The story of the late Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, immortalized in the Hollywood movie ‘Walking Tall’, has taken a dramatic turn. The murder of his wife, Pauline Mullins Pusser, once believed to be an ambush intended for him, is now being attributed to the sheriff himself, according to new evidence.
Reports from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation indicate that inconsistencies were discovered in the late sheriff’s statements to law enforcement and others. District Attorney Mark Davidson, in a press conference, stated that the physical, medical, forensic, ballistic, and reenactment evidence unearthed contradicted the account provided by the sheriff of the 1967 murder of his wife.
This development follows earlier reports that the sheriff’s account inspired the film “Walking Tall” and its subsequent sequels, a remake, and several books. The late sheriff passed away in a car accident in 1974.
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This case is not about tarnishing a legend but ensuring that the truth is not lost in the annals of time. It seeks to provide closure and dignity to Pauline and her family, as pointed out by District Attorney Davidson.
This raises important questions about the night of the murder. The sheriff had reported that his wife accompanied him on a predawn disturbance call, during which a car pulled up beside theirs and fired shots, killing Pauline and injuring him. However, the evidence suggests that Pauline was shot outside the vehicle and then placed inside, contradicting the sheriff’s original account.
Davidson elaborated that the decades-old case drew renewed attention in 2022, with the TBI agents revisiting the archived files, leading to an exhumation of Pauline’s remains for an autopsy in 2024. The significance of this should not be overlooked. Modern forensic science and investigative techniques, unavailable in 1967, were employed in the reexamination of the case. Furthermore, a new autopsy revealed that the cranial trauma suffered by Pauline did not match the crime scene photographs of the vehicle’s interior.
The evidence suggests that the injury to Buford Pusser’s cheek was a close-contact gunshot wound, possibly self-inflicted. This, paired with the blood splatter analysis, indicates that injuries were sustained both inside and outside the vehicle, leading investigators to believe that the crime scene was staged.
The case, largely based on the sheriff’s statement, was perhaps too hastily closed, according to TBI Director David Rausch. The sheriff, after spending nearly three weeks in the hospital and undergoing several surgeries, recovered from his injuries. A tip regarding the possible murder weapon was received by investigators in spring 2023. The autopsy also revealed a healed nasal fracture on Pauline, commonly a result of interpersonal trauma.
If the late sheriff were alive today, the evidence would provide enough probable cause for a possible indictment for murder, according to investigators. Davidson noted, “Pauline’s death was not an accident, not an act of chance, but an act of intimate violence.”
Meanwhile, Pauline’s brother, Griffon Mullins, expressed his gratitude to law enforcement and urged the public to accept the findings, stating he was not entirely surprised by them. He expressed his heartfelt loss and the closure he received after so many years.
The previously unsolved murder of Pauline Pusser, a case that now implicates her sheriff husband, the late Buford Pusser, as the probable perpetrator.
