THE SUSPICIOUS CASE OF CAROL WAYNE
By Albert Lanier
January 1985. Manzanillo, Mexico. A body of a 42 year old woman is found floating in four feet of water. The lady is completely clothed and unfortunately deceased.
That lady was Carol Wayne.
Known primarily for her appearances as the Matinee Lady alongside Johnny Carson's Art Fern in Tea Time Movie sketches- more than 100 according to the Internet Movie Database-Carol Wayne was well known for her appearances on The Tonight Show in Carson's tenure as host.
Wayne though had previously been an ice skater with the Ice Capades and then a Las Vegas Showgirl before becoming an actress with roles first on TV in shows like I Spy and The Man From Uncle and then in movies like Scavenger Hunt, Surf II and Heartbreakers.
Married three times and facing a career skid after The Tonight Show cut its run time on air from 90 minutes to 60 thus leading to unemployment for Wayne, Carol struggled during the early 80s and ended up declaring bankruptcy and posing for Playboy Magazine both in 1984.
Reportedly facing problems with drug and alcohol addiction in the months after her sketch was cut on Carson's Show, Wayne in 1985 had opted to travel on what apparently was a vacation to Mexico with a man who can only be called suspicious, car salesman Edward Durston.
Suspicious because Durston had been in the company of another high profile individual who had allegedly died of suicide, Diane Linkletter the daughter of celebrity Art Linkletter. Diane had ostensibly jumped from a sixth floor apartment building in 1969.
Durston had told authorities he was called by Linkletter in the early morning hours and she reportedy emotional. After coming over to her place, Durston reportedly was unable to grab or restrain Diane from leaping to her death.
Diane Linkletter's death was ruled a suicide.
Carol Wayne's death was officially ruled an accident.
Yet Durston was not held to have any responsibility in these cases and allowed to live his life despite his involvement with the demise of both women.
It's no wonder that US Consular Official William LaCoque who had looked into the matter of Carol Wayne noted in an interview in 1990: “Carol Wayne's death is unsolved, certainly…but I don't think it was a drowning.”
“A drowning- yes of course- but there is much more to it than that”
THE SEA WILL TELL
It's crystal clear that the demise of the beautiful and voluptuous actress was beyond sketchy.
For a start, Wayne was found drowned in four feet of water. Shallow water. Not deep water nor in the middle of the sea or ocean.
Why does this matter? Carol didn't swim.
It should also be noted that she was found fully clothed thus not in a swimsuit nor discovered naked.
Add this detail to the fact Carol reportedly didn't swim and what this means is Wayne likely didn't intend to be out in a body of water at this point. Most people don't plunge into bays or oceans in street clothes.
It should also be noted that Carol also was reportedly wary of water in general. In fact, she was so skittish that she refused to take baths and only took showers.
Does it make sense that Carol who apparently never wanted to be submerged in water in terms of household baths would choose willingly head into even 4 feet of shallow water at a beach?
I don't think it does. Based on what is known of her aquaphobia, Carol's death and the location of her corpse just don't make sense.
THE CASE GETS STRANGER
Carol was found floating in Santiago Bay in Manzanillo, Mexico on January 13, 1985. She had been dead from 36 to over 40 hours.
A post mortem examination of Wayne's body found she had no drugs or alcohol in her system.
It also found there were no abrasions, no cuts on Carol.
These details are important because there are no factors, no influential substances that could have induced Carol to wind up in shallow water .
Carol reportedly had issues with drugs. If this is true, she was at least clean enough at this point in her life before she died.
If there are no cuts and abrasions found then there may not been an object or weapon used- at least directly- to create physical trauma on Carol's body.
Therefore there isn't an overt or known pharmacological or physical force that compelled Carol to head out to the sea.
None of this is adding up.
ODD EDWARD
Finally there is Edward Durston's behavior.
Both Wayne and Durston were staying at the upscale Las Hadas hotel and come January 10, 1985, the two were slated to fly out.
At some point, Carol and Edward had left the Las Hadas and checked into the far cheaper Hotel Playa de Santiago.
An argument or perhaps more than one argument is reputed to have occurred between Wayne and Durston. Perhaps it was because of the conditions of the cheaper hotel which Wayne reportedly was unhappy about.
The belief is that Carol went out to take a walk and never returned to the room.
Durston though ended up not only leaving the hotel but flying home from Mexico. Before he boarded his flight, Edward also gathered Carol's luggage and took it with him to the airport. There he deposited her belongings and reportedly left a note for her.
Why bother? Why go to the trouble of taking a traveling companions’ luggage with you when you are departing when you could just leave them in the room?
Plus the detail of the note with luggage is odd. Why not leave the note at the hotel room? Why include it with the luggage at the airport?
This strikes me not simply as moves loaded with suspicion but the action of a spiteful person. A “screw you” kind of tactic.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
It is no surprise that not only was US Consul LaCoque suspicious of Carol Wayne's death.
Mexican authorities had their doubts about Carol dying simply from downing as did Manzanillo’s District Attorney Jorge Hernandez.
The only rational conclusion that can be drawn is that Carol’s death was no personal accident, no unpreventable drowning. Her life was taken by someone else: Carol was murdered.
Carol could have been killed in a fit of passion, a sudden impulse. If this was the case, whomever carried this out was careful not to drug her and put any marks on Carol. They knew what they were doing.
The obvious suspect is Durston but if he did commit murder, his behavior makes little sense even if he panicked to some extent. I think its likely that Durston knew what happened and hightailed it out of the country.
The shame is that Carol Wayne, a pleasant and lovely actress, ended up dead in murky, unclear and disturbing circumstances.
Will there ever be justice for Carol Wayne? Only time will tell.
Albert Lanier is a former journalist who has freelanced for Honolulu Weekly, Hawaii Magazine, Pacific Business News and Asianweek.