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The Wife of a Famed Tennessee Sheriff Died in a 1967 Unsolved Shooting. Agents Just Exhumed Her Body
Epoch Times ^ | 2/10/24 | AP

Posted on 02/11/2024 7:56:38 AM PST by CFW

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities have exhumed the body of the wife of a famed former Tennessee sheriff more than a half-century after she was fatally shot in a still-unsolved killing.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it oversaw the exhumation of the body of Pauline Pusser on Thursday at Adamsville Cemetery. She was killed by incoming gunfire while in a car driven by her husband, McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser, a figure whose legend was captured in the 1973 film “Walking Tall” starring Joe Don Baker and a 2004 remake starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Various sites in Adamsville continue to attract tourists interested in the sheriff’s legacy in west Tennessee.

A TBI statement said the agency received a new tip that led agents to find that there was never an autopsy performed on Pauline Pusser’s body.

[snip]

The Tennessean cited an Aug. 13, 1967, publication of its newspaper that says Pauline Pusser was killed and her husband was “seriously wounded in the jaw when Pusser’s prowl car was fired on at dawn on a lonely country road.”

[snip]

Investigators found 14 spent 30-caliber cartridges on the road where Pusser said the shooting occurred about three miles from the state line, according to The Tennessean. The Pusser car was hit 11 times.

In the archived news article, The Tennessean quoted an investigator who said they believed the couple had driven into a trap.

(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bosvenson; bufordpusser; dixiemafia; joedonbaker; moonshine; murder; paulinepusser; pusser; tennessee; walkingtall
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To: desertsolitaire

Unless the rot extended to the investigators themselves or enough O.C. pressure was applied to them to make the investigation go away unsolved.


41 posted on 02/11/2024 9:10:18 AM PST by desertsolitaire
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To: CFW

Possibly a rifle that someone claimed was used turned up and someone figured to sell it and make some bucks from has been found and word got around. It is an open murder case and would be good PR if they could close the case and have the gun as well.


42 posted on 02/11/2024 9:16:03 AM PST by Kartographer (“We MutualBetter ly Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor”)
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To: CFW

It is rumored that Pusser took matters into his own hands and hunted down and executed his wife’s killers, one by one.


43 posted on 02/11/2024 9:16:26 AM PST by lowbridge ("Let’s check with Senator Schumer before we run it" - NY Times)
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To: Chickensoup

One more tick mark in the murder solved column without having to incarcerate another minority.


44 posted on 02/11/2024 9:20:35 AM PST by Farmerbob
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To: logi_cal869

Maybe they suspect Pusser may have set up the entire phony scenario, out on a lonely road in the early morning....and shot his wife to get reid of her, while making it appear that she was shot by non-existent attackers.


45 posted on 02/11/2024 9:27:45 AM PST by Tucker39 ("It is impossible so to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington )
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To: lowbridge

It is rumored that Pusser took matters into his own hands and hunted down and executed his wife’s killers, one by one.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser

Pusser survived several assassination attempts.[9] On February 1, 1966, Louise Hathcock attempted to kill Pusser during an on-site investigation of a robbery complaint at The Shamrock Motel. Hathcock fired on Pusser with a concealed .38 pistol. Pusser returned fire and killed Hathcock. On January 2, 1967, Pusser was shot three times by an unidentified gunman.[10]

While he was already a local hero, Pusser’s “war” on the State Line Mob was brought to national prominence when his wife, Pauline, was killed on August 12, 1967, during an assassination ambush intended for Pusser and instigated by Hathcock’s common-law husband. Pusser named Kirksey Nix as the contractor of his wife’s killers, although neither Nix nor anyone else was ever charged with the crime. Pusser shot and killed an intoxicated Charles Russell Hamilton on December 25, 1968, after responding to a complaint that Hamilton had threatened his landlord with a gun.[11]

maybe, depending on your point of view.


46 posted on 02/11/2024 9:28:15 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: CFW

Maybe they want to determine if she was dead prior to the shooting.


47 posted on 02/11/2024 9:30:57 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: CFW

mebbe they think they found the gun? want to see if there’s a bullet in her?


48 posted on 02/11/2024 9:32:46 AM PST by mo ("If you understand, no explanation is needed; if you don't understand, no explanation is possible)
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To: Rockingham
If the public is interested in the case, public officials will usually see that leads are is pursued. In most instances, the cost in manpower and other resources is minimal and there is no personal gain of any sort for the detectives.

It was the usual office bet that had to be settled.

49 posted on 02/11/2024 9:33:02 AM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: Tucker39

You think he shot himself 2 or 3 times in the face to make it look believable?


50 posted on 02/11/2024 9:33:51 AM PST by Farmerbob
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To: Macho MAGA Man

Pusser had met and approved actor Bo Svenson playing him for the sequel.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser

Pusser died on August 21, 1974, of injuries sustained in a one-car automobile accident four miles west of Adamsville.[15] Earlier that day, he had contracted with Bing Crosby Productions in Memphis to portray himself in the sequel to Walking Tall. That evening, returning home alone from the McNairy County Fair in his specially modified Corvette, Pusser struck an embankment at high speed that ejected him from the vehicle. The car caught fire and burned.[15]

According to this, he was going to portray himself.


51 posted on 02/11/2024 9:33:59 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Farmerbob
You think he shot himself 2 or 3 times in the face to make it look believable?

1 time being shot in the face and surviving is very lucky. But a 2nd shot to the head...And then 3rd shot to the head and he survived? I find that a bit inquisitive...Yep.

52 posted on 02/11/2024 9:39:40 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Bob434

Ot wasn’t

Bo Svenson did Walking Tall 2. Can’t remember if they made 3.


53 posted on 02/11/2024 9:44:18 AM PST by Fledermaus (Is it me, or all of a sudden have the buried trolls come out on FR like cicadas? It's all noise.)
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To: Farmerbob

One more tick mark in the murder solved column without having to incarcerate another minority.

......

Ah. That makes sense.


54 posted on 02/11/2024 9:45:54 AM PST by Chickensoup
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To: CFW

Seems ridiculous


55 posted on 02/11/2024 9:47:13 AM PST by wardaddy (I have seen true anti semitism is more common in USA than I imagined. A disease in the public mind)
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To: Rockingham

Perhaps .

I don’t see it.


56 posted on 02/11/2024 9:49:02 AM PST by Chickensoup
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To: Tucker39

Yep and blew his face off for effect


57 posted on 02/11/2024 9:56:59 AM PST by wardaddy (I have seen true anti semitism is more common in USA than I imagined. A disease in the public mind)
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To: CFW

If any new info leads to the murderer and he was still alive, wouldn’t he just be an elderly man with poor memory now and not be prosecuted?


58 posted on 02/11/2024 10:04:25 AM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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To: mikey_hates_everything
If any new info leads to the murderer and he was still alive, wouldn’t he just be an elderly man with poor memory now and not be prosecuted?

You left out "sympathetic" and "well-meaning."

59 posted on 02/11/2024 10:06:53 AM PST by x
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To: wardaddy

I’ve seen pics of this guy after the shooting event posing for pics with his Corvette. It certainly didn’t look like his face had been “Blown off”.


60 posted on 02/11/2024 10:24:04 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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