It was long believed that Pauline Mullins Pusser, the wife of the legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, was shot and killed in an ambush meant for her husband, but new evidence suggests that it was the late sheriff who killed his wife.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report uncovered “inconsistencies in Buford Pusser’s statements to law enforcement and to others,” District Attorney Mark Davidson said at a press conference Friday.
Law enforcement uncovered physical, medical, forensic, ballistic and reenactment evidence that contradicted the McNairy County sheriff’s account of his wife’s 1967 murder.
The sheriff’s story inspired the movie “Walking Tall” in 1973 and several sequels, a 2004 remake and several books, Davidson said.
Buford Pusser died in a car accident in 1974.
“This case is not about tearing down a legend, it is about giving dignity and closure to Pauline and her family and ensuring that the truth is not buried with time,” Davidson said.
“This case is not about tearing down a legend, it is about giving dignity and closure to Pauline and her family and ensuring that the truth is not buried with time,” Davidson said.
Sad fact of reality is realizing even the good guys can be pretty bad. Or in this case, pretty down right horrible.
I remember hearing rumors about this a few years back, and kinda thinking if it turned out to be true I’m not really sure I could honestly say I would be that surprised. Still kinda bummed to have it confirmed.
I never put this guy on a pedestal, but I’ve had a poster from the original Walking Tall hanging up for a long time (not even joking lmao).
It is a good movie (if you enjoy campy weird 70s movies), but there is also just something compelling about the story (not the reality obviously). The idea of somebody beating corruption, and wanting to believe if one person persists and refuses to back down because they know right from wrong maybe they can beat the odds. Idk, I guess the glass half empty view would be asking if the corruption and injustice ever really decreased, or if it just changed into something else?
But how will Kevin Sorbo make a living now? Won’t someone think of the conservatives?
WTF is reenactment evidence?
I would assume it’s acting out the way he claims the murder happened and see if it matches the evidence. From the article it sounds like there were inconsistencies.
I remember when I learned of it, thinking something seemed weird about this killing. I remember, years ago, coming across a forensic breakdown of all the inconsistencies in the Sam Shepherd’s wife’s murder scene and how that inconsistencies contradicted Shepherd’s statements and implicated him. I’d love to see a similar breakdown on this murder and Pusser’s statements.
What is the real reason they’re doing this now, 60 years later?
This case is not about tearing down a legend,
I mean, if the guy was a murderer who the fuck cares? He isn’t a legend.
I mean he was presented publicly as somebody that refused to back down to small town corruption and the Dixie mafia. Which I think there is at least some truth to that aspect, but like obviously if he abused and then killed his wife, his own hands were probably never all that clean to begin with.
Kinda weird/hard to explain. Like the Dixie mafia did some really fucked up (possibly continues to do? Depending on who you ask?) some fucked up shit, but it wasn’t really (and never has been imo at least) the “vice” aspect of what they were doing (moonshine, drugs, gambling) that was ever really the issue that made them the “bad guys” necessarily.
Pusser was presented as the straight laced Rex Banner type that came in and cleaned up. (Side point, but just believe in most cases when you try to ban something that people want rather than just regulate it, an illegal market is kinda inevitable. Morally questionable, but depending on circumstances, I’m just not sure how much you can really blame any individuals like moonshiners for providing something people would always be willing to buy.)
The Dixie Mafia definitely hurt and kill a lot of innocent people that got in their way, or were even just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And then I’m pretty sure they might have had loose connections with the klan and other hate groups?
Then there was a lot of overlap with local law enforcement and the Dixie mafia in small towns, so like if you were unlucky enough to end up on the shit list there just was no chance of justice. So Pusser was (publicly presented at least) one of the few people who stood up to the Dixie mafia when nobody else would.
But if you’re willing to kill your wife, then try to make it look like the bad guys were responsible for it to cover it up, and shoot yourself in the face, it seems pretty unlikely there weren’t a lot of other morally questionable things he also did along the way.
When I see his name I just think of this … which already I assumed was making fun of him.
Buferd T Justice
Plenty to tear him down about even before this. New low for sure, but think joe arpaio with better pr.
@Stamau123 Buford Pusser.
I remember that name from the movies, which I thankfully have never watched, along with Joe Don Baker, the actor who portrayed him in the original film (I think he was replaced in the third, if not the second).
There was a lot of publicity for that movie, which I think came out after Dirty Harry and was trying to get the same white male supremacist, ultra-conservative, reactionary audience.
Joe Don Baker was born to be MST3K fodder.
Mitchell!!
Thank you. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when I hear MST3K. Also! My friend ordered vinyl stickers of the movie seats and outline of the guys and she gave me one. It’s been on the bottom right of my windshield for decades now.
For like 15 years my wife and I will occasionally greet each other with the “I came here specifically for dinner!” line from MST3K Mitchell. That movie really holds up.
