Robert Wagner has been named as a person of interest in the death of his late wife Natalie Wood, 36 years after she died.
The revelation was made by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant John Corina in a new CBS documentary about the star’s death and the mystery which has surrounded it.
‘As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think he’s more of a person of interest now.
‘I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared,’ he told CBS’s 48 Hours.
Wagner, who is now 87 and married to actress Jill St. John, did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s questions on Thursday morning.
Wood drowned while boating with Wagner and his friend, actor Christopher Walken, off the island of Catalina in Southern California in 1981.
Her body was found the morning after she apparently went missing. She was discovered floating in the water wearing a flannel jacket and a nightgown.
Robert Wagner has been named as a person of interest in the death of his late wife Natalie Wood who drowned mysteriously in 1981. They are pictured together in 1972, the year they married
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
Wagner’s explanation for her death was that it was a tragic accident.
He said Wood fled the boat in a rubber dinghy after they got into an argument and that it was the last time he saw her.
Authorities accepted his version of events at the time and declared the actress’s death an accident.
But in 2011, they reopened the investigation after receiving requests from both Natalie’s sister Lana and the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern.
An autopsy suggested that she had been the victim of an assault and had abrasions on her forehead.
Police have still not declared Natalie’s death a murder and no charges have been filed against Wagner.
She looked like the victim of assault
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Ralph Hernandez
Detectives however believe he knows more than he revealed at the time. .
‘I haven’t seen him tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case.
‘I think he’s constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just don’t add up.
‘I think he does [know more] because he’s the last one to see her,’ Corina said.
He would not explicitly say whether he believed the actress was the victim of murder, but said: ‘I think it’s suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.
Wood drowned near her yacht, the Splendour, off the coast of Catalina in southern California in November 1981. Her husband 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
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant John Corina says he believes Wagner has never told the full story of his wife’s death
Captain Dennis Davern was on the boat on the day Wood vanished. He asked for the investigation to be reopened along with Wood’s sister Lana (right) who told DailyMail.com in 2011 that she believed Wagner was responsible for her sister’s death
‘We have not been able to prove this was a homicide. And we haven’t been able to prove that this was an accident, either.
‘The ultimate problem is we don’t know how she ended up in the water,’ he added.
Detective Ralph Hernandez said Wood ‘looked like the victim of assault’ when she was pulled from the water.
Captain Dennis Davern, who was on the boat when Wood disappeared, participated in the documentary.
‘I remember people coming on to the boat, saying they had found Natalie Wood.
‘I just couldn’t believe it,’ he said in a teaser for the show.
The couple had their own children but Wagner also looked after Wood’s daughters from a previous marriage after her death. They are seen in 1972
Wood and Wagner had been married for nine years when she died. The pair were Hollywood darlings and it was the third marriage for each of them. They are seen in 1980 (left) and in 1974 (right)
Wagner is seen comforting Wood’s daughter Natasha at her funeral. He later said her death ‘shattered’ the family
He, along with the actress’s sister Lana pleaded with police to reopen the case in 2011.
Lana always maintained that Wagner held the key to her death and she lambasted him for not being forthcoming with police.
In 2011, she told DailyMail.com how she had received death threats from his fans for not dropping her crusade.
‘After 35 years I feel we’re so close to finding out what happened to my sister but the LA Attorney’s Office is refusing to press charges against Robert Wagner – the man I believe is responsible.
‘It’s a cover-up and I won’t rest until Natalie gets justice,’ she said at the time.
Wagner is pictured with his current wife Jill St John. They married in 1990 and remain together
Wagner spoke out in 2016, 35 years after Wood’s death, to insist it was a tragic accident which ‘shattered’ him.
He had previously claimed in a 2009 memoir that he argued with both Wood and Walken on the night in question and that Wood vanished afterwards, taking the dinghy from her family’s yacht to get herself to shore.
After her death, he raised her two daughters as if they were his own.
He and Wood had been married for nine years before she died. It was the third marriage for each of them.
Wood shot to fame as a child star in Miracle in 34th Street.
CBS 48 Hours Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water will air on Saturday, February 3 at 10pm EST.