Actor Robert Wagner, the then-husband to Hollywood star Natalie Wood, has been named a “person of interest” in the suspicious drowning death of his wife that occurred nearly four decades ago, investigators said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s told “48 Hours” that investigators would like to speak to Wagner about Wood’s mysterious death on Nov. 29, 1981. The “48 Hours” interview with L.A. investigators is slated to air Saturday in a special titled “Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water.”
“As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think he’s (Wagner) more of a person of interest now,” John Corina, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, told “48 Hours.” “I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared.”
BREAKING: Investigator tells #48hours Robert Wagner is now a "person of interest" in Natalie Wood drowning death https://t.co/NOTYPk7ua9 pic.twitter.com/D5KVQCNV5q
— 48 Hours (@48hours) February 1, 2018
A rep for Wagner declined to comment Thursday.
Wood, known for her high-profile roles in “West Side Story,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Rebel Without a Cause,” was found dead in the water in 1981 at age 43. The Academy Award-winning actress was traveling on her family’s yacht, Splendour, with Wagner, the ship’s captain Dennis Davern and her friend, actor Christopher Walken, off the coast of Catalina Island at the time of her death.
Investigators closed the case two weeks following her death, ruling it an accident. However, the sheriff’s office re-opened the case in 2011 and changed Wood’s cause of death on her certificate from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
Investigators, who have been working on the case for six years, told “48 Hours” they are ready to speak with Wagner, who has refused to talk to officials about Wood’s death since the case was re-opened.