“We haven’t been able to prove…”
It’s been almost 40 years since actress Natalie Wood’s mysterious drowning was ruled an accident. But now investigators are taking a second look at the case.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened Wood’s case in 2011, CBS News reported Thursday, and now famed actor Robert Wagner, who was her husband at the time, is a person of interest.
On Nov. 29,1981, Wood drowned off the coast of Catalina Island in California after taking her family yacht, Splendour, out for a ride with Wagner, actor Christopher Walken, and boat captain Dennis Davern.
According to Davern, Wagner and Wood were engaged in a “tremendous fight” before her mysterious drowning.
But shortly after, the star’s death was ruled an accident. Then in 2012, the sheriff’s department changed the description of her death from an accident to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
In a new interview with CBS’ “48 Hours,” detective Ralph Hernandez said Wood “looked like a victim of an assault.”
“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,” he said. “The ultimate problem is we don’t know how she ended up in the water.”
CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty asked if the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department believes Wood was murdered. Lt. John Corina said, “It’s suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.”
Law enforcement officials also said they believe Wagner knows more than he’s admitting “because he’s the last one to see her,” Corina added.
