It was lengthy believed that Pauline Mullins Pusser, the spouse of the legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, was shot and killed in an ambush meant for her husband, however new proof means that it was the late sheriff who killed his spouse.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report uncovered “inconsistencies in Buford Pusser’s statements to legislation enforcement and to others,” District Legal professional Mark Davidson stated at a press convention Friday.
Legislation enforcement have uncovered bodily, medical, forensic, ballistic and reenactment proof that contradict the McNairy County sheriff’s account of his spouse’s 1967 homicide.
The sheriff’s story impressed the film “Strolling Tall” in 1973 and a number of other sequels, a 2004 remake and a number of other books, Davidson stated.
Buford Pusser died in a automotive accident in 1974.
“This case is just not about tearing down a legend, it’s about giving dignity and closure to Pauline and her household and guaranteeing that the reality is just not buried with time,” Davidson stated.
This undated photograph supplied by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Aug. 29, 2025, reveals the placement in Guys, Tenn., the place then McNair County Sheriff Buford Pusser stated his spouse was killed on Aug. 12, 1967.
TBI by way of AP
The sheriff had reported that his spouse volunteered to trip together with him in the dead of night, early morning hours on a disturbance name. He claimed {that a} automotive pulled alongside his and fired a number of photographs towards them, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush supposed for him carried out by unknown assailants, in accordance with Davidson.
The sheriff, who was additionally shot within the ambush, recovered from his accidents and no viable suspects had been discovered and no prices had been filed.
Investigators now consider that Pauline Pusser was shot exterior the car then positioned contained in the car, which isn’t what Buford Pusser has instructed investigators on the time of the homicide.
“This was a chilly case for many years however in 2022 TBI brokers took one other take a look at the archive file and coordinated with our workplace. That work accelerated in 2023 and in 2024, Pauline Mullins Pusser was exhumed for an post-mortem,” Davidson stated.
A portrait of Pauline Pusser is proven subsequent to a display screen enjoying a video of her brother, Griffon Mullins, giving a press release, at a press convention on Aug. 29, 2025.
WKRN
“It has been stated that the lifeless can’t cry out for justice, it’s the responsibility of the dwelling to take action. On this case that responsibility is being carried out 58 years later,” Davidson stated.
Investigators used fashionable forensic science and investigative methods that weren’t obtainable in 1967, officers stated.
A brand new post-mortem additionally revealed cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser doesn’t match crime scene images of the inside of the car she was allegedly killed in. Blood splatter on the surface of the car additionally contradicts Buford Pusser’s account of the homicide, Davidson stated.
A forensic investigator additionally decided {that a} gunshot wound to Buford Pusser’s cheek was a detailed contact wound, not lengthy vary as he had described, and was doubtless self inflicted, Davidson stated. Blood splatter evaluation additionally indicated that somebody was injured each inside and out of doors the car, he stated.
Investigators now consider that the crime scene was staged.
The sheriff spent about 18 days within the hospital and required a number of surgical procedures to get better, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Director David Rausch stated on the press convention.
The case, which was primarily based largely on his assertion, closed “maybe too shortly,” Rausch stated.
Investigators obtained a tip in regards to the potential homicide weapon in spring 2023.
On this undated photograph supplied by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Aug. 29, 2025, Pauline Mullins Pusser’s physique is exhumed from her grave in Adamsville Cemetery, in Adamsville, Tenn., in 2024.
TBI by way of AP
The post-mortem additionally signifies that previous to her demise, she had a nasal fracture that had healed mostly attributable to “interpersonal trauma,” in accordance with Davidson.
If he had been alive immediately, investigators consider they’ve produced sufficient possible trigger that prosecutors might have delivered a legal indictment for homicide.
“Pauline’s demise was not an accident, not an act of probability, however primarily based on the totality of the TBI investigative file, an act of intimate violence,” Davidson stated.
“Justice for Pauline has been a very long time coming and due to all of the onerous work put in by many we’re lastly capable of announce to Pauline’s surviving household and to the general public that we consider we’re as shut as potential to justice,” he stated.
On this April 12, 1973, file photograph, former McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser is proven in Selmer, Tenn., close to a bit alongside a lonely blacktop highway the place he and his spouse Pauline had been ambushed in 1967.
Bettmann Archive by way of Getty Pictures, FILE
Griffon Mullins, Pauline Mullins Pusser’ brother, thanked legislation enforcement for his or her work and urged others to just accept the findings of the investigation.
“To be completely sincere with you, I am not terribly shocked,” he stated.
He stated he was grateful to have gotten this closure so a few years later.
“I beloved her with all my coronary heart and I’ve missed her horribly this final 57 years,” Mullins stated in a recorded assertion.
“I’m devastated. It has been a very long time since she left … I’ve had numerous time to suppose and look again at Pauline’s life. She did not inform me a complete lot. She wasn’t the kind of particular person to inform you her issues, however I knew deep down there was issues in her marriage,” Mullins stated.
