48 Hours - Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water

Episode Date: February 4, 2018

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s investigators reveal new clues, new witnesses, and a shocking revelation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I've always been terrified, still am, of water, dark water, seawater. Do you believe Natalie Wood was murdered? I think it's suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.

Do you believe that Robert Wagner knows a lot more about what happened to his wife than he's ever said? Well, I think he absolutely does because he's the last one to see her. Would you like to live alone, Maggie? No. The Wagner-Wood love story was one of the great Hollywood love stories. Natalie Wood and Frank Sinatra were quite... Natalie Wood was one of the biggest film stars imaginable. My baby don't care... Robert Wagner, in a way, he was kind of old Hollywood.

He was this popular television star where he was astoundingly successful. The story I wrote for Vanity Fair magazine was about Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood's tragic death at sea. It was just one of the most stunning, staggering events in Hollywood. It was Thanksgiving weekend. A call goes out from Robert Wagner saying that someone is missing from their boat. Six hours later, the body of his wife, Natalie Wood, was found floating in the Pacific Ocean.

At the time of the incident, her death was ruled an accident. This new information is substantial enough for us to want to take another look at the case. So over the last six years, have you been able to get even more evidence that makes you question that this was an accident. We have.

There are witnesses who were nearby the Splendor that evening. She got in the water somehow, and I don't think she got in the water by herself. It was cold, rainy, terrible, terrible weather conditions. I was the captain on Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood's yacht. There was a tremendous fight between them that night. The fighting went back to the back of the boat, and they just carried on and carried on, and then it was quiet. I went down below, and she wasn't there.

And the dinghy was gone, and I looked around for her, and I couldn't, I didn't know where she was. I believed that Robert Wagner was with her up until the moment she went into the water. We were so in love, and we had everything. And in a second, in a second, it was gone. I wasn't there.

I wasn't there for her. There were a number of bruises that appeared to be fresh. She slipped and hit the step and then rolled in. That's what we think happened. She looked like the victim of an assault. When this case was reopened, Lieutenant Carina was asked, Is Robert Wagner a suspect? No.

Has that changed? In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pit Can once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years,

I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pit Can. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+.

Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the

people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women.

Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Natalie Wood was in life one of Hollywood's most alluring actresses. In death, she still reigns, but now is one of its most enduring mysteries. Actress Natalie Wood is dead at 43, the apparent victim of a drowning accident off Santa Catalina Island in California. In 1981, Natalie Wood's death was quickly dismissed

as an accidental drowning. But rumors and allegations of foul play, fueled in great part by the boat's captain, Dennis DeVern, have never gone away. I just didn't want my whole life to go by without having the truth come out. So in 2011, 30 years after Wood's death, DuVern and more than 700 others signed a petition addressed to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department outlining what they consider flaws in the original investigation.

It was already determined to be an absolute death and drowning, but the information we received made us want to take another look at the case. About nine months after the investigation was reopened, another stunning announcement. the investigation was reopened, another stunning announcement. The medical examiner's office changed the manner of death from accident to undetermined, triggering an avalanche of news coverage and unleashing a flood of new leads. Because of the press conferences we had, we found a lot more clues, a lot more evidence, a lot more witnesses. For the last six years, veteran homicide detective Ralph Hernandez and Lieutenant John Carina have doggedly pursued this case. Six years later, we've followed up on all the clues, over 100, 150 clues we've got followed up on. Talked to a lot of people.

These detectives even traveled to Hawaii twice to comb the Wagner's yacht for clues It was docked there by its new owner 48 hours showed up in Hawaii, but the detectives wouldn't talk then And have refused to speak for six years Until now, for the first time they are speaking publicly about evidence they've uncovered. And there's a lot to tell. Does that evidence lead you to believe that whatever happened to Natalie Wood was not an accident? It does. It actually confers my suspicions even more that what was originally reported isn't exactly what happened.

what was originally reported isn't exactly what happened. They point to the numerous bruises on Natalie Wood's body that were photographed and noted in the autopsy report. It's some of those bruises and where they were located that played a big part in convincing a medical examiner to change the manner of death. Why are all these bruises suspicious to you? Because she looked like the victim of an assault. Another red flag?

The story the three men on the boat, Captain Dennis DeVern, actor Christopher Walken, and Robert Wagner, told the original investigators. It didn't fit the smell test, you know? It didn't make sense. All three told the police that they assumed Natalie had left the Splendor on the yacht's dinghy, despite the late hour and stormy weather. That didn't even make any sense to me.

Why would Natalie Wood, this big movie star, try to go out in a dinghy in the middle of the night, in her socks, in her pajamas, at midnight, in rough seas? Is there any possibility that she would get in that boat and leave? No. Not with a gun to her head. That story also makes no sense to Natalie's younger sister, actress and former Bond girl. Hi, I'm Plenty. Lana Wood.

But of course you are. Plenty, I'm too. Natalie reportedly had never operated the dinghy on her own, and there was that well-documented lifelong fear of dark water. I've always been terrified, still am, of water, dark water, seawater. When I think of her in that water, in the dark, in the cold, and the one thing that she feared was water, and that's where she finishes her life.

I know it's a cliche, but she really was America's sweetheart. Vanity Fair magazine contributing editor Sam Kashner. America had grown up with her. She was the little doubting girl in Miracle on 34th Street. Well, young lady, what's your name? Susan Walker. What's yours? And then she was running with the sort of troubled pack in Rebel Without a Cause. I'm not going back in that zoo. I'm never going back. And then, of course, that incredible performance in Splendor in the Grass. She was in West Side Story and Gypsy.

I am Gypsy Rose Lee! And some of these great, iconic films of the early 60s. By the time she was 18, Natalie had her first of three Academy Award nominations. She was so gifted. In 2008, Robert Wagner, also known as R.J., talked about Natalie on the CBS News broadcast Sunday morning. She was a very, very fine actress. And people loved her, you know, they adored her. She was a very, very fine actress.

And people loved her, you know, they adored her. He recalled their first date when Natalie was just 18 and R.J. was 26. I started taking her out after that, and one thing led to another, and a year later we were married. Was Natalie in love with R.J. when they first got married? Yes. She was madly in love with him. He was the perfect golden boy. But the pressures of living under Hollywood's relentless scrutiny weighed heavily on the marriage, says close family friend Mark Crowley.

They were hounded by the press. They were presented as the ideal couple, far beyond what any normal human being could live up to. And now these investigators say they've tracked down stunning new evidence that Wood and Wagner may have been more human than anyone knew. Allegations that Natalie fled the couple's house one night in fear for her life. A new witness, a former neighbor who says he was 12 years old at the time, remembers late one night being awakened by somebody banging on the door.

It was Natalie Wood. She was so afraid of him, she ran to a neighbor's house yelling that day, he's going to kill me, and sitting there looking for help and looking for safety. And so a neighbor took her in. According to the witness, Natalie stayed the night and returned home the next morning. But so far, that's the only episode of alleged violence investigators have found. of alleged violence investigators have found. After just four years, the couple's first marriage came to a bitter end.

And Natalie began dating Hollywood heartthrob, Warren Beatty. His career was on fire and our relationship was gone, and why not? He was in love with her. Wagner admitted that Natalie's stardom and his own insecurities probably tore them apart. It was basically my inadequacy that didn't make it work. It made me feel very sad and very broken hearted and I felt that I had failed in the relationship and I never

thought that I'd ever get it back again. Both of them were besotted with each other. After they got divorced they went on to other partners and had children. But those marriages didn't work out. And eventually, they found each other again and got back together and got married a second time. How did you find out she was going back with RJ? Dinner party, family only. RJ was there in the living room.

And she announced that RJ and I are going to be remarried. And I went, wow. in the living room and she announced that you know rj and i are going to be remarried wow and all she did was she looked down and she said sometimes it's better to be with the devil you know than the devil you don't wagner sees it differently we felt that we had found something that was so precious to us and it was that we did everything in the world we could to protect it they remarried had a daughter named Courtney and were together for nine years until that final fatal voyage to Catalina Island. Lana talks about Natalie Wood's childhood on Facebook at 48 hours. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing

some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created.

She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal

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It's just the best idea yet. On a miserable cold and rainy Friday in November, the splendor departed Marina Del Rey with Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Captain Dennis DeVern, and one of Hollywood's hottest young actors, Christopher Walken. As soon as Chris Walken walked up the gangplank to the Splendor in his peacoat with the collar turned up, Robert Wagner took an instant dislike to him. Chris was fresh off winning the Academy Award for The Deer Hunter. God damn it!

He was now shooting a film with Natalie. It's me. And there were rumors of an affair. You could see a little bit of jealousy from Robert Wagner. It just kept getting more tense every minute of the day. He felt that Natalie was paying way more attention to Christopher Walken than she was paying attention to him. When the splendor docked at Catalina Island, Wood, Wagner and Walken went ashore to the town of Avalon and began drinking heavily. We spoke to Dennis DeVern in 2011.

heavily. We spoke to Dennis DeVern in 2011. The jealousy was under the surface until there was so much drinking that it started to come out and it was obvious. Once back on the splendor, DeVern says the tension escalated. And now for the first time, investigators say they have a new witness corroborating Duverne's account. That Friday, someone on a nearby boat claims to have been close enough to see and hear a fight between the couple. Natalie, to this witness, appeared to be the aggressor in the argument, appeared to be intoxicated. Robert Wagner appeared to try and walk away from the argument, appeared to be intoxicated. Robert Wagner appeared to try and walk away from the argument. At the point that he's walking away, she actually fell down to one knee.

DeVern says the couple was fighting over whether to move the Splendor to the other side of Catalina Island. He wanted to move the boat at night, but she didn't want him driving the boat at night. It's kind of dangerous to do that, especially when it's so rough out there and rainy. Natalie said she wasn't going to stand for this, and would I take her to shore? Natalie had Duverne take her on the dinghy to Avalon, where she desperately tried to get off the island. She did indeed call me on Friday night.

She did indeed call me on Friday night. She said, can you come and get me? And I said, what? She couldn't get a boat or a flight out of there because of the weather and the time of night, so she had to spend the night there. Unwilling to return to the splendor that night, Natalie got two hotel rooms, one for her, one for Duverne, and then reportedly spent the night crying on Duverne's shoulder. She poured her heart out to him about how she was feeling.

And according to Dennis, about some of the difficulties in their marriage, that it was becoming increasingly harder for her to deal with his professional jealousy. And what did Dennis tell you about that night? That she was furious. She was talking about leaving him. Leaving him? Not just leaving for the weekend? No, leaving him, divorcing, leaving. He felt that if she had gone back to Mainland that night,

she was so angry she would have divorced Wagner the next day. The next morning, Saturday, Natalie had a change of heart. She decided, well, hey, let's go back to the boat and let's see if we can smooth everything over here and I'll make a nice breakfast. Duverne says things did get better at first. Natalie even agreed to let Wagner move the yacht to the other, far more desolate side of the island.

But by that evening, things were once again tense, says Duverne, when he and Wagner joined Walken and Natalie, who had already gone ashore and were drinking at the bar. When RJ and I walked into the restaurant and he saw Natalie and Christopher sitting at the bar laughing and having a wonderful time. He started to really, really heat up. According to other people who were there at the bar, at the restaurant, they described him as irritated, he was tense.

And according to Davern, Natalie and Walken were kind of ignoring him. They didn't really acknowledge him the whole time, and they were just kind of having a good time by themselves, partying and drinking. Witnesses say all four were so drunk that when they left, the restaurant manager alerted the harbor master. He calls the harbor master and says, hey, you know, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood are coming your way. They're really intoxicated.

Make sure they get back to their boat, okay? They got back safely, but things were about to turn ugly. Everything that I've heard from Dennis, you know, Natalie's temper was surfacing, RJ's certainly was. It got out of hand in the worst way possible. For 36 years, the sea has kept her secrets about the night Natalie Wood died. Secrets these investigators believe can be uncovered. But with all the shifting stories, witnesses with failing memories were long dead. Detective Hernandez knows time is running out. Why does a case that is now really more than 36 years old matter?

Because somebody died, and no matter what, ultimately that's our job, to find the truth. Detective Hernandez and his partner, Kevin Lowe, now retired, brought their key witness, Dennis DeVern, all the way to Hawaii, where the boat was docked. And there he reenacted his version of events. They spent a full day photographing, measuring, researching. KEVIN LOWE, We wanted to take Dennis DeVern there just to see what, you know, kind of jog his memory and see what details and again get his perspective. DuVern is a crucial but problematic witness.

After initially telling police one thing, he changed his story, sold it to tabloid magazines and collaborated on a tell-all book. But DuVern claims he was motivated by his conscience, not greed. I really don't just want money. What I really want is to give Natalie a voice. You find him credible. I find his story and his version of events when he talked to us, everything fit. It makes more sense of what happened and is corroborated by other people. fit, makes more sense of what happened, and is corroborated by other people. DeVern told investigators that problems between Robert Wagner and his wife, building for two days, exploded when they returned to the Splendor after dinner.

Natalie, by then in her flannel nightgown and warm socks, joined Walken, DeVern, and Wagner in in the salon the living area of the boat natalie puts on the kettle to have a cup of tea i light a couple candles i opened a bottle of wine natalie and christopher continued to giggle just having fun and then robert wagner out of the clear blue And then Robert Wagner, out of the clear blue, picked up the bottle of wine and smashed it. It breaks and goes everywhere. And he yells at Walken, what are you trying to do, f*** your wife? Everything just kind of stops. Natalie, she said, I cannot take this.

And she went into her room. According to DuVern, Christopher Walken also went to his room. Then RJ went into the room. According to DuVern, Christopher Walken also went to his room. Then R.J. went into the room, Natalie and R.J.'s room, started arguing, yelling, things being thrown about. At that point, DuVern also leaves and goes up to the bridge at the top of the boat, says Lieutenant Carina. He hears them arguing. The arguing is getting louder, and he hears a lot of thumping.

He says it sounds to him like there's like a physical fight going on inside there, to the point where he's so concerned, he walks back down and he knocks on the door. And Robert Wagner opens the door and he says, he has this crazy look on his face, and he says, is everything okay, boss? And he's like, go away. He looks so angry and he says he has this crazy look on his face and he says, is everything okay, boss? And he's like, go away. He looked so angry. He says, I was worried about my own safety that I just, I left. I went back up to the bridge. DeVern told investigators that his line of sight was blocked by the boat's rain shield, but he heard everything.

But he heard everything. Fighting continued, and then to the back of the boat. I was concerned that something really bad was going down because the fighting, the arguing was so intense. Until now, DuVern has been the only person to put both Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood outside on the back of the boat, arguing Saturday night before she died. We had received information, which we felt was substantial. But after the press conference reopening the case, investigators got a huge break. Two new witnesses told detectives they not only heard the fight, one of them says she

saw it. Saw figures on the back of the Splendor, male and a female, whose voices they recognized as being Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, arguing in the back of the boat. And how credible are these new witnesses? They're very credible. They have no reason to lie, and their story matches what Dennis DeVern says. Like DeVern, both witnesses say the argument stopped suddenly.

And then all of a sudden there was nothing. Complete silence. Nothing but the sounds of a rough sea on a cold, dark November night, says Lieutenant Carina. No one saw anybody go in the water. Nobody heard a splash. Nobody heard anything. They just heard the argument and silence. There was one woman in the months following Natalie's death who said publicly that she heard a woman calling for help. But Lieutenant Carina now thinks she was mistaken. And Duvern says 10 minutes after the fight ended, he finally went back downstairs. Robert Wagner's now in the stateroom. And he says Robert Wagner is crying.

And he says Natalie's gone. She's missing. Lieutenant Carina says Robert Wagner then tells Duvern to go search the boat for her. He can't find her anywhere. He comes back out and tells him I can't find her. Robert Wagner tells her oh the dinghy's now missing as well. Karina and Hernandez think it's possible that someone could have untied the dinghy while DeVern searched the boat. I didn't untie it. Christopher didn't untie it. I don't think Natalie would have untied it. DeVern says Wagner refused to call for help. And Robert Wagner, maybe she just went into town, I think, to go to a bar or something. I said to Robert Wagner, maybe I should turn on the searchlight. He said, don't do that. He says, well, maybe we should get on the radio and call somebody. Robert Wagner says, no, we don't want to call anybody.

Let's just wait and see if she comes back. According to the story Duvern told investigators, Wagner then breaks out a bottle of scotch and the two men sit drinking while more than an hour passes. Before you know it, we're oblivious and it's time we have to call somebody. She's gone. By Robert Wagner's own statement, he knew she was missing by around midnight, but no call, no call for help is made till 1.30. Right. And when you did make that call for help, it wasn't for, hey, you need to search the water for her. He asked people in town to search for her in town.

When they finally convinced Robert Wagner, hey, you need to call the Coast Guard. And kind of, he almost reluctantly said, okay, yeah, well, I guess we better call them. And what do you make of that? Well, if your wife is missing and the dinghy's missing, I'm going to go look for her. I want to find her right away. I'm going to be worried about her, especially in seas like that. It's dark out. She doesn't like the water.

She doesn't like to swim. There's no reason for her to get in that dinghy to go anywhere. If she wanted to go somewhere, she would ask Dennis DeVern to take her somewhere, like she did the night before when she wanted to go into town. And he did. That's his job. It didn't make any sense, the story Robert Wagner was telling, and it still doesn't make any sense to me to say that she would get in the dinky by herself and just take off. She didn't even know how to start it. She wouldn't do it in a nightgown. She didn't get the mail in a nightgown. After the Coast Guard was finally called about

3.30 a.m., over three hours after Natalie was reportedly last seen alive, the search went into high gear. Wagner's friend, islander Doug Bombard, jumped in his boat and joined in the hunt. At 7.44 a.m., he says he saw something red bobbing on top of the water. It was about this far from shore where I found the body. The body was just basically hanging in that jacket. That jacket was buoying her up. She had a cotton nightgown on and her hair was floating as you can imagine. When authorities arrived, Bombard headed to the Splendor to break the news to his friend. A moment Robert Wagner later recalled in this audio recording of his 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart.

Doug pulled up and got out of his boat. Where is she? I asked him. Doug looked at me. She's dead, RJ. My knees went out. Everything went away from me. I remember people coming on the boat saying that they had found Natalie Wood floating, and that she had drowned. Just couldn't believe it. News of Natalie Wood's sudden death at the age of 43 quickly spread across the globe. Family friend Mark Crowley will never forget getting the call. When I picked up the phone, it was RJ, and he just screamed into the phone,

she's gone. I just couldn't believe it. Things like that don't happen, and they don't happen to my sister, my family, and they don't happen to Natalie Wood. It's not real. But it was all too real for Dennis DuVern. Soon after the movie star was found floating face down in the water's off-blue cavern point, Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken left the island in a police helicopter,

leaving DuVern the grim task of identifying Natalie Wood's body. Robert Wagner asked me if I would identify her body because he didn't want to. It was the eeriest feeling I've ever had in my life to look at her laying there lifeless. It was so disturbing. You would think he'd wanted to stick around and identify his wife and make sure her body was taken care of. That would be maybe what I would do. Maybe he's different. Karina understands that grief can do strange things to people, but that doesn't explain why, according to DuVern,

Wagner immediately came up with a story and told the men on the boat to stick to it. Robert Wagner was very serious about having the stories being the same. It was kind of like, here we are. Okay, Dennis, Christopher, me, this is what it is. Do you got it? Dennis, Christopher, me, this is what it is. Do you got it? That's what it is, okay?

If all the stories are the same, there's really not too much to investigate. DeVern says he now regrets going along with it, but Lieutenant Carina says he understands how it could have happened. DeVern back then, people mischaracterized him as the captain of the boat. He's not the captain of the boat. He's the caretaker of the boat. Robert Wagner is the guy who pays him and that's his meal ticket. If you look at Robert Wagner's statement at the time, they almost paired each other.

All three men initially told Dwayne Razor, the original detective, that they thought Natalie had taken the dinghy ashore. The detective told 48 Hours in 2011 that he believed them. I didn't doubt anything Robert Wagner told me at that time. Christopher Walken, he basically told me the same story. It was pretty well confirmed. They assumed that she went ashore. There was no mention of a fight. I saw the shattered glass and disarray, and I questioned Robert Wagner about that. There was no mention of a fight.

I saw the shattered glass and disarray, and I questioned Robert Wagner about that. He said it happened sometime during their travels, just due to the rough seas. I had no reason to question him any further. Detective Razor, who has since died, only interviewed Wagner one more time. It was the day after Natalie's funeral, at the actor's bedside with his attorney present. When I interviewed Robert White, there was no indication of any jealousy, no problems. There was no sign of foul play in my mind. It's a tragic accidental drowning.

Coroner Thomas Noguchi agreed. Two weeks after the actress's death, the case was officially closed. But Dennis DeVern says his nightmare was just beginning. I felt like I was a prisoner. DeVern says Wagner insisted he move into his guest house in Beverly Hills. I was to stay indoors at all times, not communicate with anybody. I was in fear for my life because he never really knew what could happen. Eventually, DuVern left California for the East Coast, but was never able to escape the past. I think he was in a way hunted down by his own conscience. He really

seemed like a hunted man. In the early 90s, Lana Wood says a tormented, seemingly inebriated Dennis DeVern started calling her. What specifically did he tell you? He said it wasn't an accident. He said it was ugly. Lana says she didn't want to believe it at first. I don't want to think that, but there are so many things that are just facts.

She has since become one of R.J. Wagner's harshest critics, going so far as to publicly accuse him of foul play. Do you think she was pushed in the water? Yes. You believe it was her husband, R.J. Wagner? Absolutely.J. Wagner. Absolutely. Yes. Like DeVern, Lana, who has a long, bitter history with Wagner, has been accused of exploiting Natalie's death for money and attention,

something she denies. It's just time for the truth. It's time to stop the lies and the deception and the finger pointing. It's just not right. Do you think Robert Wagner has ever told the truth of exactly what happened? I haven't seen it. I haven't seen him tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case. He's changed his story a little bit.

And his version of events just don't add up to the evidence and the witnesses we found. Robert Wagner has never conceded that he had a fight with Natalie on the boat that night, but in his memoir, he did come clean about smashing that wine bottle, the one he originally told the police broke in rough seas. Walken and I got into an argument. At one point, I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table, broke in rough seas. Walken and I got into an argument. At one point, I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table, and broke it into pieces. Natalie was already below decks at that point. In Wagner's version of the story,

he didn't smash that bottle in a jealous rage, as Duvern claims, but in an argument with Walken over Natalie's career. In fact, he says she wasn't even in the room. I looked below. I saw Natalie was doing something with her hair. She was going to go to bed. And she shut the door.

And Chris and I were still talking. And when I went down below, she wasn't there. The dinghy was gone. And I looked around for her and I couldn't, I didn't know where she was. Originally, he told the detective he thought Natalie had taken the dinghy and gone ashore. But that, like so many other details, has changed to what is now called the banging dinghy theory. Natalie was in the master cabin and heard the dinghy banging against the side. She got up to retie it. She slipped on the swim step on the stern

and was either stunned or knocked unconscious and rolled into the water. The loose dinghy floated away. My theory fits the few facts we have. That story is a 100% false. The dinghy really wasn't banging because it was tied off with two lines securely to the boat. The reality is what does the evidence show? She wouldn't go back and that's not her that's not her job she would never go worry about the dinghy she could tell Dennis Du, hey, can you go tie that dinghy down? It's making noise. That's his job.

Six years of investigation, four new key witnesses, two determined investigators with a lot of questions for Robert Wagner. Because we've investigated the case over the last six years, I think he's more of a person of interest now. We know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared. Investigators talk about working this high-profile Hollywood mystery online at 48hours.com. For the first time in the more than 36 years since Natalie Wood drowned off Catalina Island, investigators are calling her husband a person of interest. But they stopped short of calling him a suspect. We have not been able to prove that this was a homicide,

and we haven't been able to prove that this was an accident either. The ultimate problem is we don't know how she ended up in the water. The statutes of limitations have run out on all crimes except one, murder. And to prove murder, there has to be evidence that someone intentionally put Natalie in the water. Falling in by accident wouldn't count. If people knew that Natalie Wood was in the water and they didn't save her, they could have saved her and they didn't save her. Would that be enough to bring charges in this case? No, that's not. Believe it or not, there's no duty to act. Believe me, if she had called out or she had made any noises or if we'd have heard anything,

there were three of us there. We would have done something. Nobody heard anything. Still, investigators remain troubled by the evidence they do have. The witnesses who talk about a fight on the back of the boat. And the number and locations of fresh bruises on Natalie's body. I think I've been a cop long enough to see those appear to be assaultive in nature. Could the bruises have instead come from a drunken fall?

Perhaps. But investigators think the circumstantial evidence, the fight, the alcohol, the jealousy may suggest another scenario. Someone can get so enraged they can't control their anger. It's like a crime of passion. It just happens. And they didn't mean for it to happen. And then later on, they're sorry about it, but it's like a crime of passion it just happens and they didn't mean for it to happen and then later on they're sorry about it but it's too late for his part christopher walken has remained largely silent through the years we have to ask you about natalie wood because as you know

they've reopened the case you were there that night what do you think happened christopher well you know i stopped talking about that 30 years ago. There's so much information, books and Internet. Anything you want to know, just go look. He did, however, interview with a new investigation. I'm not going to go into what Christopher Walken said, what he told us was in confidence, at least for now. Investigators did tell us that Walken is not a person of interest. Despite several attempts to re-interview Robert Wagner, including a trip to Aspen where Wagner

lives with his wife, actress Jill St. John, the investigators say the actor has refused to speak with them. ROBERT WAGNER, The Actors' Office, The Washington Post Robert Wagner, of course, we want to talk to him and get his side of the story and try to clarify things. He's refused time and time again to talk to us. One part of Robert Wagner's story has never changed. He continues to insist Natalie Wood's death was an accident, but there is a part of him that blames himself. When you're in love, you're responsible for the other one. She's responsible for me and I was responsible for her. And, you know, this accident that occurred, I wasn't there. I wasn't there for her.

And that's always within me. Robert Wagner will turn 88 next week. Robert Wagner will turn 88 next week. Natalie would have turned 80 this coming July, a sad milestone for those who loved her. It really does pain me to this day to know that she is gone, when she really had her whole life in front of her. I was 35 when Natalie died, and I am now 71. Before my life is over, I would like to put Natalie's to rest by knowing the truth. By speaking out, Lieutenant Carina and Detective Hernandez are hoping new witnesses will come forward. Either someone who saw something, heard something, or was told something.

Someone who will help answer the question once and for all. How did Natalie Wood end up in the water? Like any cold case, they intend to work it until it's solved. We're not ever going to close it until we get to the truth. 48 Hours' requests to interview Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken were declined. The Splendor is currently up for sale.