Tonya (Kehli O’Byrne) is a minor antagonist in the 1994 episode “The Mud Queen Murders” for the TV series “Silk Stalkings”.
Tonya is a mud wrestler at The Volcano Club at The Lava Pit, an upscale restaurant lounge with provided adult entertainment. The girls wore bikini’s, but plenty of skin was on display to the cheering patrons.
Tonya is seen taunting her boyfriend in her dressing room and tells him that their relationship is over. She told him that he was “A few million dollars and a few inches short….know what I mean?” She continued by telling him that her “Sixteen year old paperboy’s a better lay than you, and he doesn’t keep yapping afterwards. So why don’t you drop dead, and do it somewhere else”.
After having listened to Tonya belittle the man enough, he finally snapped, picking up a comb and stabbing her in the stomach, while covering her mouth so that she couldn’t scream. Eventually, this was enough to kill the lovely Tonya. The police report stated that she was killed by a puncture wound under the ribs to the heart. In addition, she had track marks under her fingers and toes, so she had been using drugs.
Joey Mellman (Gilbert Gottfried), “Manager to the Stars”, happened to be outside Tonya’s dressing room door when he overheared the killer answer back to his knock. As a result, he had a key piece of information in catching the killer.
When Sgt. Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) and Sgt. Rita Lee Lance (Mitzi Kapture) go to Tonya’s house, they find Cindy Dann (Donna Baltron) removing jewelry. She claims it is hers, as she shared a dressing room with Tonya at the venue. It is learned that Tonya had many boyfriends, as well as a husband named Paul Yeager (Christopher Mayer). Paul had beat her, and Tonya kicked him out of the home months ago. In addition, Tonya had a drug problem. Paul Yeager’s alibi doesn’t check out, and he becomes the primary suspect.
It is learned from the autopsy that Tonya was loaded with morphine, which is not a cheap drug, and one very difficult to obtain. Chris uncovers that Tonya made a business by bilking her boyfriends, and in fact was even incorporated. She was blackmailing them for trips and gifts as well as lump sums. She had kept a list of every name, date, and gift as well as the retail value of every gift. However, her police record seemed to disappear about five months prior.
Tonya’s husband Yeager later revealed that Tonya received the drugs from her boyfriend, Dr. Scott Waverly (John O’Hurley), who was a plastic surgeon. He had given her a set of implants and then after the surgery had given her some morphine for the pain. Tonya became addicted to the drug, and he kept providing more and more of the morphine.
Trivia[]
- Kehli O'Byrne appeared as Gina Green in the 1995 film "Piranha".