Witness heard argument on boat the night film star died
Daniel Bates A WITNESS has told of shouting and crashing sounds being heard the night actor Robert Wagner’s wife Natalie Wood died 37 years ago.
The account comes as detectives investigating her drowning have designated Wagner a “person of interest” in the case.
The Los Angeles sheriff said since the case was reopened, people had given statements that “portray a new sequence of events on the boat that night”, crucially offering a different account from the original witnesses.
West Side Story star Miss Wood, 43, drowned off Santa Catalina island, California, in 1981 while on a yachting trip with Mr Wagner, now 87, actor Christopher Walken and others.
Earlier this week Los Angeles investigators said Mr Wagner’s version of events “does not add up” and that after Miss Wood was recovered from the water she looked like she was the “victim of an assault”.
The new witnesses told detectives they heard shouting and crashing sounds from the couple’s stateroom on the yacht and another spoke of hearing a man and a woman arguing at the back of the boat. LA sheriff ’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said yesterday: “Do we have enough to make an arrest at this moment? No. However, as homicide detectives, we know that even the most difficult cases can be solved when witnesses come forward.”
Hart To Hart actor Mr Wagner and Miss Wood were married from 1957 to 1962 and remarried in 1972.
They had a difficult relationship and Mr Wagner was said to be jealous of his wife.
Former child star Miss Wood had often spoken about her fear of the water and how she could not swim.
Mr Wagner has refused to comment about the latest developments but in his 2008 memoir, Pieces Of My Heart, he said Miss Wood vanished after he had a row with Mr Walken.
He wrote: “The last time I saw my wife she was fixing her hair in the bathroom while I was arguing with Chris. I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces. I saw her shut the door. She was going to bed.”