The sheriff whose crusade against corruption inspired a string of Hollywood films is now suspected by Tennessee authorities of killing his wife before 1973′s “Walking Tall” was released. Via the Washington Post:
Prosecutors said Friday they had enough evidence to posthumously accuse Buford Pusser, who worked as McNairy County sheriff from 1964 to 1970, of killing his wife, 33-year-old Pauline Mullins Pusser, in 1967.
Pusser died in a car crash in 1974 after plowing his Corvette into an embankment. Hours earlier, he had signed a contract to star in a sequel to “Walking Tall,” which was inspired by his life story. A 2004 remake starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In the 1973 film, Pusser, played by actor Joe Don Baker, suffers the ultimate sacrifice for his tough stance on crime when his wife is killed in an ambush on his police car. The plot recalls the story Pusser told police about a real-life incident in which his wife was fatally shot and he was critically injured on Aug. 12, 1967.
Contradicting his decades-old story of an ambush by an unidentified assailant, authorities now believe Pusser shot his wife, moved her body into his vehicle and then shot himself to make it appear as if the pair were both victims, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Friday. Pusser had multiple surgeries and spent nearly three weeks in the hospital following the incident, and later grew his hair long to cover up his scars.
Tennessee authorities began reexamining the Pusser files in recent years amid a broader push to review cold cases in the state. Pauline Pusser’s body was exhumed after officials received a tip about a suspected murder weapon.
