Pod Insights Criminology Pauline Pusser About this episode On August 12th, 1967, Buford and Pauline Pusser were ambushed while driving, and Pauline was fatally shot. Buford was shot in the jaw. Buford Pusser was the Sheriff of McNairy County in Tennessee and built a name for himself as tough on crime. He made many enemies, and it was thought that one of these enemies had shot him and killed his wife. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of Pauline Pusser. Buford became a hero figure and vowed to find his wife's killer. The movie, Walking Tall, made Buford a larger-than-life character after it was released in 1973. But many years later, authorities uncovered evidence that pointed straight at Buford Pusser for the murder of his wife, Pauline. You can help support the show through Patreon. We'd love to connect with listeners on social media. We are available on the following platforms: Facebook - Facebook Discussion group - Instagram - Threads - X Formerly Twitter - Blue Sky - Twitch - Tik Tok Criminology is an Emash Digital production hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 387 of the Criminology Podcast. This is Mike Ferguson.
0:43 Speaker 00 And this is Mike Morford.
0:44 Speaker 01 Mr. Morford, how you doing this week, buddy?
0:47 Speaker 00 I'm doing pretty good. I'm getting ready for some Thanksgiving action and eating some turkey and stuffing. So I'm pretty excited. How you doing?
0:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, we are too. My wife's already got extra tables out and she's told me this morning that she's going to need my help. So I'm going to be enlisted to do a variety of tasks, chores, I believe.
1:09 Speaker 00 That comes with the territory. And actually, I think after I get done recording with you today, we're going to bring out some Christmas decorations. So that's when Thanksgiving is here, that's when my wife wants to decorate.
1:20 Speaker 01 Oh, my wife's the same way. Usually the day after is when she, she starts bringing everything out. But it's, it's kind of funny because Gibby and I recorded last night and we completely forgot to talk about Thanksgiving, which is so strange because it's coming up very, very quickly. So I definitely wanted to do that, you know, on this episode and wish everybody who celebrates it a happy Thanksgiving.
1:46 Speaker 00 Yeah, definitely. Everybody enjoy time with your family, time off, whatever it is that you're, you're going to have.
1:52 Speaker 01 I do tend to really like holidays that are built around good food. I like good food.
2:00 Speaker 00 I'm right there with you.
2:02 Speaker 01 We didn't have any new Patreon shout outs to give, but we do want to thank everyone.
2:07 Speaker 00 Yeah, thanks, everyone that takes the time to support the show through a Patreon donation. It really helps out. And if you'd like to head on over to patreon.com/criminality to get started.
2:17 Speaker 01 All right, buddy, let's dive into this case. And this week we have a really unique one because it's an old case that made a folk hero out of one man after his wife's murder. He was thought to be a brave but tough victim, a police officer that survived. And the news brought him recognition, fame, and it even inspired movies. The only problem is that decades later, investigators now say that he wasn't a victim, but instead he killed his wife. This is truly a wild story. We're talking about the murder of Paula Pusser, now believed to be at the hands of her husband, Buford Pusser.
2:57 Speaker 00 Before we get into the details of what happened, it's important to look into the background here. Buford Hayes Pusser was born December 12th, 1937 in Adamsville, Tennessee. He was an all-American boy. He was large and imposing, standing six foot six and weighing 250 pounds. The son of Adamsville Police Chief Carl Pusser, Buford was a star football and basketball player in high school. As soon as he graduated, he enlisted in the US Marines. But halfway through boot camp, he was discharged due to an asthma condition. In 1957, he moved to Chicago where he became a wrestler calling himself Buford the Bull. He married Pauline Mullins in 1959, and they had one daughter together named Duana.
3:40 Speaker 00 Buford also became stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Having a family now to raise, he retired from wrestling and moved back to his hometown Adamsville, Tennessee.
3:50 Speaker 01 In 1962, Buford followed in his father's footsteps and was elected as constable. And in 1964, he was elected as chief of police, as his father Carl had once been. Two years later, at the age of 26, he was elected sheriff by a slim majority. The sheriff he would have had to run against had tragically and suddenly died in a car accident, leaving the public pretty uncertain. In looking for leadership, he immediately began to make a name for himself as tough on crime, specifically the bootlegging that was rampant in the area. At the time, alcohol was illegal in the county, and there were many illegal operations producing whiskey and moonshine.
4:35 Speaker 01 Gambling and sex work were illegal too, but that wasn't stopping anyone, at least not until Buford Pusser was elected sheriff.
4:44 Speaker 00 Buford allegedly destroyed hundreds of illegal whiskey stills, interrupting the flow of cash for many people, and making it clear that McNairy County was no place for criminals. As a result, some people even moved their operations in neighboring counties to try and avoid detection by Sheriff Buford specifically. For this and other reasons, Buford became somewhat of a local folk hero. It's not hard to see why. His giant stature, along with cracking down on crime in the area, he seemed indestructible. During the time he was sheriff, he was shot at on multiple different occasions and stabbed seven times too. He survived all of it.
5:21 Speaker 01 In January of 1967, Buford conducted a traffic stop for reckless driving and was shot in the arm and twice in the face by an unknown assailant who managed to get away. He had even narrowly escaped being run over by one of the moonshiners he was trying to put behind bars. There are tales of the sheriff being tossed out of a window. While on duty, there are also stories about the sheriff tying criminals to poles to publicly shame them and teach them a lesson jail never could. He was known to personally see to it that illegal equipment was destroyed by doing it himself, using a pickaxe.
6:00 Speaker 01 Due to term limits, Buford couldn't run for sheriff again in 1970, but did run again in 1972. He lost to Sheriff Clifford Coleman, the incumbent, but was reelected as constable instead. And more if I just want to take a minute to kind of talk about this guy. You know, he does seem. Kind of larger than life. I mean, he's a big guy anyway, 6'6", 250. But all of these stories that came out about him, you know, being tough on crime and taking on all of these illegal operations, I would think for some, especially law abiding citizens,
6:43 Speaker 01 he would have been seen as kind of a hero, right? Doing a great job. But I could also see where the criminal element, they wouldn't want this guy in office at all.
6:56 Speaker 00 Yeah, that would be bad for businesses with someone like Buford Pusser on patrol and hell bent on shutting down all these moonshine businesses. And that was pretty big in the South, even back in the 60s, it was still going strong. So, you know, I think these guys would rather steer clear of him and go someplace else than have to constantly worry that he's going to shut them down there in that county. While Buford Pusser was hell bent on cracking down on crime, in 1967, one crime, a murder, would hit very close to home. August 12th, 1967 started like many other days had started for Buford and Pauline. According to Buford Pusser, at 4:45 a.m., his phone rang, alerting
7:39 Speaker 00 him to some urgent business he had to attend to. He headed out to respond to some kind of disturbance near the town of Selmer. Despite the early hour, Pauline hopped in the car with him, which wasn't unusual for her. They never made it to their destination because shortly after they drove past New Hope Methodist Church, they were ambushed by another car. It pulled up beside them on Stuyson Road, and the driver began to shoot at the Pusser's, striking Pauline in the head. Buford sped off trying to escape their attackers. After driving about two miles, he stopped to try and check on Pauline, but it was too late. She was dead. And even if she had survived, the assailants caught up to them and continued to shoot. This time, they shot Buford in the jaw.
8:21 Speaker 01 At 6:20 a.m., Buford called in the incident over his radio. He was just one mile from the Tennessee Mississippi state line. Buford miraculously survived, but he required multiple surgeries. Some sources note as many as 14, including reconstructive plastic surgery, and he was hospitalized for a total of 18 days. He went right back to work, though, as everyone expected him to. 17 30 caliber shell casings were recovered from the scene. The car the pussers were in had been hit by 11 bullets. Although Buford claimed he didn't recognize the shooters, he blamed a man named Kirksey Nix for the ambush.
9:05 Speaker 01 Nix was the leader of the Dixie Mafia, a gang that Buford was trying to take down at the time. Nix was never arrested or charged for Pauline's murder. In fact, no one ever has been. Buford vowed to find his wife's killer, but the case went cold. And I think when, you know, you dissect this scenario, Pauline hops in the car with Buford to go check something out. Apparently something she had done before. Yeah, I would think that would be something pretty interesting to do. I went on a ride along one time with a police officer. It was, it was very interesting.
9:45 Speaker 00 And in a small town, it's probably a lot more common. You know, when your husband is the sheriff, you can just hop in the car with him and go along. And I imagine most days, there probably wasn't a lot going on, but you know, it sounds like a town that could also get pretty crazy at times, too.
10:02 Speaker 01 Well, and that was my thought, right? We talked about Buford, you know, really cracking down on crime. Now we're talking about him trying to break up the Dixie Mafia. Well, this is a guy who is going to, and I'm sure did, have a ton of enemies. So probably not the safest thing to do, but then, you know, to have your wife shot and killed, for you to be shot. I can only imagine what type of guilt someone would feel in that scenario. I mean, first of all, you're supposed to protect your wife. And then secondly, you're the sheriff. So you should be protecting everyone, including your wife.
10:46 Speaker 01 But now she's dead and Buford vows that, you know, he's going to find and put away her killer.
10:53 Speaker 00 Yeah. And if you're the criminals in that county and you were worried before this incident, I'd imagine they'd be really scared after it. The already legendary Buford Pusser grew even larger after the story about the attack on him and his wife made the rounds. Here's a massive guy, tough enough to outlive a bullet to the face, but it tragically lost his wife in the same attack. That, along with Pusser's past, his time in the military and as a wrestler, all combined for the perfect story. And it wasn't long before Hollywood came calling. The movie Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker as Buford Pusser, was released in 1973 and people loved it. It showed Buford carrying a large Tennessee walking stick, something that would set fear in the minds of the bad guys.
11:38 Speaker 00 The action movie about the real life, small town cop cost $500,000 to make and earned 40 million. Over the years, a 1978 sequel and a remake in 2004 starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson would continue to keep the story alive.
11:54 Speaker 01 And I've seen all these movies, Morph, most recently the, the one with The Rock. I think I watched that within the last couple of years. They're good movies and Joe Don Baker, you know, I, I always thought he was a kind of a fascinating actor. It was a big guy, had kind of a cool voice to him, played some interesting characters over the years.
12:18 Speaker 00 Yeah, I think he played the, that role well, for the reasons you just said, I, you know, he stands out in my memory, despite it being that old of a movie. This was a movie that my grandfather loved and I'd always be over there and he'd be watching it. And it wasn't long before he had his own walking stick that, that he used to keep next to the front door. That's something I always remember and he called it his Buford Pusser stick. And that stuck with me all this time.
12:45 Speaker 01 So he was just waiting for the bad guys to come in so he could use his Tennessee walking stick?
12:50 Speaker 00 Yeah, but luckily nobody ever came in, but I think he was right if they did.
12:55 Speaker 01 But the other thing that jumped out at me was what a success the movie really was, right? The first one for sure, cost 500,000 to make and earned 40 million dollars.
13:06 Speaker 01 That's a, that's a healthy return on your investment.
13:09 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I think it was just a movie that played well to a lot of different people and stuck with them. And that's why, why it was so successful.
13:18 Speaker 01 By August 1974, plans for the sequel were in the works. Reportedly, the movie makers wanted Buford Pusser to play himself and he agreed to it. On August 21st, he officially accepted the role and a big payday would be coming his way. His already impressive life story now would evolve to him becoming an action hero on the big screen. Excited about the news that day, he went to the McNairy County Fair. On his way home from the fair that night, he sped in his fancy new red Corvette, the one he bought with money from the first Walking Tall movie, while he was still intoxicated from drinking at the fair. Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
14:01 Speaker 01 When the vehicle hit an embankment off of Highway 64, only about five miles away from his home, he was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. He likely would not have survived even if he hadn't been ejected, since the car caught on fire and quickly burned up. This was something even the larger than life Buford Pusser couldn't survive.
14:26 Speaker 00 Buford's daughter, Duana, was also returning home from the fair that night in a separate vehicle and came upon the burning wreckage just minutes after the crash. She instantly recognized the car as her dad's and saw that he was outside the car, dead. His neck had been broken from the impact. There was no autopsy performed on Buford. His cause of death seemed to be quite obvious due to the situation. He had been seen by people at the fair drinking and nothing had been wrong then. And just minutes after the crash, Duana arrived to find her father alone. It seemed like a clear cut accident, but some people would theorize that perhaps one of Buford's enemies had caught up with him finally, but police dismissed that idea. The burned wreckage of the car is still on display at the Buford Pusser home and museum.
15:12 Speaker 00 Buford was laid to rest next to his wife Paula at the Adamsville Cemetery in Adamsville, Tennessee. For decades, it seemed like this was where the story ended, but in reality, it was far from over. So this is a real tragic event, the end to a very interesting life. You've got the whole story of his background as a wrestler. He meets and falls in love with Paula, gets married, moves back to his town that he cleans up as sheriff. He becomes a movie star on the cusp of becoming a movie star when he's going to be in the sequel. So you've got this very interesting story with a lot of ups and downs. And, you know, he's trying to pick up the pieces after Paula's death.
15:55 Speaker 00 And that's when tragedy strikes and he too is killed. So this is just a quick end to a very interesting story.
16:02 Speaker 01 Yeah. And my assumption is this is a guy seen by most, right, as a good guy, the good guy. He's larger than life. He's doing the right things. He's, you know, risking his safety to make the community a better place. So much so that, you know, they decide to portray him on the big screen. So, you know, you think about small town fame, then graduating to national and even worldwide fame. And that would have only increased, I would think, if he, you know, had been the one to star in the sequel. He's actually up on screen.
16:47 Speaker 01 In 2023, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received the tip that the weapon that killed Pauline Pusser may have been found. This caused them to reopen the investigation into her murder, although the killer was likely long dead. Authorities felt that bringing the truth to light was worth the effort. The weapon that was turned over to the TBI and sparked the reinvestigation is a Saginaw M1 30 caliber carbine rifle that was in the possession of the son of one of Buford's most trusted deputy sheriffs. That deputy sheriff apparently retrieved it from the trunk of the car. Buford was driving the morning that
17:29 Speaker 01 Pauline was killed, and he did so on Buford's request. The sheriff turned over other firearms to be tested against the casings found at the scene, but that particular gun never left the deputy's possession, staying in his family even after his death.
17:47 Speaker 00 Modern day investigators were surprised to discover that there had been no autopsy performed on Pauline after her murder. She had basically been rushed into the ground, even though it would have been standard protocol in a murder and an autopsy could have possibly helped put together the pieces investigators needed to ID her killer. As sheriff, Buford would have understood the importance of an actual autopsy, but only a visual examination was done. Buford also would have had the sway to make sure that no one else decided an autopsy was necessary. At the time, the only officials that could have ordered one were his pals.
18:22 Speaker 01 Losing weight on your own can feel like a fight you keep losing. Weight loss by Hers offers access to the FDA-approved Wegovy pill and the Wegovy pen. Wegovy is the first-ever GLP-1 weight loss medication, available in a pill, and it also comes as a pen. So you've got options. With Wegovy, you can lose up to 20% of your body weight. People lost an average of 14% body weight at 64 weeks in a clinical trial of Wegovy alongside diet and exercise. To get started with Wegovy, just go to forhers.com and complete an online consultation with a licensed provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. And Hers doesn't stop there. Nutrition and lifestyle guidance are part of the plan, along with access to 24/7 messaging
19:07 Speaker 01 with your care team. So support is always in reach. Ready to reach your goals? Visit forhers.com/criminology to access personalized, affordable care for weight loss, hair, menopause, and more. Individual results may vary, and stopping treatment may result in weight regain. Weight loss by Hers is not available in all 50 states. Wegovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wegovy clinical study information, and restrictions, visit forhers.com.
19:42 Speaker 01 On January 5th, 2024, the TBI announced that Pauline's case had been reopened and requested any information the public may have. With the support of Pauline's remaining family members, authorities were able to exhume her body in February of 2024 and finally performed the autopsy she never got. Her body was remarkably well-preserved. Even remnants of her last meal, which included some kind of bean, were still in her stomach. Bullet fragments were removed from her head. Investigators held a press conference in late August of 2025, announcing their findings, and it would send shockwaves in the community where the
20:25 Speaker 01 Pusser name was legendary. District Attorney Mark Davidson said, "This case is not about tearing down a legend. It's about giving dignity and closure to Pauline and her family, and ensuring that the truth is not buried with time." 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 violence.
20:53 Speaker 00 It was after modern-day investigators reviewed the case and evidence with fresh eyes that they came to this conclusion. Looking back through the case file and analyzing photographs and reports, investigators learned that much of what Buford said happened that night didn't line up with the physical evidence. First of all, it appeared that Pauline had been shot at close range. There was blood spatter on the hood of the car, so the outer front of the car, as well as the windshield. If the two had been sitting inside the car when they were shot, as Buford claimed, how did their blood get onto the front of the car? Pauline also suffered cranial trauma that was not likely caused by the shooting.
21:32 Speaker 01 Investigators believe that Pauline was standing outside the car when she was shot, and that someone moved her into the passenger seat after she was already injured or dead. Pauline was shot in the back of the head. There's really no scenario where the back of her head would have been facing the direction of the shooters, especially if they were just driving when they were ambushed. She would have been seated in the passenger seat facing forward. So how did this happen to Pauline? If Buford's version of events was true, unfortunately, due to the time that passed between her death and the autopsy, not much more could be learned about the trajectory of the bullets, or how many may have hit her.
22:15 Speaker 01 Multiple pieces of her skull were missing and had been held together with wire and stuffed for her funeral. Ballistics expert Dr. Eric Warren told WBBJ TV, "The limited universe of evidence suggests that the shooting scenes were at least altered, and likely that Buford was involved in her murder." And more if this is such a revelation, this notion that Buford wasn't the hero, that he actually killed his wife, and I'm sure it shocked a lot of people, not just in that area where he was kind of a folk hero, but all over.
22:59 Speaker 01 Like we said, he had gained some pretty wide recognition with the movies and all of that.
23:08 Speaker 00 Yeah, one of the interesting things that they determined or theorized here is that he sort of controlled the narrative. You know, he had ordered his, that gun to be removed by the deputy that held on to it all those years. There was no autopsy, just the whole steering of the case, the way he wanted it to go, it seems. And all the details, the story that we have, you know, is all from him. He's the only witness. So I think for, for all those years, that's all people had to go on was his word. And, you know, now we see that his word may have not been worth anything.
23:50 Speaker 01 But I can imagine back then, it was a very believable story, right? Again, this is a guy who did make a lot of enemies. Doesn't seem that far fetched, that maybe someone would, you know, want to harm him. His wife happened to be in the car. They were both shot. She died. I mean, I, I think a lot of people probably believe that story without too much reservation, actually.
24:16 Speaker 00 Yeah, especially because he had been shot at before and stabbed. So probably not that hard to believe at the time.
24:23 Speaker 01 But when you hear the fact that blood was found on the hood, on the outside of the windshield, well, then the story seems to break down very quickly. Because how do you get to that point if you're all shot while inside the car?
24:41 Speaker 00 There's no denying that Buford was shot in the face that night, but all signs indicate that he was shot from close range, not from a passing car. In fact, authorities believe that Buford shot himself that night and held the gun close to his face. There are some people who believe that a third party was involved, but was helping him cover up what really happened. And we'll get into that more later. Maybe one of the most important discoveries was that according to Dr. Michael Revel, Pauline had suffered a broken nose at some point before her death. There were signs of healing, so it wasn't related to the night of her death. When combined with information from people who knew Pauline, it's not hard to believe at all that she was a victim of domestic violence during
25:23 Speaker 00 her marriage to Buford, the six foot, six inch tall former wrestler. This information sort of recontextualizes what happened the night Pauline was killed.
25:33 Speaker 01 The morning of Pauline's murder, when the ambulance got near the car, Buford actually started driving away from it. He stopped when Selmer Police Chief Hugh Kirkpatrick and officers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol finally got to him. This has been attributed to shock, blood loss, panic, but could it have been that Buford knew he needed the first responders to be people he trusted to help him cover up the truth? The sheriff also claimed that the car that ambushed them had its headlights off. Tests performed, even in modern cars with traction control and such, have shown that there's really
26:12 Speaker 01 no way for a car to catch up to another the way that Buford described on those roads, especially without headlights.
26:20 Speaker 00 Some people who worked with Buford noticed that he was driving a car that he never usually drove, as if he knew it was going to be damaged. It wasn't his car, so he didn't care, at least that's what some people thought early on. But none of those people could prove that, so they kept the thought to themselves at the time, not wanting to go up against a legend and hero in the community. The car was completely repaired after about two or three months, though apparently it wasn't fully restored because there were issues with foul odors lingering in certain weather conditions. By 1971 or 1972, the car had been traded to a dealership in Louisiana. Who knows what evidence might have been found if a proper examination was done, and Buford wasn't simply taking it as word. The route
27:05 Speaker 00 that Buford claimed to take on his way to respond to the servants also makes no sense. It's not the fastest or most direct route to get there, and you would think that Buford would want to get to the scene as fast as possible.
27:17 Speaker 01 Well, I can tell you this, foul odors lingering in your car, that would not be a good thing. It reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld where he got to stink in his car and he couldn't get it out. But, you know, again, Morphe, it goes back to kind of everyone believing Buford's work. You know, he's shot, his wife is shot and killed, so they really don't investigate.
27:49 Speaker 01 They pretty much take him at his word. Obviously, in hindsight, it would have been good to get a look at that car.
27:56 Speaker 00 Yeah, I imagine today, if the same exact thing happened, there'd be all kinds of tests being done. The car would probably be brought back to a lab and gone over with a fine-toothed comb, but a small town, 1960s, that just wasn't going to happen, especially because Buford himself had sway in what happened.
28:18 Speaker 01 Interestingly, there is correspondence from 1967 included in the case file, showing that at least one Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent was suspicious from the beginning. Due to the blood on the hood, there was a request included that the blood be typed and see if it was Buford's type O or Pauline's type A. For whatever reason, this line of questioning seemed to fizzle out. According to WBBJ TV, there are also reports that Buford told Selmer Police Chief Hugh Kirkpatrick, "I did it," and that Kirkpatrick immediately told him to keep his damn mouth shut. This reported incident is what led people to believe
29:01 Speaker 01 that Buford may have had an accomplice and that Kirkpatrick was involved, or at the very least had knowledge.
29:09 Speaker 00 Unfortunately, the case file can only be picked up in person from the University of Tennessee at Martin. No news outlet that has the thousand-plus-page file has broken the news that the rifle turned over to the TBI is the same weapon that killed Pauline Pusser, though the press conference directed people to the file for the answer to that question. Looking through what's been shared online, it seems there's no way to know. Investigators weren't able to locate any physical evidence relating to the case. No shell casings, no blood samples, no bullets. However, the description of the casings from the time matched the characteristics that casings fired from an M1 carbine would have.
29:50 Speaker 01 Unfortunately, many of the witnesses in this case have passed away, but investigators spoke to those close to them, like their children, who had heard what they knew. There are reports that witnesses heard an argument between Buford and Pauline in the parking lot of the Old Hickory Grove in the town of Guy's, Tennessee, just hours before she was killed. According to WKRN, Pauline was so upset about an affair Buford was having that she told him she was going to ruin him and expose his corruption. And according to WBBJ TV, another witness claimed Buford warned her that she wouldn't live to be able to do that.
30:34 Speaker 01 There are even witnesses who claimed to have heard the gunshot that killed Pauline. Reportedly, one of their children, apparently even saw Buford drag Pauline into the car, walk back into the yard to grab her shoes and walk back to the car. In crime scene photos, there is a pair of shoes on the floor of the passenger seat. David Roush, director of the TBI, told The Tennessean, "The case, built largely on Buford's own statement, closed quickly, perhaps too quickly." So no doubt, Morph, as of the airing of this episode, there are quite a few people pointing the finger at Buford Pusser as a killer.
31:19 Speaker 01 Now, there are some things to consider. Number one, he's been dead for, you know, many years, and a lot of the evidence either wasn't collected because no one really disputed his version of events. So it does seem that everything was kind of shut down pretty quickly. And I think you have people coming forward over the years, and they're telling stories, many of them not firsthand, right? Secondhand stories of what they heard from people who have since passed away. And a lot of times, that can be tough.
32:02 Speaker 00 What's interesting to me about this whole case and the whole... Reevaluation, current day evaluation by police is how they had to go back and sort of reconstruct everything, look at it using new technology, fresh eyes. And there wasn't really a lot to go with, but they spotted little things that just didn't add up. The blood on the hood, you know, the, the indication that Pauline was shot close instead of, you know, from far away. So it seems easy that this whole thing could have just been forgotten and missed and, you know, but here we are all these years later and the case is sort of fresh again.
32:47 Speaker 01 Yeah. And in one way it is fresh, but in another way it's not because there's no way to get the information that authorities would have been able to get back then, had they really looked into it.
33:02 Speaker 00 Pauline's younger brother, Griffin Mullins, told the Sandusky Register that he was not totally shocked about the conclusions that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation came to. And he told the Tennessean, "She didn't tell me a whole lot. She was not the type of person to tell you her problems, but I knew deep down there was problems in her marriage. Sadly, it was just the way it was at the time in the 60s, especially in small towns. But people swept important things like domestic violence under the rug and tried to keep it quiet. Even if people outright knew what was going on, they thought it was mostly none of their business. But in many cases, there were signs."
33:40 Speaker 01 In the days and weeks before her death, a coworker noticed Pauline wearing extra clothes to work and taking them off when she got there. Pauline explained that she was basically sneaking her clothes out from under Buford's nose so that she could leave him. She also had bruises on her arms around this time. Jim Moffett, chief deputy sheriff at the time, claimed that Buford beat Pauline just days before the murder. A woman named Annie Sue Pipes recalls seeing Pauline with black eyes. Apparently Pauline and Buford had actually been separated in the weeks before the murder. She had finally had enough and was planning to leave him for good. She was very upset that he was having an affair.
34:25 Speaker 01 Some people believe that Pauline followed Buford that morning and caught him meeting up to cheat on her. And that she may have been the one to shoot Buford in the left side of his jaw as she walked up to the car. In fact, when Buford and Pauline were being rushed to the hospital, the rumor already going around was that they shot each other. Others think that the woman Buford was cheating with is the one that shot him to help him cover up the fact that he had killed Pauline. Either way, the two being separated and Pauline staying away from home means that there's likely no way Pauline was there that morning when he supposedly received a call for service.
35:07 Speaker 01 And she likely wouldn't volunteer to go with him.
35:11 Speaker 00 Well, people theorize that Buford was shot by his wife or his mistress. A lot of people think that he shot himself either to make it look like they were really attacked or possibly because he intended to end his own life. But for whatever reason, failed and survived the shot to the face. To get himself help, he had to think fast and a drive-by ambush was the story that he came up with. It just seems incredibly risky to shoot yourself in the face to try and get away with a crime. So risky that it seems to many people to be the least likely scenario. On the other hand, Buford had survived shots to the face before. Maybe he thought he could do it again. Whatever the case, as we mentioned, it wasn't a superficial wound. It was a serious one requiring multiple surgeries.
35:55 Speaker 01 And that is one of the things that does kind of jump out at me. You know, if you're going down this path of, you know, he's going to shoot himself as part of a, you know, drive-by shooting that ultimately killed his wife. Well, there are a lot of places you could shoot yourself that would be far less dangerous, life-altering, life-threatening than in the face. You could just shoot yourself in a fleshy part of your arm or something like that. It's gonna hurt, but not like a shot to the face.
36:33 Speaker 00 We've talked about cases before where two people are supposedly attacked. One of them's Severe wounds and the person that is with them has very minor scratch or something that just is nowhere in comparison. And then you find out later that that person actually was responsible and tried to make it look like they too were attacked. This is a little bit different than that. This shot to the face is quite serious. And, you know, if he did that to take suspicion off himself, it certainly helped.
37:07 Speaker 01 But you could also see why some people, you know, have the other theories, right? That Pauline caught him and maybe she shot him or the mistress shot him as part of the cover up. Again, still, did he direct her to shoot him in the face? Or did she just miss? You know, who knows? There's, there's a lot of different paths to go down. You know, maybe he said, you know, shoot me in the arm and she just missed and it ended up shooting him in the face. I don't know. What I do know is that I feel like there are better
37:50 Speaker 01 ways to try to cover up than shooting yourself in the face. So that part has me a little bewildered.
38:00 Speaker 00 And that's one of the problems with the age of this case. You can't go out and talk to Buford himself. You can't talk to his mistress and the people that might have been there. And obviously Pauline can't talk. She was killed that day. There's nobody to really say what happened that day.
38:19 Speaker 01 While all these new developments in the Pusser case shocked people from that area of Tennessee, others were not surprised at all. There seems to be two main camps. Those who do believe that Buford deserves his legendary status because the county benefited from his actions and those who were being polite to the Pusser children by not correcting the record regarding the man their father truly was. Buford only lived seven years after Pauline's murder. And by then the children had been through so much that the community seemed to come to a quiet agreement not to embarrass them or make their lives any harder than they already had been by raising questions or doubts.
39:06 Speaker 01 Even his grandchildren grew up proud of his legacy instead of under the dark shadow of his name.
39:13 Speaker 00 For as many people that think Buford was a hero and cleaned up his community, many others feel that in reality, his policing was closer to a mafia protection racket where if you paid up, you wouldn't be hassled. If you refused to cooperate and pony up the money, then all of your equipment would be destroyed and you need to restart your operation. Do you avoid the sheriff and take your chances or do you pay the fee so that the good thing you have going on doesn't get stopped? This is the exact thing the sheriff claimed he would put an end to if he was elected. According to locals, his entire career sheriff was full of controversial, possibly corrupt actions.
39:49 Speaker 01 Just two years after being elected sheriff, Buford Pusser shot and killed a 46-year-old woman named Louise Hathcock at her home in place of business, the Shamrock Motel. The official story is that Louise had stolen the purse of a patron, staying in the motel, and was intoxicated and aggressive. When the sheriff and two deputies showed up, Louise asked to speak to Buford privately in her room. Once alone, she pulled out her 38 caliber pistol and shot at the sheriff, but the first shot missed and the gun jammed. As she tried to fire a second, Buford was able to pull out his gun and shoot her in self-defense.
40:30 Speaker 01 Locals will tell you though, that Louise was shot twice in the back and that the two loud shots from Buford's large caliber weapon, a 41 Magnum, came before the single shot from Louise's small 38 caliber. Witnesses also claimed to hear Louise begging for her life before hearing the shots from the sheriff's gun. There are even rumors that she was on her knees with her face down on the floor, begging when she was shot in the back. The stories from ear witnesses make it clear that this was not such a clear-cut case of self-defense. It may have actually been an execution. According to the medical examiner, Louise was still holding the gun in her right hand,
41:15 Speaker 01 but many think that the sheriff placed it into her hand after she was dead.
41:20 Speaker 00 A grand jury refused to indict the sheriff for murder in the case of Louise Hathcock. Author Mike Elam claims that the grand jury never received the autopsy report, which did show that she was shot in the back, once in the back of the shoulder, one under her shoulder blade, and a third shot under her jaw that exited the back of her head. Dennis Hathcock, a relative of Louise, speaking of Buford Pusser, told WKRN, "He was evil. That's the only thing I can say." He could put out that persona that he's a good man fighting crime and corruption, but that's not what was really going on.
41:55 Speaker 01 And I understand more of, you know, there are times when police officers have to defend themselves, sometimes with lethal force. But there is something very strange, right, about the particulars of this incident. I mean, when you think about being shot in the back of the shoulder, under the shoulder blade, also in the back, and then a third shot under the jaw that exits the back of the head. Those you wouldn't normally, I don't think, associate with self-defense type shots.
42:34 Speaker 00 Yeah, I think anytime you see multiple shots to the back, that's concerning. I could see a scenario where it happened so quickly, the person shoots and then spins around, and there's an exchange of fire, and one of the shots hits in the back. But to have multiple shots in the back, that seems to indicate there was a good length of time that he had to shoot and hit her multiple times in the back. So I think that sort of does open up the possibility that there's more to this than meets the eye.
43:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, I get the ones, you know, to the back, but to me, it's really this one underneath the jaw, up through the jaw, exiting the back of the head. I mean, that's something that, you know, you might see in a movie, like an execution.
43:21 Speaker 00 And I go back to the difference in the time of crime scene investigation today. You know, I imagine them having all kinds of lasers and blood spatter experts and ballistics experts in there trying to examine what happened. I think the outcome might be different if that happened, you know, if they had that technology then, and someone put it to use. Maybe he would have been charged for murder in that case.
43:50 Speaker 01 Well, the other thing that I think you have to talk about is 1960s, small town, how much power did the sheriff have? And I'm thinking quite a bit. You know, I think you used the word sway earlier, and I think that's a good word. I don't know that it would have been that hard
44:12 Speaker 01 for, you know, a man in his position to, you know, kind of direct the way that things went. But to me, it's so very interesting when you have some people viewing him as this larger than life hero, while others are seeing him as basically, you know, running a racket, forcing people to pay. And if they don't pay, that's when he cleans up the crime, essentially breaking their stills or whatever it is. So it's, to me, it's fascinating. On Christmas Day of 1968, Buford responded to the home of Charles Russell Hamilton.
44:55 Speaker 01 Because his landlord claimed that Hamilton threatened him with a gun, the sheriff said that after he knocked on the front door, Hamilton told him to come in only to start shooting as soon as Buford entered the home. Only one of the three shots actually hit Buford grazing across his stomach. Defending himself, or so he claimed, Buford shot back, striking and killing Hamilton. It appeared that Charles was relaxing on the couch when he was shot. And we mentioned already, author Mike Elam, he has continued to dig into all of these different cases, including Buford's history of extramarital affairs
45:38 Speaker 01 and a broader conspiracy that occurred during the time he was sheriff.
45:44 Speaker 00 And one thing that's fascinating is there's a whole lot of shootouts going on in this community. He, you know, Buford's being shot at, he's shooting people. This town, this county seemed like it could be violent with this many shootings that either Buford was involved in committing himself or was the victim of.
46:08 Speaker 01 Yeah. So the question is, you know, were there just a lot of shootings going on in the area? Or was he, you know, instigating some of this and then calling it, you know, defending himself? I think the, the interesting part about this one is that he is shot, but it's a grazing shot to the stomach, which obviously probably wasn't all that painful or debilitating. And then, you know, when people claim that this guy was basically relaxing on the couch when he was shot, that also kind of doesn't denote like this intense shootout. So it will be interesting, right?
46:53 Speaker 01 If Mike Elam continues to investigate all these things, but I don't know, because they're so old, how anything definitive is ever going to come out. I think what it does do is it helps to kind of continue to cloud Buford or separate him from his good guy image. I think it does that, some of these things do.
47:21 Speaker 00 And I think one problem for Mike Elam is that there's not going to be a whole lot to go on other than what was laid out by Buford himself. The story sort of went the way he directed it and there's probably a lot, not a lot to, you contradict or prove otherwise.
47:38 Speaker 01 But I will say, you know, if, if he's able to find some stuff, it could be a very fascinating book.
47:45 Speaker 00 Sheriff Guy Buck was interviewed by WKRN about his thoughts on Buford Pusser, and he told them, whatever you think of him, good, bad, he did motivate people to get into law enforcement for the right reason. I think my whole generation of law enforcement officers, not just in Tennessee, but across the country and all across the world, were motivated by those movies. Of course, there are people who believe that defending the sheriff's honor comes not from a place of thinking that he told the truth, or deserved the status he received, but rather a financial interest. The Buford Pusser Home and Museum is one of the main attractions in the area. Buford's daughter, Dwana, donated the home to the city
48:26 Speaker 00 of Adamsville to be turned into a museum. To her, it's like a shrine or a memorial. For those who operate it and then earn by businesses, it's a source of income. Tours are $10 for adults and $3 for children who are 17 or younger. There's also a gift shop the tour will take you through. Steve Sweat, Tennessee's Buford Pusser historian, told WKRN, "As far as I'm concerned, it happened the way the sheriff said it did, because he was there and we weren't." Buford's headstone is inscribed, "He Walked Tall." Road signs denote the spot of the first and second ambush as local landmarks.
49:03 Speaker 01 And here again, right, we're back to differing opinions. Some people are going to continue to believe that Buford was Mr. Law Enforcement, the guy from Walking Tall, while others are going to believe that he's possibly a murderer, maybe he killed a number of people that didn't really deserve it, and that he possibly might have been a corrupt sheriff. Investigators are now sure that Buford is their main suspect in the murder of his wife Paula, and even announced that if he were still alive today, they would
49:42 Speaker 01 have probable cause and be able to charge him with the murder 58 years later. Sadly, Pauline's parents, her sister, and all three of her children had already passed away by the time of this announcement. They didn't hear the news. That Paula, who they all love dearly, was murdered by the man who promised to protect her and went on to become a local legend for doing it, even having a movie based on what police are now saying was a lie. Pauline's brother Griffin told the Sandusky Register that if you had the opportunity to meet Pauline, you would fall in love with her because she was a people person and she was just a sweet person.
50:27 Speaker 01 Although her husband Buford Pusser may have escaped justice in life, it seems that possibly the truth is coming out half a decade after he died. And I think more of, as we wrap this one up, a lot of people are drawn to this. Right? The name Buford Pusser is known to many people, whether it's through the movies or it's through the legend, the stories that have been told for so many years. And now it's like history is being rewritten, which let's face it, does happen.
51:12 Speaker 01 Things come out many years later that seem to refute the stories we thought we knew. And this might just be exactly one of those scenarios.
51:24 Speaker 00 It seems so fascinating that another movie could perhaps be made of this story that the, the original story wasn't true. So who knows, maybe this even spawns another film.
51:37 Speaker 01 The other thing that, that I think is interesting is that it seems to me that not everyone, even back then, thought of Buford as kind of the hero, right? There were people who were saying, this was not a good guy. Now, I don't know, that definitely wasn't the consensus, but there were people.
52:01 Speaker 01 Who thought, you know, he was corrupt, that not everything he did was on the up and up. And I could understand why maybe that sentiment, you know, wouldn't have been made public by many, because they would have definitely been in the minority on that. I think most people thought of him as this guy, you know, cleaning up the, the area. But it seems like that thought was shared by some, for sure.
52:32 Speaker 00 It's very interesting and it's almost like I've seen different movies where, you know, you have a authority figure, a small town sheriff, whatever, and that presents this one public face. The perception is one thing, but behind the scenes, there's a whole darker side. And this, this seems to mirror those kinds of characters, but this is real life. That's what makes it interesting. And there's so much, you know, to the story, the, the twist and the things that are coming out years later, that the story's still going. And I think that's what's fascinating.
53:10 Speaker 01 Well, let's face it, as long as there have been law enforcement officers, there have been some bad ones, right? There have been some who have abused their authority. That's still happens today. There are bad people in every profession, but when it comes out that it's a law enforcement officer, I think it hits harder, right? Because of the amount of power and responsibility that they have. My thought is in the 1960s, in a small town in Tennessee, a person with that type of power could get away with a lot. And it just might be that Buford Pusser did.
53:53 Speaker 01 But that's it for our episode on Pauline Pusser. As always, if you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a review, leave a five star rating. Also, keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really goes a long way.
54:11 Speaker 00 If you want to find us on social media, we're on every major platform. Just search for Criminology Podcast on your favorite. You can also visit our website, criminologypodcast.com. And if you want to join the discussion about the podcast or the cases we discuss, head over to Facebook and search for Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans.
54:30 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike And Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.
Previous Melodee Buzzard Next Holly Bobo Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated