Autopsy Report — Jayne Mansfield
The official autopsy report, conducted by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, decisively disproves the decapitation myth. The report lists Mansfield’s official cause of death as "craniocerebral trauma with crushed skull and avulsion of cranium and brain."
However, her neck remained intact. The autopsy report notes that her head was still attached to her body. The blonde "hair" found on the windshield was a hairpiece, as Mansfield frequently wore wigs and falls to enhance her famous platinum-blonde look. Additional Post-Mortem Findings
Three of Mansfield’s children—Miklos, Zoltan, and future actress Mariska Hargitay—were asleep in the back seat of the 1966 Buick Electra. jayne mansfield autopsy report
According to the autopsy report, Jayne Mansfield suffered severe head and chest injuries, including:
The vehicle, a 1966 Buick Electra, struck the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed down due to a mosquito fogging truck. The Buick slid under the trailer, shearing off the top of the car and instantly killing the three adults in the front seat. The Autopsy Findings The official autopsy report, conducted by the Orleans
The official autopsy of Jayne Mansfield , conducted following her fatal car accident on , primarily serves to debunk a long-standing Hollywood urban legend regarding her death. Key Findings of the Autopsy Report
On the evening of June 29, 1967, Jayne Mansfield was driving on Highway 82 in a 1966 Chevrolet Caprice convertible, accompanied by her boyfriend, Ray Azzato, and three children: Mika, Zoltan, and Bobby. As they approached a curve on the highway, their car collided head-on with a pickup truck that had veered into their lane. The impact was severe, causing significant damage to both vehicles. The blonde "hair" found on the windshield was
Constructed of heavy steel bars, these safety devices are designed to prevent smaller passenger cars from sliding under a truck during a rear-end collision. Today, these safety features are still universally known in the trucking industry as
This rumor—spawned and perpetuated by a gruesome police photograph and sensationalist journalism—has made the one of the most requested, misunderstood, and morbidly fascinating documents in celebrity death history. But what does the actual coroner’s report say? What injuries did she sustain? And why has the truth been buried under decades of misinformation?
| | Autopsy Finding (Official) | The Urban Legend | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Primary Injuries | A crushed skull with the avulsion (tearing away) of the cranium and brain. | A clean decapitation (head completely severed from the neck). | | Description in Report | "The upper portion of this white female's head was severed." | N/A | | Medical/Common Term | More akin to a severe scalping combined with skull fracture, not a beheading. | Beheading | | Was it Decapitation? | No. The head remained attached to the body, but the top of the skull was fractured and a piece was separated. | Yes. A widely held but false belief. |