Sheriff Buford Pusser — the other story

Yahoo

30-05-2025

MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — For many Tennesseans growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and especially those in McNairy County, Sheriff Bufford Pusser was a hero.
Hollywood made the big hit movie 'Walking Tall' about the lawman, but a shadow of controversy has also loomed over the McNairy County sheriff.
His wife's murder remains a cold case to this day — and some say Pusser is responsible.
Pusser's image of a big stick-carrying sheriff who cracked down on crime continues to this day. However, not everyone believes Pusser was a saint.
'You look into these things and you find it didn't happen that way at all,' said Mike Elam, author and podcaster of 'Buford Pusser: The Other Story.' 'He walked on both sides of the law.'
Who was legendary lawman Buford Pusser?
Elam is an outsider. He's from Arkansas, where he spent years in law enforcement. He started digging into Pusser's past. For him, the hero story wasn't adding up — especially that Pusser's wife Pauline was mistakenly murdered in an ambush that was intended to take him out. Elam believes Pusser killed his wife and covered it up.
'I believe it was staged to fit Buford's narrative,' Elam told News 2. 'But when you look at the evidence, it's so convincing that he didn't tell the entire truth.'
Elam launched a podcast called 'Buford Pusser: The Other Story.' He also operates the a tour called 'The Truth has no Agenda' where he takes his guests — including many law enforcement officers — on a guided tour of the different crime scenes from the night of the murder.
Dennis Hathcock is one of the locals on the tour. Pusser cracked down on his family's business, The Plantation Club, on the state line.
Annual Buford Pusser Festival celebrates legendary sheriff
'He was evil. That's the only thing I can say … Because he could put out that persona that he's a good man fighting crime and corruption when, if you really knew what was going on,' Hancock told News 2.
'That's the importance of the tour and taking the route Buford took that morning — because that alone convinces a lot of people that it did not happen the way that Buford claimed,' said Elam.
Elam said that other red flags at the crime scene included the location of blood splatters, and bullet holes. In fact, a tip last year led the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to re-examine the cold case and exhume Pauline's body. However, this revision of the Sheriff Pusser hero legend has ruffled some feathers in McNairy County.
'It's very frustrating — these people coming from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arksansas trying to be the Bufford Pusser expert,' Steve Sweat said. 'They don't have a clue.'
Why were Pauline Pusser's remains exhumed?
Sweat is the honorary Pusser expert for the state of Tennessee. He's not happy with tours like Elam's that tell a different story about Pusser.
'As far as I'm concerned, it happened the way the sheriff said it did because he was there and we weren't,' Sweat told News 2. 'As far as I know, that's the way that ambush went, the way the sheriff said it did.'
'I just think the truth is important,' Elam said. 'On my podcast, I always end it saying, 'The truth has no agenda.''
Elam said a tip to his podcast is what led the TBI to re-examine the cold case.
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