Criminology - Pauline Pusser

Episode Date: November 30, 2025

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. 

In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.

So, everyone, and welcome to episode 387 of the criminology podcast. This is Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford. How you doing this week, buddy? I'm doing pretty good. I'm getting ready for some Thanksgiving action and eating some turkey and stuff. So I'm pretty excited.

How are you doing? Yeah, yeah, we are too. My wife's already got extra tables out. and she 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. Well, that comes with the territory. And actually, I think after I'm 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. Oh, my wife's the same way. Usually the day after is when she starts bringing everything out. but it's it's kind of funny because give you 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 yeah definitely everybody enjoy a time with your family time off whatever

it is that you're you're going to have i do tend to really like holidays that are built around Good food. I like good food. I'm right there with you. We didn't have any new Patreon shoutouts to give, but we do want to thank everyone. 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 slash criminology to get started.

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. Pustard. Before we get into the details of what happened, it's important to look into the background here. Buford Hayes Pusser was born December 12, 1937 in Adamsville, Tennessee. He was an All-American boy. He was large and imposing, standing 6'6 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 U.S. 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. Buford also became stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Having a family now to raise,

he retired from rustling and moved back to his hometown of Adamsville, Tennessee. 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 moonshunt. Gambling and sex work were illegal too, but that wasn't stopping anyone, at least not until Beaufort Pusser was elected chair. Beaufort allegedly destroyed hundreds of illegal whiskey stills, interrupting the flow of cash for many people and making it clear that McNary County was no place for criminals. As a result,

Some people even move their operations in the 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. In January of 1967, Buford conducted a... the 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 moonshiner's 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 polls to publicly shame them and teach them a lesson jail never could. He was known to personally see to it that a legal equipment was destroyed by doing it himself, using a pickax. Due to term limits, Buford could 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, 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 a, office at all. Yeah, that would be bad for businesses with someone like Buford Puster 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 and have to constantly worry that he's going to shut them down there in that county. While Buford Puster was hell bent on cracking down on crime, in 1967, one crime, a murder, would hit very close to home. August 12, 1967 started like many other days had started for Beaufort and Pauline.

According to Beaufort Pusser, at 4.45 a.m., his phone rang, alerting 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 pussers, 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. At 6.20 a.m., Buford called in the incident over his radio. He was just one mile from the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. Beaufort 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 too. 1730 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. 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. Beaufort 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 Beaufort 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. And in a small town, it's probably a lot more common, you know, what 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. Well, and that was my thought, right? We talked about Beaufort, 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, but now she's dead. And Beaufort vows that, you know, he's going to find and put away her killer. 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 had 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. The action movie about the real-life small-town cop cost five hundred, hundred thousand dollars to make and earn 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. And I've seen all these movies morph, most recently, 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 always thought he was 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. Yeah, I think he played that role well for the reasons you just said.

He stands out in my memory, despite it being that old of a movie. This was a move 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 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. So he was just waiting for the bad guys to come in so he could use his Tennessee walking stick?

Yeah, but luckily nobody ever came in, but I think he was ready if they did. But the other thing that jumped out of me was what a success the movie really was, right? The first one for sure, cost $500,000 to make and earned $40 million. That's a healthy return on your, your investment. 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 it was so successful. By August 1974, plans for the sequel were in the works. Reportedly, the movie makers wanted Beaufort 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 McNary 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. 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. 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. In 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

Puser home and museum. 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, his 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 Apollo's death. And that's when tragedy strikes and he too is killed.

So this is just a quick end to a very interesting story. 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. 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 M-1-30-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 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. 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 on 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. Beaufort 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. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered.

I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. On January 5, 2024, the TBI announced that Pauline's case had been reopened and required. 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 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 PBI investigative file, an act of intimate violence. 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.

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 Beaufort'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, multiple pieces of her skull were missing and had been been held together with wire and stuffed for her funeral. Ballistics expert Dr. Eric Warren told WBJTV, the limited universe of evidence suggests that the shooting scenes were at least altered and likely that Beaufort was involved in her murder. And more if this is such a revelation, this notion that Beaufort 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. Like we said, he had gained some pretty wide recognition with the movies and all of that. Yeah, one of the interesting things that they determined or

theorized here is that he sort of controlled the narrative. He had or heard of his, that gun to be removed by the deputy that held onto it all those years. There was no autopsy. Just the whole steering of the case, the way he wanted 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 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. 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. It 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 think a lot of people probably believe that story without too much reservation, actually. Yeah, especially because he had been shot at before and stabbed, so probably not that hard to believe it at the time. 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? There's no denying that Beaufort 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 Beaufort 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 Ravel, 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 her marriage to Beaufort, the six-foot-six-inch

tall former wrestler. This information sort of re-contextualizes what happened the night Pauline was killed. The morning of Pauline's murder, when the ambulance got near the car, Beaufort 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 Beaufort 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 no way for a car to catch up to another the way that Beaufort described on those roads, especially without headlines. Some people who worked with Beaufort 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 Beaufort wasn't simply taken at his word. The route that Beaufort claimed to take on his way to respond to the destroyer,

Furbans also makes no sense. It's not the fastest or most direct route to get there. And you would think that Beaufort would want to get to the scene as fast as possible. 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, it goes back to kind of everyone. believing Buford's word. You know, he's shot.

His wife is shot and killed, so they really don't investigate. They pretty much take him at his word. Obviously, in hindsight, it would have been good to get a look at that car. 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-tooth comb, but a small town in 1960s, that just wasn't going to happen, especially because Buford himself had sway in what happened. 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 Bueubert. and see if it was Beaufort'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 that Beaufort may have had an accomplice. and that Kirkpatrick was involved or at the very least had knowledge. Unfortunately, the case file can only be picked up in person from the University of Tennessee at Martin. No news outlet that has the 1,000-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. it now. Investigators weren't unable 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. 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 girl 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. There were even witnesses who claim to have heard the gunshot. They 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 a lot of the case, built

largely on Beaufort's own statement, closed quickly, perhaps too quickly. So no doubt, Morp, as of the airing of this episode, there are quite a few people pointing the finger at Beaufort Pusser as a killer. 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 collect. 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. 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 indication that Pauline was showing. 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. Yeah. 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. 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. 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 Beaufort's nose so that she could leave him. she also had bruises on her arms around this time. Jim Moffat, chief deputy sheriff at the time, claimed that Buford beat Pauline just days before the murder. A woman named Annie Sue Pipes recall seeing Pauline with black eyes.

Apparently, Pauline and Buford had actually been separate 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. 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, and she likely wouldn't volunteer to go with it. While people theorize that Beaufort 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 tend 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 the crime,

so risky that it seems to many people to be the least likely scenario. On the other hand, Beaufort 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. 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, 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 going to hurt, but not like a shot to the face.

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. 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 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, you know, there are, you know, or better ways to try to cover up than shooting yourself in the face.

So that part has me a little bewildered. And that's one of the problems with the age of this case. You can't go out and talk to Beaufort 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. 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. Even his grandchildren grew up proud of his legacy instead of under the dark shadow of his name. 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 refuse 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. Just two years after being elected sheriff, Buford Pusser shot and killed a 46-year-old woman named Louise Hathcock at her home and place of business, the Shamrock Motel. The official story is that Louise had stolen the purse of a patron, standing at 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. 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 single. shot from Louise's small 38 caliber. Witnesses also claim 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 eyewitnesses 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, but many think that the sheriff placed it into her hand after she was dead. 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 is really going on. And I understand, Morf, 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 prehistors. 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. Yeah, I think any time you see multiple shots to the back,

that's concerning. I can 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. 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. And I go back to the difference in the time of prime seat 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, in that case. 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 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, 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, Beaufort responded to the home of Charles Russell Hamilton 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 Beaufort's history of extramarital affairs and a broader conspiracy that occurred during the time he was sheriff. 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? 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 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 debilitated. 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, 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. And I think one problem from 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 not a lot to contradict or prove otherwise. But I will say, you know, if he's able to find some stuff,

it could be a very fascinating book. 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 Beaufort Pusser Home and Museum is one of the main attractions in the area. Buford's daughter, Duana, donated the home to the city 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 you're owned 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 Beaufort 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. And here again, right, we're back to differing opinions. Some people are going to continue to believe that, you know, Beaufort 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 Beaufort is their main suspect in the murder of his wife, Paula, 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 loved 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. Although her husband, Beaufort 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, morph, as we wrap this one up, a lot of people are drawn to this. 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. If things come out, many years later that seemed to refute the stories we thought we knew.

And this might just be exactly one of those scenarios. It seems so fascinating that another movie could perhaps be made of this story that the original story wasn't true. So who knows, maybe this even spawns another film. The other thing that I think is interesting is that it seems to me that not, everyone, even back then, thought of Beaufort 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 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 area. But it seems like that thought was shared by some for sure. It's very interesting. And it's almost like I've seen different movies. where you have a authority figure of 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 seems to mirror those kind of characters, but this is real life. That's what makes it interesting. And there's so much, you know, to the story, 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. 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 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. 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. 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, Criminology Podcast.com.

And if you want to join a discussion about the podcast or the cases we discuss, head over to Facebook and search for Criminology podcast discussion in the fans. So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you. Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.