After years of speculation and investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has cleared Hart to Hart actor Robert Wagner of any wrongdoing in the death of former spouse Natalie Wood.
The authorities have no closed the case yet, but the leads and evidence they had followed are considered “exhausted.” “If additional leads surface in the future, which have not already been investigated, the case will be reassigned to a detective to investigate the new leads,” Lt. Hugo Reynaga told Page Six. The outlet reached out to Wagner’s representation for comment but received nothing as of publication.
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The West Side Story actress died over Thanksgiving in 1981 while celebrating with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken on her family’s boat. Wood would drown, and her death was initially ruled an accident. The death certificate was later amended in 2012 to change the cause of death from just “drowning,” adding “other undetermined factors” to the record.
Retired Detective Ralph Hernandez declared Wagner a person of interest in the actress’ death in 2018, making the decision after interviewing witnesses who claimed to have seen Wagner and Wood arguing on the boat’s edge before her disappearance.
92-year-old Wagner has long denied the claims, but Wood’s sister, Lana Wood, told the New York Post in 2021 that she has always believed the Austin Powers actor was “responsible” for her sister’s death.
“I don’t believe it was premeditated,” Wood told the outlet. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t think he did it. Of course he did!” She went on to question the series of events described by Wagner and Walken after Wood was discovered floating.
“The things that they were saying that Natalie did” – that the nightgown-wearing actress had taken the yacht’s dinghy to “party hop,” Lana Wood told the outlet. “They might as well have been saying that she was trying to fly to another planet. They were totally out of character.”
Walken’s presence on the boat seemed to be a point of tension between Wagner and Wood according to witness accounts of the night. Captain Dennis Davern shared some drinks with Wagner, while Walken and Wood reportedly were asleep. After a bit, Wagner informed the captain that his wife wasn’t aboard, leading to the eventual discovery that she was floating face down in the waters near Catalina Island.
With Wagner being taken off the list of potential culprits, what really happened to Wood is likely to remain a mystery. Wood’s death at 43 still remains a point of interest for Hollywood storytellers, possibly fueling the “foul play” theories despite police being led down dead ends.
