Natalie Wood in January 1979. (Photo: AP) 
 
 The death of movie star Natalie Wood four decades ago continues to fascinate the media and now the "Dr. Phil" show has joined in, hosting the yacht skipper who now claims Wood was murdered and Wood's sister who accuses her ex-brother-in-law, actor Robert Wagner, of doing it. 
 
 On November 29, it will be 37 years since Wood, the Hollywood child star-turned-Oscar-nominated actress, died at age 43 in a mysterious drowning off the coast of Santa Catalina, the popular pleasure island in the Pacific southwest of Los Angeles. 
 
 Wagner, Wood and their friend, actor Christopher Walken, sailed to the island in the couple's yacht, Splendour. Wood disappeared from the yacht under circumstances that remain murky. 
 
 Hours later, her body was found, clad in a flannel nightgown, red down jacket and blue socks, floating in the Pacific about a mile away from the yacht. 
 
 Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood in 1980. (Photo: AP) 
 
 Her death was initially ruled accidental drowning; in 2012, it was changed to drowning plus "undetermined factors." 
 
 The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has been trying for decades to pin Wood's death on Wagner, now 88, by periodically re-opening their investigation, labeling the death "suspicious," and calling for eye and ear witnesses to come forward. 
 
 In interviews Thursday and Friday on his show, host Phil McGraw talked to two familiar faces from the Wood saga: Dennis Davern, the man usually identified as the "skipper" of the yacht, and actress Lana Wood, 72, Natalie's sister. 
 
 A frame grab from a First Coast News broadcast in Nov. 28, 2011, Dennis Davern, former captain of the boat actress Natalie Wood was on just before she drowned in 1981. (Photo: First Coast News) 
 
 Davern, who initially told police Wood's death was an accident, now is saying he believes it was murder. "You believe Robert Wagner murdered Natalie Wood?" McGraw asked him on Friday. “Yes, I really do,” Davern said. 
 
 Davern told McGraw he heard Wood and Wagner engage in a loud fight that night and when it grew quiet he went on deck to find Wagner standing alone. Wagner told him that Wood was missing, and when Davern suggested calling for help, Wagner blocked him from doing so. 
 
 Later, he said, Wagner instructed him on the story they would tell to police: That she must have slipped and fallen into the water by accident. 
 
 Lana Wood has long been suspicious of that story and of Wagner's behavior on the yacht that night; on Thursday, she told McGraw that Wagner has “something to hide.” 
 
 “Are you suggesting that he knocked her out and threw her in the water?” McGraw asked. “Something like that, absolutely,” she said. 
 
 She criticized the original investigation into Wood's death and remains angry at "RJ," as Wagner was known, for continuing to refuse to talk to detectives about it. 
 
 “The only reason can be is that he has something to hide. Otherwise, why wouldn’t you talk to the police?” Lana Wood told McGraw. “Why wouldn’t you say ‘Ask me anything, of course.’?” 
 
 Lana Wood has made similar accusations in the past. In July, she appeared on "Megyn Kelly Today" to talk about the tragedy. When Kelly asked her if she thinks Wagner murdered her sister, Lana Wood said, “Yes.” 
 
 Wagner has long denied murdering his wife, and routinely declines to comment when the case is brought up in the media or by sheriff's detectives. 
 
 His rep, Alan Nierob, told USA TODAY that Davern and Lana Wood should be shamed. 
 
 "They are despicable human beings, capitalizing on the accidental death of a beloved member of the Wagner family," Nierob said. "They should be ashamed of themselves." 
 
 CLOSE 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. Buzz60 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2NIkka5 ||||| Nearly four decades after the unexplained drowning death of Hollywood star Natalie Wood, Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators tell "48 Hours" that her then-husband, actor Robert Wagner, is now a person of interest. Investigators want to speak with Wagner about the circumstances surrounding her death one night in 1981, they say in interviews for "Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water" to be broadcast Saturday, Feb. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. 
 
 "As we've investigated the case over the last six years, I think he's more of a person of interest now," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant John Corina says of Wagner in an interview with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty. "I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared." 
 
 Wood drowned off the coast of Catalina Island in California in November 1981 after she went missing from the Splendour, her family's yacht. Also aboard that night were Captain Dennis Davern, Wagner, and Wood's friend and fellow actor, Christopher Walken. The next day, the actress was found floating in the water wearing a red down jacket and flannel nightgown. After a two-week investigation, the death was ruled an accident. But, in 2011, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reopened the death investigation. And in 2012 the Los Angeles Coroner's Office amended the death certificate, changing the manner of death from an accidental drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors." 
 
 Now, six years after the investigation was reopened, "48 Hours" talks with the investigators about new witnesses, new evidence and new theories as to what happened that night. 
 
 Rumors of foul play have long surrounded Wood's mysterious death. At first, the three men aboard the boat -- Wagner, Walken and Davern -- told detectives that Wood, famously terrified of dark water, took off in a dinghy and went ashore. Over time, however, Wagner and Davern's accounts have shifted, a red flag to the investigators. 
 
 Investigators say Wagner has refused to speak with them since the case was reopened. Corina tells Moriarty he doesn't believe Wagner has told the whole story. 
 
 "I haven't seen him tell the details that match ... all the other witnesses in this case," Corina says of Wagner. "I think he's constantly ... he's changed the -- his story a little bit. ...and his version of events just don't add up." 
 
 Walken has spoken with investigators. 
 
 Was it an accident or something more? 
 
 Investigators today note the autopsy report indicates there were a number of bruises that appeared to be fresh on Wood's body. 
 
 "She looked like the victim of an assault," says Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Detective Ralph Hernandez. 
 
 Los Angeles Coroner's Office 
 
 "Do you believe Natalie Wood was murdered?" Moriarty asks. 
 
 "I think it's suspicious enough to make us think that something happened," Corina says. 
 
 "Do you believe Robert Wagner knows a lot more about what happened to his wife than he's ever said?" Moriarty asks. 
 
 "Well, I think he does because he's the last one to see her," Corina replies. 
 
 Moriarty and the "48 Hours" team have been covering the Wood case for six years and was the only news organization to capture the detectives searching the Splendour for clues. "48 Hours" reports on the latest information in the case through interviews with the detectives leading the case, with Wood's sister Lana Wood, as well as archival interviews with Wagner, Davern and others. "48 Hours"' efforts to get comment from Wagner and Walken were unsuccessful. 
 
 "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," says Hernandez. "The ultimate problem is we don't know how she ended up in the water." ||||| Natalie Wood's drowning death nearly 30 years ago came after a night of dinner, drinking and arguments but the question remains _ was it anything more than a tragic accident? 
 
 FILE - In this April 27, 2009 file photo, actor Christopher Walken attends The Film Society of Lincoln Center gala tribute to honor actor Tom Hanks in New York. Clashing versions of what happened on... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - The 55-foot yacht "Splendour," belonging to actor Robert Wagner and his wife, actress Natalie Wood, sits in the waters off Catalina Island in Santa Catalina, Calif., near the site where Harbor... (Associated Press) 
 
 Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department speaks during a news conference at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park, Calif., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. The Los... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - A Dec. 1, 1981 file photo shows actress Natalie Wood. Dennis Davern, captain of the yacht Splendour, which Wood was aboard on the night she died, said on national TV Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 that... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Nov. 28, 1981 file photo, "Prince Valiant," the inflatable dinghy used by 34-year-old actress Natalie Wood on the yacht Splendour, sits pierside in Catalina Island, Calif. Yacht captain Dennis... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this April 9, 1979 file photo, actress Natalie Wood is shown at the 51st Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Los Angeles sheriff's homicide detectives are taking another look at Wood's 1981... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Nov. 25, 1959 file photo, Natalie Wood and her husband Robert Wagner are made up for their roles in "All The Fine Young Cannibals," in Los Angeles. Dennis Davern, captain of the yacht Splendour,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In an image from video provided by NBC News, Dennis Davern appears on NBC's "Today" show via video on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Davern, captain of the yacht Splendour, which actress Natalie Wood was aboard... (Associated Press) 
 
 Conflicting versions of what happened on the yacht shared by Wood, her actor-husband Robert Wagner and their friend, actor Christopher Walken, have contributed to the mystery of how the actress died on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981. 
 
 Two sheriff's detectives are now diving into the mysterious events on the yacht Splendour, although whether they reach any different conclusions than their predecessors remains to be seen. They recently received new, seemingly credible information and heard from potential witnesses who weren't included in the original investigation of Wood's death, sheriff's Lt. John Corina said Friday. 
 
 But he said nothing has happened to change the official view that Wood's death was originally an accidental drowning. Wagner, the star of "Hart to Hart" is not considered a suspect, he added. 
 
 Corina released few details about who investigators have contacted or plan to re-interview, but the inquiry will certainly lead them to speak with the three survivors of the trip _ Wagner, Walken and skipper Dennis Davern. 
 
 Wood's sister, Lana, was not on the boat, but told CNN's Piers Morgan on Friday that she has spoken with Davern many times and believes her sister did not fall off the boat. 
 
 "I don't think she fell, I don't know if she was pushed, I don't know whether there was an altercation and it happened accidentally but she shouldn't have died and that does stay with me and hurt," Lana Wood said. 
 
 "I would prefer to always believe that RJ (Wagner) would never do anything to hurt Natalie and that he loved her dearly, which he did, and I don't believe that whatever went on was deliberate. I've always cared about him. I always will care about him," she said. 
 
 The captain said on NBC's "Today" on Friday that Wagner is to blame for the Oscar-nominated actress' death in the chilly waters of Southern California in November 1981, but didn't offer many specifics. For years he has maintained that he heard the famous couple arguing on the boat before Wood went missing and Wagner refusing to immediately search the waters nearby for his wife. 
 
 Davern's account is dramatically different from what he told investigators after Wood's body was found in 1981, when no mention of an argument between the couple was made. Wood was wearing a nightgown, wool socks and red down coat when she was found floating off Santa Catalina Island. 
 
 The renewed investigation comes at a time when plenty of attention was sure to be focused on Wood, whose beauty and acting in films such as "West Side Story" and "Rebel Without a Cause" made her Hollywood royalty. Her death stunned the world and CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" has been looking into the case for a special airing on Saturday. 
 
 Sheriff's officials denied the renewed attention prompted their review, which could take months. 
 
 "We're not concerned with the anniversary date," Corina said. "It may have jarred some other people's memories." 
 
 Davern and Wagner agree on one point about the fateful night _ there was a heated argument on the yacht after the group returned from dinner on Catalina. All had been drinking, and here is where the three men's accounts begin to differ. 
 
 Davern said he heard Wagner and Wood arguing and its outcome had horrific consequences. 
 
 Was that fight "what ultimately led to her death?" Davern was asked by "Today" show host David Gregory. 
 
 "Yes," Davern replied. 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 "Like I said, that's going to be up to the investigators to decide," Davern responded after a long pause. 
 
 Wagner acknowledges a fight took place on the Splendour, but in his best-selling 2008 memoir "Pieces of My Heart," he wrote that the fighting was between him and Walken. The disagreement began over the acting profession and led to Wood retreating to her cabin, while the dispute raged on between Wagner and Walken. Later Walken went to bed, according to Wagner, who, after staying up with Davern for a while, went looking for his wife and couldn't find her on board. He then noticed that a dinghy attached to the boat _and his wife _ was gone. 
 
 Walken, who has rarely spoken about the events that led to Wood's death, denied in a 1982 interview on "Good Morning America" that he and Wagner quarreled. 
 
 "No, that's not true," Walken said when asked if a fight was the reason Wood left the yacht. "They were very good to me, that family, and that's not true. 
 
 "We were having a Thanksgiving weekend, a good time," he said. 
 
 But Walken told sheriff's detectives that there was an argument, according to a 2000 Vanity Fair piece that included statements from a report by the investigating detective. It also included comments from Davern, who told the magazine that he heard Wagner and Wood fighting before she went missing. 
 
 The detective, Wagner and Walken and coroner's officials all have maintained that Wood's death was an accident, possibly caused by her trying to secure the dinghy to the side of the yacht. 
 
 "The people who are convinced that there was something more to it than what came out in the investigation will never be satisfied with the truth," Walken was quoted in the Vanity Fair piece as saying during an interview in the 1980s. "Because the truth is, there is nothing more to it. It was an accident." 
 
 Wagner too addressed the uncertainty about what happened in his book. 
 
 "Nobody knows," he wrote. "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." 
 
 Wagner said through a spokesman that his family trusts the sheriff's department to conduct a fair investigation into Wood's death. 
 
 The couple were married twice, first in 1957 before divorcing six years later. They remarried in 1972. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Denise Petski contributed to this report. 
 
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 Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .
– For nearly 40 years, the death of Natalie Wood has remained a mystery. First the 43-year-old actress was ruled to have died of accidental drowning after disappearing from a yacht she was on with husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. Then, in 2012, that ruling shifted to drowning plus "other undetermined factors," with LA County Sheriff's Department investigators suspicious there was more to the case. Wood's sister, Lana Wood, has contended for years that Wagner was responsible for her sibling's death, and this week, Dr. Phil McGraw added oxygen to that theory by having Lana Wood and the yacht's captain, Dennis Davern, on his show for two days of interviews on the subject, USA Today reports. "You believe Robert Wagner murdered Natalie Wood?" McGraw asked Davern, who'd initially stuck with the accidental drowning story. "Yes, I really do," Davern answered. He says he heard Wood and Wagner fighting, and when the noise ceased, he went up on the deck to find Wagner standing there solo; Davern says Wagner insisted they say Wood likely slipped and fell into the water. Lana Wood sticks by that, too. "Are you suggesting that [Wagner] knocked her out and threw her in the water?" McGraw asked. "Something like that, absolutely," she answered. Per Us Weekly, Lana Wood also recently appeared on a podcast in which she says that, shortly after her sister's death, Hollywood exec Rowland Perkins informed her Wagner was keeping her out of Tinseltown. "He said, 'Stop trying to get a job in production or acting. You've been blacklisted by Robert Wagner," Lana Wood said. A rep for Wagner, now 88, tells USA Today that Davern and Lana Wood are "despicable human beings" and that "they should be ashamed of themselves."