Jayne Mansfield Autopsy Report
Around 2:25 a.m., Mansfield was traveling from a nightclub performance in Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans for a television appearance. She was riding in a 1966 Buick Electra 225 with her driver, Ronald B. Harrison, and her lawyer/boyfriend, Samuel S. Brody. Three of her children—Miklos, Zoltan, and Mariska Hargitay —were sleeping in the back seat. People.com On a dark stretch of U.S. Highway 90
In the aftermath of the crash, photos of the wreckage circulated. One prominent image showed what appeared to be a head with blonde hair resting on the crumpled hood of the car or the smashed windshield.
The Buick crashed directly into the rear of the tractor-trailer. Because the trailer sat high off the ground, the hood of the Buick slid underneath it, a horrific phenomenon known as "underride." The force of the impact sheared off the top of the car.
Acting St. Tammany Parish Coroner, Dr. Eulis J. Mire, performed the official autopsy on June 29, 1967. The report is not a sensational tabloid story; it is a clinical, forensic accounting of a massive blunt-force trauma death. Here are the unredacted facts from that document. jayne mansfield autopsy report
In other words: her head was attached. The confusion likely arose because the skull was so severely fractured and the scalp so torn that the face was unrecognizable.
Note on sources: This article is based on the archived files of the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office, the Louisiana State Police report #00133-67, and investigative journalism from The New Orleans Times-Picayune and Raymond Strait’s biography, "Here They Are Jayne Mansfield."
For decades, pop culture has perpetuated the gruesome rumor that Jayne Mansfield was entirely beheaded. The autopsy report and the testimony of the handling mortician, James Roberts, directly disprove this narrative. Around 2:25 a
Approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Route 90 just outside Slidell, Louisiana, the car slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer. The truck had slowed down due to a mosquito fogging machine spraying a dense white cloud across the highway. The Buick went underneath the truck's rear bumper.
This means her skull was fractured and a large portion of her brain was displaced. Death was instantaneous.
Contemporary news reports and coroner’s statements indicate Mansfield’s death resulted from severe cranial and chest trauma consistent with high-speed impact and subsequent crushing forces. Some sources noted that Mansfield had been sleeping in the rear of the vehicle at the time of the crash and that the car struck the back of a tractor-trailer; emergency responders found the occupants severely injured. The coroner pronounced her dead at the scene. Highway 90 In the aftermath of the crash,
If you need this for legitimate research (e.g., historical or forensic study), many public record archives and university libraries hold copies. For respectful remembrance, Mansfield’s daughter, Mariska Hargitay, has asked the public to focus on her mother’s talent and legacy, not the graphic details of her death.
Following the public outcry over Mansfield’s horrific death, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandated strict design changes. Federal regulations required all commercial trailers to be equipped with rear underride guards—steel bars hanging down from the rear bumper designed to prevent cars from sliding underneath.
Just after 2:25 AM on June 29, 1967, a 1966 Buick Electra slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer on a dark, foggy stretch of U.S. Route 90, just outside of New Orleans. Inside the car was one of the most recognizable blonde bombshells of the 1950s and 60s: Jayne Mansfield. The 34-year-old actress, known for her voluptuous figure, platinum hair, and publicity stunts, was killed instantly along with her boyfriend, attorney Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronald B. Harrison.
