Late crime-busting sheriff Buford Pusser inspired Hollywood. Investigators say he killed his wife

An ending of Tennessee who inspired a Hollywood film on a police officer who undertook organized crime killed his wife in 1967 and led people to believe that she was murdered by her enemies, the authorities of Tennessee said on Friday.

The discovery will probably shock many people who grew up as fans of Buford Pusser and watched the film “Walking Tall” of 1973 which immortalized it as a hard but just sheriff with zero tolerance for crime, the authorities said.

There is enough evidence that if the sheriff of the county of McNairy, Buford Pusser, was alive today, the prosecutors would present an indictment to the Grand Jury for the murder of Pauline Mullins Pusser, said Mark Davidson, the district prosecutor of the 25th judicial district of Tennessee. Investigators also discovered signs that she suffered from domestic violence.

The prosecutors worked with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which began to re -examine the files of several decades on the death of Pauline in 2022 as part of her regular examination of cold cases, said agency David Rausch. The agents found inconsistencies between the version of the events of Buford Pusser and the physical evidence, received a tip on a potential murder weapon and exhumed Pauline’s body for an autopsy.

The authorities have recognized that the news could shock many people who grew up as fans of Buford Pusser and watched the 1973 “Walking Tall” film that he inspired or the 2004 remake. Many officers joined the police because of his history, said Davidson. The sheriff died in a car accident seven years after the death of his wife.

“This case does not consist in demolishing a legend. It is a question of giving the dignity and the closure of Pauline and his family and of ensuring that the truth is not buried over time,” said Davidson at a press conference broadcast on Facebook. “The truth is important. Justice is important. Even 58 years later. Pauline deserves both. “

The case dates from August 12, 1967. Buford Pusser received a call early in the morning for a disturbance. He reported that his wife volunteered to roll with him while he was responding. Buford Pusser said that shortly after spending Hope Methodist Church, a car has stopped and got away several times in the vehicle, killing Pauline and injuring sheriff. Buford Pusser spent 18 days in the hospital and required several surgeries to recover. The case was largely built on his own declaration and closed quickly, said Rausch.

During the re-examination of the case, Dr. Michael Revelle, an emergency medical medical examiner, studied post-mortem photographs, crime scene photographs, the notes taken by the medical examiner at the time and the declarations of Buford Pusser and concluded that Pauline was in fact more likely who did not shoot outside the car, then placed inside.

He noted that the head trauma suffered by Pauline did not correspond to the photographs of the crime scene from the interior of the car. Blood splashes on the hood outside the car contradicted the statements of Buford Pusser. The ball injury on his cheek was actually a close contact injury and not a long-term shoot, as Buford Pusser described, and was probably self-inflicted, CONDULUTED.

Pauline’s autopsy revealed that she had a broken nose that healed before her death. Davidson said the statements of people who were there as she died, support the conclusion that she was the victim of domestic violence.

Pauline’s younger brother Griffon Mullins said the investigation had given her the closure. He declared in a recorded video played at the press conference that their other sister died without knowing what happened to Pauline and that he is grateful to die knowing.

“You would fall in love with her because she was a person.” She was just a sweet person. I loved her with all my heart. “

Mullins said he knew there were problems in Pauline’s marriage, but she was not the type to talk about her problems. For this reason, Mullins said that he was “not completely shocked”.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation provides for the whole file, which exceeds 1,000 pages, available to the public by handing it over to the University of Tennessee in Martin once it has finished with editorial offices. The school will create an online database and available for the case. Until then, public members can make appointments to examine it in person or buy a copy, said the university chancellor Yancy Freeman Sr.