Wood tale now seen as untrue

THE ORIGINAL story of how Natalie Wood died makes “absolutely no sense” — but authorities can’t call it murder or bring charges with the evidence they’ve collected so far, an investigator said Monday.

To solve the mystery of how the actress, 43, drowned off Santa Catalina Island in 1981, it’s going to take another witness stepping forward or new info, said Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Wood’s husband, Robert Wagner, 87, is considered “a person of interest.”

“We’re closer to understanding what happened,” Corina said at a news conference Monday in Los Angeles. He reiterated that Wood’s husband, Robert Wagner, 87, has been upgraded to “a person of interest.” since the case was reopened in 2011.

But he said there was no way to force the “Hart to Hart” actor to cooperate and answer questions.

“This is a suspicious death investigation. It’s not a murder investigation. So, he’s not a suspect of committing a murder or a crime,” Corina said. “We’re not pressing charges on anyone.”

He said investigators still want to speak with Wagner, but repeated attempts to reach him directly and through his lawyers in recent years have failed.

“We’d love to hear his side, his version of events,” Corina said. “What he told the original investigators and what he’s portrayed since then really don’t add up to what we’ve found.”