On June 29, 1967, Jayne Mansfield’s children—Mickey Jr., Zoltan and Mariska—were seated in the back of a Buick Electra alongside their mother. Also in the car were Mansfield’s boyfriend, attorney Sam Brody, and the vehicle’s driver, Ronnie Harrison.
The group was traveling west on U.S. Route 90 from Biloxi, Mississippi, where Mansfield had recently appeared in a nightclub performance, to New Orleans. At roughly 2 a.m., after crossing into Louisiana, the Buick slammed into the rear of a trailer truck that was spraying mosquito repellent. Police said at the time that fog from the insecticide had apparently limited Harrison’s visibility.
Mansfield’s three children survived the devastating collision, suffering cuts and bruises; Mickey Jr. also sustained a broken arm. Mansfield, Brody and Harrison were all killed.
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Photographs from the crash scene, including images of a blonde wig on the roadway, helped fuel a gruesome rumor that Jayne Mansfield had been decapitated. The false claim persisted for decades, along with another allegation that her head had been buried separately at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
An eyewitness said neither story was true.