WAGNER WON'T LET HOMICIDE COPS DIG UP NATALIE!

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: DEATH IN VESTIGATION ROADBLOCKED NEW AUTOPSY COULD PUT HIM IN CUFFS

ATEAM of forensic investigators and Los Angeles detectives have joined forces in a bid to learn the truth behind the mysterious death of Natalie Wood — by exhuming her body!

The National ENQUIRER has learned the blockbuster development so enraged Natalie’s widower, Robert Wagner — labeled a “person of interest” in the case

— that he hired a team of pitbull lawyers to crush the exhumation effort!

Plans to dig up the tragic “West Side Story” beauty — whose body was found floating off California’s Catalina Island in November 1981 — were quietly hatched about 18 months ago. Shortly afterward, homicide detectives from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department announced they had gathered more evidence against 89-year-old Wagner! “Homicide detectives went to the Los Angeles County District Attorney for backing, asking a judge for a search warrant to exhume Natalie’s body,” an insider told The ENQUIRER.

“The detectives wanted to have another autopsy done, focusing on any trauma to Natalie’s head before she drowned.

“Cops in Los Angeles don’t need the district attorney’s approval in obtaining a search warrant, but it’s extremely influential to have their support.”

But the skittish DA’s office told detectives to gather more facts because it’s a “highprofile” case and exhuming Natalie’s corpse would generate media attention, the insider said.

Detectives then contacted Wagner’s lawyers to get his permission to exhume Natalie from her grave at Los Angeles’ Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary. Although Wagner’s reps denied he’s halted the exhumation, the source told The ENQUIRER: “They were told a very firm ‘No way!’ ” Natalie and her “Brainstorm” co-star Christopher Walken were aboard their 60-foot yacht, Splendour, on a Thanksgiving weekend cruise