A few days after filming Jailhouse Rock, her second film, Judy Tyler and her second husband, Gregory Lafayette (born Earl Gregory Nisonger Jr.), began driving home to New York from Hollywood.
While driving through Wyoming on July 3, 1957, they were involved in an automobile accident on U.S. Route 287 near Rock River. Tyler was killed instantly, aged 24, and Lafayette died the next day, aged 19.
The Casper Morning Star reported the passenger killed in the oncoming car, driven by Paul Reed, was Don D. Jones, 23, of Hanna, Wyoming.
Police said Lafayette’s car swerved to avoid hitting a slow-moving car-and-trailer entering the highay and collided head-on with the other vehicle in the crash. The car towing the trailer was returning to the highway after leaving a tourist shop.
