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Natalie Wood Death Investigation Again Points To Robert Wagner As Possible Suspect As Two New Witnesses Allegedly Come Forward

By Inquisitr Staff
Published on: 03:30 PST, Sep 8, 2016

The Natalie Wood death investigation continues after the case was reopened in 2011, and new witnesses have allegedly come forward. Dennis Davern admitted he had initially lied to police about what he had witnessed in 1981 as the captain of the boat Splendour, where Wood was last seen alive. Davern’s shocking confession prompted investigators to again take a closer look at the unsolved Natalie Wood death case in November 2011 — almost exactly 30 years after she was found drowned in the sea only a mile away from the boat.

For the last five years, Davern has repeatedly implicated Natalie Wood’s husband at the time, Robert Wagner, as the person allegedly responsible for the untimely and suspicious death of the actress on the night of November 28, 1981. Now, as Cold Case Investigative Research, Inc. out of Atlanta, Georgia, continues to probe into the death of Natalie Wood, two new witnesses have allegedly come forward to confirm what Davern says he also witnessed on Splendour the night of November 28 between Wood and Wagner — an event that again points to the now 86-year-old Hart to Hart actor as a possible murder suspect.

Robert Wagner has always maintained his innocence in the disappearance of his wife, Natalie Wood, in 1981, and later in the discovery of her dead body floating in the sea not far from the yacht where she was last seen alive with Wagner, Brainstorm film co-star Christopher Walken, and the Splendour captain, Dennis Davern. What was supposed to be just a fun Thanksgiving weekend boat trip to the small island of Catalina, located just off the coast of California, allegedly turned into an argument between Wagner, Wood, and Walken. Wagner even acknowledged that he had fought with both Wood and Walken separately the night that Wood disappeared, but he still continued to deny any involvement in the death of his 43-year-old wife, only saying that when he went to bed on the evening of November 28, 1981, Wood was not there.

Davern was a credible witness at the time to what he called a “screaming match” between Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood on the rear deck of the boat just moments before she disappeared.

“When detectives had me hooked up to their polygraph test equipment, I was asked, ‘Did Robert Wagner murder Natalie Wood?’

“I answered, ‘Yes’ — and I passed!”

According to the Inquisitr, Davern did pass a lie detector test during the initial police investigation into what caused Natalie Wood to enter the water on the night of November 28. The actress turned up dead early the next morning with an empty dinghy found beached nearby.

However, in 2011, Davern told Today in an interview that he had actually lied on the police report several years ago and never reported that he had witnessed Wagner and Wood having a “terrible argument.” Davern went on to say that he attempted to stop the argument, but Wagner simply told him to “go away.” Moments later, according to Davern, Natalie Wood disappeared, and Robert Wagner allegedly didn’t want to turn on search lights, notify anyone, or take any other steps to locate her.

Also, according to Davern, Christopher Walken had retired for the night to his own cabin after Wagner reportedly smashed a wine bottle on a coffee table during a fight with Walken, which was allegedly provoked by jealousy. Wagner reportedly thought that Wood and Walken had been having an affair and flew into what Walken called a “jealous rage” on the night of November 28. Walken’s story of what happened that night has never changed throughout the years, according to Radar Online. Walken claims he also witnessed Wagner and Wood argue after Wagner accused Walken of “trying to seduce” his wife. Law enforcement said that Walken and Wagner didn’t “care for each other” at all.

“He was sticking to his same story he gave the first time he was questioned.”

When Davern finally came clean to law enforcement in 2011 about not being truthful concerning events that took place on the night that Natalie Wood disappeared, he said that Wagner seemed anxious and nervous, even sweaty and disheveled, not more than 15 minutes after the argument with Wood had stopped. But since a dingy was missing, along with Wood, Davern believed she had simply left the boat to stay the night at a Catalina hotel — something she had done on the night of November 27, also following an argument with Wagner. However, Natalie Wood’s body was found on the morning of November 29 covered in bruises with an abrasion on her left cheek, injuries that led investigators to change the cause of death from accidental to “drowning and other undetermined factors,” as reported by BBC News in 2012.

In fact, the coroner later stated that Natalie Wood could have sustained some of those bruises before she actually entered the water, and now two new witnesses have surfaced that corroborate what Dennis Davern witnessed on the night of November 29. CCIRI allegedly uncovered new evidence and two new witnesses. A group of forensic professionals with CCIRI also claim they uncovered evidence that Robert Wagner was allegedly the one having an affair while accusing Natalie Wood of doing the same. CCIRI reportedly turned over all of its new evidence to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, including statements from the two new unidentified witnesses.

“It all adds up. The rage, the opportunity, and the motive — jealousy, cheating and Natalie’s wealth.”

Radar Online says in a new breaking news report that police won’t publicly identify the new witnesses, but they do say that their testimony could prove to be a huge break in the Natalie Wood death case that has remained unsolved for nearly 35 years — testimony that could again put Robert Wagner at the forefront of the investigation as a possible murder suspect. Natalie Wood’s own attorney has always said that her death is an accident and that any speculation is just “ghoulish nonsense.”

According to Robert Wagner, in an article published by People Magazine in April, the cause of Natalie Wood’s death is all conjecture.

“Nobody knows. There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened.”

[Photo by Frank Barratt/Getty Images]

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