Now, though, Tennessee investigators are formally casting doubt on this aspect of the Pusser legend, in about as dark a way as possible. Per Tennessee’s WKRN, 25th Judicial District District Attorney Mark Davidson has released information today compiled by the Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation, who recently exhumed Pauline Pusser’s body, stating that they believe they’ve “produced evidence sufficient to create probable cause” that Pauline Pusser died due to an “act of intimate, deliberate violence.” Which is to say, that if Pusser—who died in a car accident in 1974, just as he was gearing up to potentially play himself in Walking Tall Part 2—was still alive today, the TBI would be considering indicting him on the murder of his wife.
Tennessee authorities have been making noises about publicly looking into Pauline Pusser’s nearly 60-year-old murder since last year, spurred on by family members dubious of Buford’s claims that she was killed in a drive-by shooting that also saw him hospitalized. According to the TBI, re-investigations of Pauline’s body—which didn’t get an autopsy back in 1967—along with new interviews and reenactments, highlight inconsistencies with Buford’s statements to police. That includes evidence suggesting that Pauline Pusser was killed outside her husband’s car, rather than shot while the two were driving together, which would call into question Buford’s entire narrative. DA Davidson said that evidence in the TBI’s case file also suggests that Buford Pusser’s own gunshot wound, to his cheek, had evidence of a being a “close-contact wound,” inconsistent with being from a drive-by. The TBI file reportedly quotes an expert acknowledging that Buford’s shooting might have been staged.
In a public statement, Davidson voiced his feeling that “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. The truth matters. Justice matters. Even 58 years later, Pauline deserves both.” (Davidson later noted that the autopsy found that Pauline Pusser was healing from a broken nose, “caused by interpersonal trauma,” at the time of her death; although Davidson didn’t explicitly use the words, the implication of abuse was broadcast loud and clear.)
Buford Pusser was played by Joe Don Baker in 1973’s Walking Tall, with Elizabeth Hartman as Pauline, whose death (at least, the version reported by Buford) the film depicts. The film was a massive hit when it landed in theaters in 1973, and was remade in 2004—although Dwayne Johnson’s lead character was changed to Chris Vaughn, an unmarried Army Special Forces vet, for the film.
