‘Walking Tall’ Sheriff Buford Pusser Likely Murdered Wife, Prosecutors Say

Posted on: September 2, 2025, 04:50h. 

Last updated on: September 2, 2025, 07:33h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Cold-case probe finds Buford Pusser likely murdered wife Pauline.
  • Investigators: staged ambush, self-inflicted wound misled public for decades.
  • Adamsville reconsiders legacy of Walking Tall folk hero sheriff.

Former professional wrestler turned legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser – whose one-man crusade against crime and illegal gambling in rural McNairy County inspired the 1973 cult film Walking Tall – would have faced indictment for the 1967 murder of his wife if he were alive today, state prosecutors announced Friday.

Buford Pusser, Walking Tall, Tennessee sheriff, Dixie Mafia, cold case
Buford Pusser, above, was a hard-hitting lawman and a folk hero down in Tennessee, but the announcement that he would have been indicted for murder if he were still alive requires a reevaluation of his legacy. (Image: Unknown immediate source/Fair use)

The crime-busting sheriff died in a car crash in 1974 at 36, just hours after signing on to star in a sequel of Walking Tall, a hit vigilante action movie directed by Phil Karlson.

At six-foot-six and 250 pounds and in the late 1950s wrestling under the name “Buford the Bull,” Pusser became a folk hero in Tennessee for busting up gambling, prostitution, and moonshine rings in McNairy County, where he served as sheriff from 1964 to 1970.

War on Gambling

During that time, he declared war on the Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob. The latter was a loose network of bootleggers, gamblers, and organized crime figures operating along the Tennessee-Mississippi border. Pusser sent a message by publicly smashing up their gambling equipment with a pickax. They sent a message back by trying to kill him.

Pusser survived six assassination attempts and a purported seventh – a drive-by ambush that resulted in the death of his wife, Pauline Mullins Pusser, 33. Now the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation believes the final attempt on his life was a sham orchestrated by Pusser to cover up Mullins Pusser’s murder.

The bureau launched a cold-case review in 2022. On Friday, they said that forensic, medical and situational evidence contradicts the long-held narrative that Mullins Pusser was killed in an ambush while riding with her husband.

Staged Assassination

Investigators said they believe she was shot outside their vehicle and placed inside to fit a fabricated storyline, and that Pusser’s own wound was self-inflicted.

At a news briefing, District Attorney Mark Davidson stressed the investigation was motivated not by sensationalism, but by a duty to Pauline and her family.

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,” Davidson said, noting that, were Pusser alive today, probable cause exists to indict him.

The city of Adamsville, Tenn., which honors its hometown boy’s memory with a museum, an annual festival, and street names has been forced to reevaluate Pusser’s legacy. Mayor Jackie Hamm announced that officials will hold public meetings to discuss the museum’s future, according to Jackson, Tenn.-based news channel WBBJ-TV.