Natalie Wood's Death Termed 'Suspicious'

Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood

The mysterious death of actress Natalie Wood off Catalina Island has sparked more than three decades of speculation about whether it was an accident or murder.

Natalie Wood

The 43-year-old star of "West Side Story," who couldn't swim, was boating off the island during Thanksgiving weekend 1981 with her husband, Robert Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and others when she somehow went overboard and drowned. Officials at the time said her death was an accident, but speculation over whether there was more to the story has endured for more than three decades.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reopened its investigation in 2011 but no charges were ever filed, and officials said at the time they were not sure if a crime had occurred.

This week, one of the investigators on the case, John Corina, reignited interest with comments about Wagner and his wife's death.

"He is a person of interest, because he was the last one with Natalie Wood. And somehow she ends up in the water and drowns," said Corina, a lieutenant in the Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau.

Wagner, the lieutenant said, has refused to talk to investigators.

The original story that's been told — that Wood took a dinghy into town and fell into the water — doesn't add up, Corina said. There was a rainstorm and rough waters the night Wood disappeared. She was one of four people on a large boat when she went into the water, but detectives believe Wagner was alone with her in one part of the vessel, Corina said.

"Some of the things we found that [Wagner] did afterwards, or didn't do, in the boat, cause us to say, 'This doesn't make any sense,'" Corina said. "We're at the end of the investigation. We're at a standstill, so we thought we'd give it one more shot to the public."

Investigators received more than 100 tips since reopening the case, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. New witnesses told detectives they heard noises coming from the boat on the night of Wood's disappearance, she said.

The witnesses provided a "new sequence of events" surrounding Wood's death that differs from the original version given by previous witnesses, Nishida said.