Before the end of her life, Jayne had already divorced Mickey Hargitay, with whom she had three children, Mickey Jr, Zoltan and Mariska. Her career had hit the skids, and she was performing in night-clubs, and getting to and from gigs by car.
On the evening of June 28th, 1967, Jayne had a show in Biloxi Mississippi, in a club called the Gus Stevens Supper Club.
After her gig, she and her companion and attorney Sam Brody, and the three little Hargitays left in the 1966 Buick Electra (owned by Gus Stevens himself), driven by Ronnie Harrison, who was only 20 years old. Think he kept his eye on the road? Naw. The group was heading to New Orleans, so Jayne could do a television show the next day. Got to plug the act! It must have been very late when they went on their way. The interview was to take place in the WDSU-TV studios. When in New Orleans, Jayne had reservations at the Roosevelt Hotel, now the Fairmont.
Just before Jayne Mansfield car crash she went to a waterway called the Rigolets, the proceeded to travel down a "winding, narrow stretch of the two-lane route known as the Old Spanish Trail, US90." about 2:25am they passed over this bridge, then passed through this curve in the road. What’s that? An insecticide truck? Whoops. Blam. There they go. Killed Brody, killed Ronnie and killed Jaynie. The car plowed underneath the truck which was spraying chemicals, thus making it very foggy. The impact sheared the top of the car off. The car was described once as, "crumpled like a piece of tinfoil after a cookout." The kids made it out okay, because they were asleep in the back, but the top part of Jayne’s head was ripped off. This does not mean decapitation. The death certificate reads "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain." The dictionary definition of avulsion is the forcible tearing away of a body part by trauma or surgery. So it was just the top of her head, if you want to get anal. Scalped. And she was wearing a wig, so that hair picture you usually see wasn’t her head. I’ve had people tell me that they’ve seen Jayne’s decapitated head in a photograph, but not one single person has been able to produce the goods.
There was at least one dog that died in the Jayne Mansfield car crash accident. Supposedly there were four Chihuahuas in the car with them. That sounds like a nightmare to me. And you know that Jayne probably wasn’t the most organized of people, so I’m sure the trip was hairy, to say the least..
