister, but it’s very frustrating, they have moved the case forward and made substantial inroads, but still haven’t pressed charges.’
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 today.
But she cites Wagner’s power in Hollywood, comparing the shadow of suspicion hanging over him to the allegations against another powerful Hollywood figure: Harvey Weinstein.
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
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 today
‘One is about sexual harassment, and the other is murder. But they are both the perfect example of the power people have in Hollywood.
‘RJ still has a lot of power in Hollywood. I was blacklisted after Natalie’s death. I had people high high up in the business confirm that. But what could I do? RJ was powerful, and he still is.’
Wagner’s Hollywood royalty status has not shielded him from scrutiny by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department, however, who in 2011 reopened their investigation into Natalie’s death and confirmed on Thursday that Hart to Hart star Wagner is a ‘person of interest’.
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,’ says Lana, who claims her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer.
Lana had previously told DailyMail.com that 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.
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
Lana said she has confronted Wagner in the past about her sister’s death but the encounter made her feel ‘sick to my stomach.’ Natalie and Robert were married twice
Police in Los Angeles say they want to speak to Wagner, who is now 87, about Wood’s death. The actor is pictured in April 2017
‘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 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.
‘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.’
Looking back Lana says the whole affair has caused her no end of trouble in her life.
Wood drowned near her yacht, the Splendour, off the coast of Catalina in southern California in November 1981
Wagner said they had argued and that she took off in the rubber dinghy and somehow must have fallen into the water
An autopsy report showed that Wood had suffered a cut to her face which police say may show she was assaulted before she died
The former actress, best known for her role as bond girl Plenty O’Toole in Diamonds Are Forever, claims that after the death of her sister Wagner made sure nobody in Hollywood would give her a job.
‘I have been blacklisted from Hollywood for years, and I have had to live with the tirade and the aftermath of this whole event for years’ she said.
‘It has had a huge affect on me, my family, my life, my health and career. I just want the truth to come out for everyone’s sake.’
Last year Lana, who lives in Fillmore, California, was evicted from her flat where she lived with her lymphoma-suffering daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren.
With no financial help from Wagner’s side of the family, Wood was left homeless and living out of a motel, until generous fans of the former bond girl donated $38,000 (£26,600) via a GoFundMe page for her rent.
But tragedy haunted her family still, as two weeks later her daughter succumbed to her illness and died of a heart attack aged 42 – just a year younger than Natalie when she died in 1983.
Actor Robert Wagner bends over to kiss flower covered casket of his wife, actress Natalie Wood, during graveside ceremonies for her at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery
‘I’m surviving by the skin of my teeth,’ said Lana. ‘Things are tough, but I’m just grateful to have a roof over my head.
‘I needed shelter, a place for my family to live. It was all the wonderful wonderful people that donated their hard-earned money that saved me.
‘Sadly, my story is all too familiar in the world of Hollywood and I want to start a foundation for the people that find themselves in these desperate situations like I did.’
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’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.
Lana Wood said she’s ‘always believed Natalie was killed, nothing has come up to change my mind on that’
Natalie’s death was originally ruled ‘an accidental drowning’ by a coroner at the time, but the case was reopened in 2011
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.
Lana said this new evidence will be revealed in a documentary by US broadcaster CBS to be aired on Saturday night [UK 1PM/2PM].
‘I am literally telling my story [in the documentary] and I am a part of the jigsaw,’ she said. ‘However, I feel there will be a big reveal on Saturday night. I don’t know who the witnesses are or what the new evidence is, but I think we will all be in for a surprise on Saturday night.’
Wagner has always vehemently denied any involvement in Natalie’s death.