Authorities in Tennessee announced Friday that they believe a sheriff who inspired the movie “Walking Tall” is responsible for his wife’s death in 1967.During a news conference Friday, officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said there were “inconsistencies” in statements from Sheriff Buford Pusser following the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline. “It’s been said that the dead can’t cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so. In this case, that duty has been carried out 58 years later,” said District Attorney General Mark Davidson for the 25th Judicial District.Blood splatter patterns on the vehicle also contradicted statements from Buford Pusser, officials said.Buford Pusser reported that his wife volunteered to ride along in the dark early-morning hours of Aug. 12, 1967, on a disturbance call. He claimed that a car pulled alongside his and fired several shots, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush intended for him and carried out by unknown assailants.Buford Pusser recovered from his injury. No viable suspects were developed, and no charges were filed.After receiving a tip that an autopsy was never performed on Pauline Pusser, the TBI exhumed her body in February 2024. Davidson said the investigation revealed that Pauline Pusser was more than likely shot outside the vehicle and then placed inside the vehicle. Cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser, depicted in crime scene photographs, does not match interior crime scene photographs from the vehicle.TBI officials also said the autopsy determined that Pauline Pusser had a nasal fracture before her death. Investigators now believe the physical evidence points to a staged crime scene and that Buford Pusser’s gunshot wound was likely self-inflicted.“There is probable cause to believe that Pauline’s death was not an accident, not an act of chance, but, based on the totality of the TBI investigative file, an act of intimate, deliberate violence,” Davidson said.Law enforcement officials said the discoveries would be sufficient to seek a grand jury indictment of Buford Pusser if he were alive today.Buford Pusser died in 1974 after a one-vehicle crash. He served as the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970 and was known for his crackdown on crime along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
Authorities in Tennessee announced Friday that they believe a sheriff who inspired the movie “Walking Tall” is responsible for his wife’s death in 1967.
During a news conference Friday, officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said there were “inconsistencies” in statements from Sheriff Buford Pusser following the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline.
“It’s been said that the dead can’t cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so. In this case, that duty has been carried out 58 years later,” said District Attorney General Mark Davidson for the 25th Judicial District.
Blood splatter patterns on the vehicle also contradicted statements from Buford Pusser, officials said.
Buford Pusser reported that his wife volunteered to ride along in the dark early-morning hours of Aug. 12, 1967, on a disturbance call. He claimed that a car pulled alongside his and fired several shots, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush intended for him and carried out by unknown assailants.
Buford Pusser recovered from his injury. No viable suspects were developed, and no charges were filed.
After receiving a tip that an autopsy was never performed on Pauline Pusser, the TBI exhumed her body in February 2024.
Davidson said the investigation revealed that Pauline Pusser was more than likely shot outside the vehicle and then placed inside the vehicle. Cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser, depicted in crime scene photographs, does not match interior crime scene photographs from the vehicle.
TBI officials also said the autopsy determined that Pauline Pusser had a nasal fracture before her death. Investigators now believe the physical evidence points to a staged crime scene and that Buford Pusser’s gunshot wound was likely self-inflicted.
“There is probable cause to believe that Pauline’s death was not an accident, not an act of chance, but, based on the totality of the TBI investigative file, an act of intimate, deliberate violence,” Davidson said.
Law enforcement officials said the discoveries would be sufficient to seek a grand jury indictment of Buford Pusser if he were alive today.
Buford Pusser died in 1974 after a one-vehicle crash. He served as the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970 and was known for his crackdown on crime along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
