Sixty years after the death of the wife of “Walking Tall” sheriff Buford Pusser, new information has been discovered that could have seen the lawman, who was known for carrying a stick while curbing crime, indicted.

District Attorney Mark Davidson said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation discovered inconsistencies with Pusser’s statements and other evidentiary inconsistencies that would have “more likely than not” been used to seek an indictment against the sheriff for the murder of his wife, Pauline, in 1967, WKRN reported. If the sheriff was still alive, WREG reported.

For the past six decades, it was believed that she was killed in an ambush that targeted her husband. He was wounded in the face.

Buford Pusser said his wife volunteered to go with him to an early morning disturbance call. On the way, a car came alongside his vehicle, with a gunman firing several rounds, killing his wife and wounding him, WREG reported.

The sheriff was wounded in the face, WKRN reported.

There were no suspects in the alleged ambush and the case went cold, according to WREG.

An expert said he believed that the shooting could have been staged.

Davidson said it appears that Pauline Mullins Pusser was shot outside of a vehicle, then was placed inside of it, saying her death was “not an accident” and was an “act of intimate, deliberate violence.”

The district attorney for the 25th Judicial District said blood spatter on the hood of the car does not match the sheriff’s statements. Neither does the cranial trauma the victim had. Finally, the wound to Buford Pusser’s face, according to Davidson, was from close contact, not long range, indicating that it was likely self-inflicted, WREG reported.

An autopsy also showed that Pauline Pusser had a healing fracture on the right side of her nose.

The TBI had her body exhumed last year after receiving a new lead. The investigation wrapped up this year and the report had more than 1,000 pages and has been entered into the public record. It will be kept with the files and evidence at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Her brother Griffon Mullins thanked the TBI for following her case.

“I knew, deep down, there were problems in her marriage,” Mullins said, according to WREG. “I can lay down tonight and have some peace in my mind. This is closure for me, my wife, and my two daughters. I’m thankful I got the news.”

Sheriff Buford Pusser’s fight against organized crime — bringing down bootlegging, prostitution and gambling — in McNairy County, Tennessee, was fictionalized for two “Walking Tall” films, one in 1973 and a remake in 2004, starring Dwayne Johnson but in the role of a former soldier and moved to Washington state.

He claimed to have been shot eight times, stabbed seven times and had to kill two people in self-defense, according to CBS News.

His home in Adamsville, Tennessee, was turned into a museum, WREG reported.

He died in August 1974 in a car crash, CBS News reported.

© 2025 Cox Media Group