13-02-2025
Investigation into death of Buford Pusser's wife now in hands of district attorney
What was the cause of death of the wife of iconic Sheriff Buford Pusser in 1967? That question is now being examined by the McNairy County district attorney.
Decades after Pauline Pusser was buried in the Adamsville Cemetery, her body was exhumed in February 2024 by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in an effort to determine how she died. Until 2024, she had never had an autopsy.
On Thursday, a TBI spokesperson said the case was handed over to District Attorney General Mark Davidson several weeks ago. The results of Pauline Pusser's autopsy remain under seal, according to the office of Tennessee's chief medical examiner.
The Pussers have been the subject of books, movies and websites, including "Walking Tall" (which starred Joe Don Baker in 1973, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in 2004). Buford Pusser, the McNairy County Sheriff, became a legend in the aftermath of the 1973 film which showed him as a sympathetic southern lawman trying to clean up corruption.
"I think, obviously, his (Pusser's) statements were filled with deceit," said Mike Elam, a former deputy sheriff in Benton County, Arkansas. Elam is the administer of a Facebook group called "Buford Pusser: The Other Story," which has 19,000 followers.
Elam has been researching the Pusser case for decades, and has provided information to the TBI, including a 2023 lead on a carbine that may have belonged to Pusser.
"So much of what he (Pusser) said doesn't make sense," Elam said.
On Aug. 12, 1967, Pusser said he was answering a disturbance call south of Selmer, TN. The story in popular culture was that Pusser took his 33-year-old wife with him, and they were ambushed. Pusser said Pauline was shot and wounded on New Hope Rd., then the couple was ambushed again and she was shot and killed about three miles from the Mississippi border. Buford said he was inside the car when he was shot in the jaw in the second ambush.
Elam said he believes the TBI investigation will reveal how many times Pauline Pusser was shot.
If she was shot only once, Elam said that in his opinion "that would mean Buford lied."
Elam said he also believes the TBI will examine the blood spatter found on the Pusser's car. If the blood shows that Pusser or his wife were outside the car, then Pusser's story doesn't stand up, Elam said.
"I think it's Buford's blood on the outside of the car," Elam said. "Somebody was standing in front of the car when they were shot."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Buford Pusser: Wife's autopsy results under seal, DA investigating
