Robert ‘RJ’ Wagner broke his silence on Friday to blast claims he killed Natalie Wood
Robert ‘RJ’ Wagner has broken his silence through a spokesperson to denounce claims that he killed his wife, actress Natalie Wood, even as new eyewitnesses offer cops incriminating statements in the cold case.
A rep for the 88-year-old Wagner on Friday berated yacht captain Dennis Davern and Wood’s sister Lana for implicating him in her death in the podcast Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death Of Natalie Wood.
‘They are despicable human beings, capitalizing on the accidental death of a beloved member of the Wagner family,’ the rep told Fox News. ‘They should be ashamed of themselves.’
It is the first time Wagner has spoken out about the allegations since February, when police named him a person of interest in the November 28, 1981 drowning death of Wood.
Hollywood acting couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner are seen together in Beverly Hills in 1980, the year before Wood drowned on their yacht
Wagner’s rep called yacht captain Dennis Davern and Wood’s sister, Bond girl Lana Wood, ‘despicable human beings’ for implicating Wagner in her death
The Splendour is seen moored off of Catalina Island in 1981, on the morning after Wood drowned. New eyewitnesses tell cops Wood and Wagner were arguing by the swim step
In Friday’s new episode of Fatal Voyage, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Homicide Detective Ralph Hernandez revealed that new eyewitnesses have come forward with startling information about the night that Wood drowned.
On the night of her death on the yacht Splendour, only Wood, Wagner, captain Davern, and actor Christopher Walken were on board the boat, which was anchored off of Catalina Island.
But there were other boats moored nearby. Now the new witnesses corroborate Davern’s statement that Wagner was arguing with Wood near the swim step at the rear of the boat when Wood disappeared.
‘Two witnesses came forward corroborate that story. They saw arguing, heard arguing. They saw them at the swim step, and then she was gone,’ Hernandez said.
Natalie Wood is seen circa 1978. New eyewitnesses say that she was arguing with Wagner near the swim step of their yacht moments before she disappeared
‘We’re not giving up their identity. What I can tell you about the new witnesses is, one, they’re not looking for limelight,’ the homicide detective said.
‘They’re not looking to have anyone pay them for interviews. In fact, two of them, we actually had to seek out and find,’ added Hernandez.
‘People have asked us why we believe that they’re credible, and actually, their reasons for not coming forward is what lends to their credibility.’
The detective also confirmed that, while Wagner did give police an interview an interview after Wood died in 1981, he has declined to participate in an interview since the case was reopened in 2011.
Christopher Walken, however, has cooperated with police and given a new interview, Hernandez revealed.
Hernandez said that Walken’s interview was ‘helpful’ and that ‘it did corroborate certain details of Dannis Davern’s account, and that’s about all I can get into.’
Christopher Walken is seen filming Brainstorm with Wood shortly before her death. Police say he has cooperated with a ‘helpful’ interview about the night of her death
Davern, who has offered bombshell revelations in the new podcast, said in the latest episode that he no longer had any doubt about what had happened on the boat that night in 1981.
‘I really do think RJ killed Natalie,’ Davern said. ‘Over the years I put two and two together, and when I see a man standing on the back of his boat with the door open and him telling me that Natalie was missing, I realized that if she’s missing and he’s standing there where you would actually exit the boat, and she’s missing to me it’s obvious that he was the last one with her.’
He said that it was clear that Wood had been beaten when he went to identify her body the next morning as she was covered in bruises.
Wagner’s original story was that Wood had gotten up to secure a dinghy that was banging against the yacht and keeping her awake, and must have slipped and fallen into the water.
Davern claims that he was instructed to stick to that story, and did not initially reveal to police the explosive argument he’d witnessed earlier that evening.
The medical examiner’s report showed that Wood suffered bruises to her legs, arm and head, as well as an abrasion to her face under the eye
The captain said that Wagner had smashed a bottle of wine in a fit of jealous suspicion over Wood and Walken, then a hot young Oscar winner who had just finished filming Brainstorm with her.
Davern says that he was whisked away by Wagner’s entourage, and kept as a virtual prisoner in the actor’s home for a year, until the investigation was closed, with Wood’s death pronounced an accidental drowning.
Wood’s sister Lana also said in a recent episode: ‘I think that things got out of hand. I know Natalie can verbally push, and Natalie was a very by-the-rule person… She did not put up with a great deal that she felt was harmful to her.
‘I think it escalated to a point where she was either struck or pushed. I don’t believe that it was planned.
After the investigation into the actress’s death was reopened, the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner amended her death certificate to ‘drowning and other undetermined factors.’
The final episode of Fatal Voyage will be released next Friday.