Robert Wagner named person of interest in Natalie Wood’s drowning death

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Almost four decades after the tragic death of Hollywood star Natalie Wood, investigators reveal there is a new person of interest in the case: her then-husband, Robert Wagner. Susana Victoria Perez (@susana_vp) has more.
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Thirty-six years after Natalie Wood’s mysterious drowning death, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has reopened the investigation and named her then-husband, Robert Wagner, a person of interest in the case.

CBS reported the new detail Thursday as part of its upcoming 48 Hours report Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET/PT).

Wood, the 43-year-old Oscar-nominated star of films such as  Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story, drowned off the coast of Catalina Island in California the night of Nov. 29, 1981, after taking her family yacht, Splendour, out with Wagner and her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. Boat captain Dennis Davern was also on board.

She was found wearing a flannel nightgown, socks and a red down jacket and Davern identified her body for authorities, according to an autopsy report. Her body had superficial bruises, according to the report, but those were considered consistent with drowning. 

“She looked like a victim of an assault,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Ralph Hernandez tells CBS per 48 Hours. ”We have not been able to prove 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.”

Her death was ruled an accident in 1981, but the sheriff’s department reopened the case in 2011, ultimately changing the cause of death on her death certificate from an accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors” in 2012.

In a 2011 interview with NBC’s Today show, Davern said he had come forward to police with new information. “I made mistakes by not telling the honest truth in the (initial) police report,” Davern said.

When asked if Wagner had more of a responsibility in the case, Davern said, “Yes, I would say so, yes.” But he refused to elaborate.

However, when asked if Wagner was a suspect, Lt. John Corina, the lead detective on the reopened case, said he was not.

For his part, Wagner had pledged his “full support” to the 2011 investigation, with the caveat that he hoped any new leads “would come from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of the tragic death.”

Representatives for Wagner and the L.A. County Sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

Contributing: Bryan Alexander, The Associated Press

 

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Apologizes for Affair with Former Head of Security: ‘I’m Flawed’

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry admitted to an affair with a police sergeant who had been assigned to protect her.

“Today, I have acknowledged publicly that I have engaged in an extramarital affair with the former head of my security detail,” she said in a prepared statement. “I accept full responsibility for the pain I have caused my family and his. I am so sorry to my husband Bruce, who has stood by me in my darkest moments and remains committed to our marriage, just as I am committed to repairing the damage I have done.”

The 54-year-old Democrat also apologized to the citizens of Nashville, promising to “work hard to earn your forgiveness and earn back your trust.”

In an interview with The Tennessean on Wednesday afternoon, Barry identified her paramour as 58-year-old Sgt. Robert Forrest Jr., who is also married. She apologized “for the harm I’ve done to the people I love and the people who counted on me.”

The affair between began in the spring or summer of 2016, shortly after she entered office the previous fall, reports The Tennessean.

God will forgive me, but the people of Nashville don’t have to. In the weeks and months to come, I will work hard to earn your forgiveness and earn back your trust. https://t.co/z5tNpBhjrW

— Megan Barry (@MayorMeganBarry) January 31, 2018

“We had an affair, and it was wrong, and we shouldn’t have done it,” Barry said. “He was part of my security detail, and as part of that responsibility, I should have gone to the [police] chief, and I should have said what was going on, and that was a mistake.”

She continued, “People that we admire can also be flawed humans, and I’m flawed, and I’m incredibly sad and sorry for the disappointment that I will see in those little girls’ faces. But, what I hope they can also see is that people make mistakes, and you move on from those.”

Forrest, a 32-year veteran of the police force, according to WKRN, submitted his retirement papers Jan. 17 and served his final day on Wednesday. The mayor said she has no plans to step down.

Barry explained herself to reporters for about 15 minutes Wednesday night at a press conference, telling them she’s embarrassed and sorry.

Though she declined to say when the affair ended, Barry stated it was “over.”

Forrest also apologized in a statement provided by his lawyer, David Raybin, to The Tennessean.

“I deeply regret that my professional relationship with Mayor Barry turned into a personal one,” the statement read. “This has caused great pain for my wife, my family, friends and colleagues. At no time did I ever violate my oath as a police officer or engage in actions that would abuse the public trust.”

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The outlet also reports Forrest accompanied Barry on trips to Paris, Athens, Washington, New York, Denver, Oakland and other cities over the past year. He racked up around $33,000 in travel expenses. He also earned more than $50,000 in overtime in 2017 on top of an $84,500 salary.

During the press conference, Barry said “every single” trip was business-related and that Forrest’s overtime pay matches her “aggressive schedule.”

Metro Councilman Steve Glover said, “If the Metro Budget and Finance Committee needs to look into this, we can look into it and find out if any money was spent properly or improperly.”

“This is a bad day, and there’s going to be more bad days, but this is not my worst day. And I know the difference between a mistake — which is what I made and I fully own — and a tragedy. And this is not a tragedy. And I want to regain the trust of Nashvillians. And I will continue to serve,” she said.

“God will forgive me,” she also tweeted and stated. “But the people of Nashville don’t have to.”

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