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Robert Wagner “Responsible” for Natalie Wood’s Drowning, Boat Captain Says

1321622863_natalie wood article

The drama isn't over for Natalie Wood.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is reopening the 1981 drowning case of the actress, who was 43 at the time of her death.

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Wood was boating off of Santa Catalina Island with her husband, Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken and others. She went overboard and died, and the incident was initially ruled an accident.

A law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times they received a letter from an unidentified "third party" who said the boat's captain, Dennis Davern, had "new recollections" about the case.

Davern co-authored Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, where he goes into detail about the drowning incident. The captain told the Today Show on Friday that Wood's husband Wagner, now 81, was "responsible" for the actress' death.

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"We didn't take any steps to see if we could locate [Natalie]," Davern added. "I did lie on a report several years ago."

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Wagner's publicist issued a statement, as excerpted by the L.A. Times, saying his family supported the L.A. County Sherriff's department and "trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death."

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