LOS ANGELES (AP) — The lifeguard captain who helped pull Natalie Wood’s body from the water nearly 30 years ago said he believes the actress could have been saved had officials begun a search for her earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Former Los Angeles County supervising rescue boat captain Roger Smith told the Times (http://lat.ms/rUJ3VZ) he was alerted that Wood was missing at 5:11 a.m. on Nov. 29, 1981. That was some four hours after she went missing from a yacht off Santa Catalina Island during a Thanksgiving weekend trip with her husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. A lifeguard boat equipped with all the gear needed to conduct a search had been moored about 100 feet away from the yacht the whole time, he said.

“Based on the condition of her body when we pulled her from the water, I believe she survived for some time in the water and was blown out to sea. She probably cried for help for hours,” Smith said in an interview. “I’ve always believed she could have been saved. Her fingers were still pliable when she was pulled from the water, suggesting she had not been dead for hours.”

The Sheriff’s Department reopened the death investigation last week, saying the decision was prompted by new information detectives received about the case.