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As Robert Wagner Is Named Person of Interest in Natalie Wood's Death, Bitter Family Feud Reignites

Natalie Wood's eldest daughter Natasha has said that she doesn't believe Wagner is involved in her mother's death.

The new investigation into the 1981 death of Hollywood legend Natalie Wood has split her family and rekindled a bitter feud. 

Natalie's sister, Lana Wood, blames Natalie's husband, actor Robert Wagner, for the tragedy. 

“Something bad happened and something wrong happened and I want him to own up to that,” she told Inside Edition. "It is heartbreaking. It is a knife in my heart." 

Natalie's daughters have always stood by their father stating that Wagner was not involved in her death.

In 2016, Wood’s daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, told Good Morning America she has never blamed Robert Wagner for her mother's death.  

She said that she didn’t think Wagner, her stepfather, had anything to do with her mother’s death and believes it was just an accident. 

When asked if she still searches for answers, she said: "I have my answers." 

That same year, Katie Wagner joined Natasha in marketing a perfume named for Natalie Wood.

Natalie's youngest daughter, Courtney Wagner, is a jewelry designer. 

Lana Wood told Inside Edition that Wagner broke all contact with her after his wife's death. She says the family rift is so deep that her nieces did not reach out to her when her daughter, Evan Maldonado, died of a heart attack last year at age 42.

“I have sent enough tearful letters, left tearful messages, informed them that their grandmother passed away. Nobody responds and I don’t think I can do that anymore,” Lana Wood told Inside Edition. 

This weekend, Wagner is set to celebrate his 88th birthday, but the cloud of Wood’s death still hangs over him. 

Last week, investigators called Wagner a "person of interest" in Wood's death for the first time.

"We have reached out to him like two or three times — through him and through his attorney — and he has refused to talk to us,” Lt. John Corina of the LA Sheriff’s Department said.

“We’d love to hear his side of his version of events,” Corina added. “He’s always been a person of interest because he was the last one with her.”

Corina also emphasized that the case remains an accidental death investigation, and not a murder investigation.

“We’re not pressing charges on anyone,” he added.

"I have never wanted to think that in any way he was responsible," Lana Wood told Inside Edition. "Now, the brutality of the truth has struck me in the face and I seriously have no choice."

Robert Wagner has always said his wife’s death was an accident. A GoFundMe account has been established to benefit Lana Wood.

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