Bombshell update on Natalie Wood’s drowning mystery as witnesses reveal who ‘killed her’

Natalie Wood screamed for her life as she leveled accusations at her husband, one of the last people to see the ‘West Side Story’ star alive.

The new account of one of Hollywood’s most shocking and scandalous deaths – along with that of a dying 80-year-old woman – was given to author Marti Rulli, who passed it on to RadarOnline.com.

Wood and Wagner were a virtually unparalleled Hollywood power couple when the “Splendor in the Grass” actress shockingly drowned to her death on Thanksgiving weekend 1981.

Now the stunning confessions of two new witnesses have painted Wood’s ‘Hart to Hart’ TV star husband Robert Wagner as her alleged killer after the case was reopened.

Rulli told Radar she believes the new reports could warrant a new grand jury investigation into Wood’s death in the dark waters near their yacht Splendor off the coast of Catalina Island, California, around 11 p.m. on November 28, 1981.

She described one of the witnesses as a California man who was just 17 at the time of Wood’s drowning, which remains shrouded in mystery after 43 years.

The man, Rulli said, had been a worker on a fishing boat moored near the yacht where West Side Story was last seen, owned by her husband Wagner.

When he contacted Rulli last year, he recalled Wood yelling and an argument.

“It still bothers him and he wanted to tell me what he knew,” Rulli told Radar about the then-young witness.

‘He heard an argument and he told me he heard Natalie shouting which made him feel uncomfortable. But he didn’t report it to the police because he thought it was a drowning case.’

Both accounts, Rulli said, coincided with those given to police by the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern – one of only four aboard the Splendor that night.

He was joined by Wood, Wagner and a then 38-year-old Christopher Walken – each part forming a so-called love triangle that would have sent Wagner off the rails.

The man’s claim supports testimony from Davern, who told police the Thanksgiving weekend cruise turned violent when Wagner accused Wood, 43, of having an affair with her “Brainstorm” co-star Christopher Walken, who was also on the hunting.

Davern has claimed that an enraged Wagner, then 51, allegedly smashed a bottle of wine on a table and began fighting with Wood moments before she disappeared.

At one point, Davern claims he heard Wagner yelling, “Get off my damn boat!”

Wagner, now 94, has repeatedly denounced the claims.

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner are pictured in 1970. The actress drowned in 1981, and some of the last people to see the actress alive are now airing bombshell claims that some say could lead to new charges in the long cold case.

“The case will remain open as long as Robert Wagner is alive because he is the suspect,” said Rulli, who is currently gathering evidence against the aging Hart to Hart star after the 1981 case was reopened in 2011.

The following year, Wood’s cause of death was changed from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors” — decades after police dropped Wagner as a suspect.

“I continue to hope that the Los Angeles District Attorney will see fit to allow the strong prior evidence, and the new evidence I have gathered, to bring justice for Natalie’s murder,” Rulli explained, as he delivered the concealed names and details of witnesses.

“It still bothers him and he wanted to tell me what he knew,” she said of the then 17-year-old.

‘He heard an argument and he told me he heard Natalie shouting which made him feel uncomfortable. But he didn’t report it to the police.’

Rulli added that she also contacted an older woman who said she had worked with Wood in the 1960s as an emerging actress but today was on the brink of death.

Her account also indicated abuse Wagner, who she said laid hands on Wood in their locker room

“She said she saw Wagner enter their dressing room [before the incident,’ Rulli said of the woman’s claims, calling them ‘additional evidence of [the] abuse.’

Wagner, now 94, was named as a person of interest during a renewed investigation into the case in 2018 but was acquitted in 2022. Both new witness statements appear to portray him as Wood’s killer.

Wood’s drowning occurred on November 29, 1981, after she disappeared from Wagner’s boat The Splendor, seen here the day after the incident

The case was reopened in 2011. The following year, Wood’s cause of death was changed from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors” — decades after police dropped Wagner as a suspect. The couple is seen together on their wedding day in 1957

The two were joined on the boat that evening by Christopher Walken. One of the witnesses, a fishing boat worker who had been on a boat moored near the Splendor, recalled hearing Wood’s screams and arguing with Wagner.

Rulli then asked the publication to withhold the names of both witnesses for the time being, as she hopes this will soon spur a grand jury investigation in which Wagner — who was recently acquitted again after being declared a person of interest in 2018 — will be indicted .

Davern, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed that the three-star Thanksgiving weekend cruise took a turn when Wagner accused his then-43-year-old bride of having an affair with Walken, with whom she had just filmed 1983’s Brainstorm.

Davern watched them fight it out on the boat and saw Wagner smash a bottle of wine on a table before the argument turned physical.

At one point, Davern – who insists Wagner was Wood’s killer – says he heard Wagner shouting, “Get off my damn boat!”

Later that evening she would disappear Davern said Wagner prevented him from turning on the searchlights or calling for help for four full hours.

her body was found the next morning, washed up on the coast of Catalina. her death was subsequently ruled an accidental drowning – a decision that has since been reversed.

RadarOnline further reported how another witness called LA police sometime after Wood’s death, claiming he lived next door to the high-profile couple in the 1950s.

“He remembers Natalie banging on the door in the middle of the night,” Rulli told the publication, adding she plans to compile the new claims in an upcoming book as well. She asked for a place to stay because [Wagner] would kill her.’

The claims matched those of the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern, the last person on the boat. He said it was a love triangle that would have sent Wagner off the rails

Now reopened, the cold case could now give way to a grand jury investigation with the man and another unnamed witness making new accusations against Wagner

The couple spent almost all their weekends at the Splendor, often with friends

Wagner, seen here four years ago doing an on-camera interview for the HBO documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind. has maintained that Wood left on his own in a dinghy and never returned. He did not respond when he was appointed ‘person of interest’ in 2018

Wagner, who was cleared by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in its renewed investigation in 2022, claims Wood left of his own accord in a dinghy and never returned.

Lana Wood, Natalie’s sister, has claimed in the past that he does not want to be interviewed because he says he cannot rely on his memory.

He also did not respond when he was named a person of interest by the LAPD in 2018.

His 95th birthday is in February.