Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Investigators Now Say Sheriff Buford Pusser, the Real-Life ‘Walking Tall’ Figure, Killed His Wife | Crime Alert 6AM 11.04.25

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Investigators Now Say Sheriff Buford Pusser, the Real-Life ‘Walking Tall’ Figure, Killed His Wife | Crime Alert 6AM 11.04.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert. I'm John Lemley. We begin this hour in Tennessee,
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  Speaker 1: where investigators have rewritten a story once thought to be legend.
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  Speaker 1: The late Sheriff Buford Pusser, long celebrated as a fearless
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  Speaker 1: lawman and the inspiration for the film Walking Tall, is
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  Speaker 1: now believed to have murdered his wife nearly sixty years ago.
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  Speaker 1: New findings from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation indicate that
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  Speaker 1: Pusser killed Pauline Mullins Pusser in nineteen sixty seven, then
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  Speaker 1: staged the scene to look like an ambush by organized crime.
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  Speaker 1: The Sheriff's original account claimed that the couple was attacked
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  Speaker 1: while driving near the New Hope Methodist church. Pauline was
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  Speaker 1: killed instantly and Pusser was hospitalized with a facial gunshot wound.
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  Speaker 1: The case was closed within days, but investigators reopening the
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  Speaker 1: file and covered major inconsistencies. Forensic testing suggests Pauline was
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  Speaker 1: shot outside the vehicle, then placed inside. Blood spatter patterns
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  Speaker 1: on the hood didn't align with Pusser's story, and his
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  Speaker 1: own wound appears to have been self inflicted at close range,
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  Speaker 1: and autopsy reveals signs of prior injury. Suggesting Pauline may
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  Speaker 1: have been a victim of domestic violence before her death.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutors say that if Pusser were alive today, there would
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  Speaker 1: be enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury.
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  Speaker 1: The discovery has stunned those who saw Pusser as a
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  Speaker 1: folk hero of law enforcement, while bringing long awaited clarity
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  Speaker 1: to Pauline's surviving family. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation plans
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  Speaker 1: to make the more than one thousand page case file
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  Speaker 1: public through the University of Tennessee at Martin.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime justice news. Go to
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  Speaker 2: crime online dot com and please join us for our
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  Speaker 2: daily podcast Crime Stories. More crime and justice news after
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  Speaker 2: this Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news
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  Speaker 2: Crime Online John Limley.
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  Speaker 1: In Illinois, a jury has convicted former Sengaman County Sheriff's
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  Speaker 1: deputy Sean Grayson of second degree murder in the death
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  Speaker 1: of Sonia Massey, a Springfield woman who called nine to
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  Speaker 1: one one to report a possible prowler. Prosecutor said Grayson
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  Speaker 1: fired three shots, killing Massey inside her own home after
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  Speaker 1: she pleaded for help. The jury rejected a first degree
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  Speaker 1: murder charge, instead finding him guilty of the lesser count
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  Speaker 1: which carries a possible sentence of up to twenty years
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  Speaker 1: in prison. Body camera footage showed Massey holding a pot
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  Speaker 1: of hot water just moments before she was shot. The
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  Speaker 1: defense argued that Grayson believed he was in danger, but
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  Speaker 1: jurors concluded the use of deadly force was unjustified. The
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  Speaker 1: case prompted changes in Illinois law, requiring greater transparency and
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  Speaker 1: the hiring and background checks of law enforcement officers. Sentencing
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  Speaker 1: is set for early next year, and legal experts expect
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  Speaker 1: a prison term rather than probation. In Nebraska, a man
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  Speaker 1: has pleaded guilty to the murder of a parish priest
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  Speaker 1: and a small town north of Omaha. Kierre Williams admitted
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  Speaker 1: to killing Reverend Stephen Gutzell inside the rectory of Saint
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  Speaker 1: John the Baptist Church in Fort Calhoun last December. Authorities
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  Speaker 1: say the priest called nine to one one to report
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  Speaker 1: an intruder armed with a knife. Deputies arrived within minutes
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  Speaker 1: and found Gutzell fatally wounded near his kitchen. Investigators later
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  Speaker 1: recovered a broken knife with a serrated blade at the scene. Williams,
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  Speaker 1: who had prior felony convictions and was working at a
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  Speaker 1: meat packing plant in Iowa, faces life in prison without
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  Speaker 1: parole when he is sentenced later this month. Prosecutors decided
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  Speaker 1: not to pursue the death penalty. The murder deeply affected
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  Speaker 1: for fix Calhoun's small community of just over a thousand residents,
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  Speaker 1: who had already been shaken by another unsolved killing earlier
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  Speaker 1: that year. In Northeast Ohio, a Cleveland woman has been
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  Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
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  Speaker 1: for the fatal stabbing of a three year old boy
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  Speaker 1: outside a grocery store. Thirty four year old Bianca Ellis
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  Speaker 1: was convicted in October of aggravated murder and several related
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  Speaker 1: charges in the death of Julian Wood. Prosecutor say Ellis
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  Speaker 1: stole two knives from a nearby thrift store, then followed
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  Speaker 1: Julian and his mother, Margot Wood, into the parking lot
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  Speaker 1: of a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmstead. There she
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  Speaker 1: attacked without warning, stabbing the child twice as his mother
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  Speaker 1: tried to shield him. The boy died at the hospital
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  Speaker 1: and his mother was treated for a shoulder wound. Defense
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  Speaker 1: attorneys had entered a plea of not guilty by reason
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  Speaker 1: of insanity, but jurors rejected that argument. Cuyahoga County prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: described the crime as one of the most disturbing acts
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  Speaker 1: of violence they have encountered, and the judge imposed the
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  Speaker 1: maximum penalty allowed by law.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime in justice needs. Go
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  Speaker 2: to crime online dot com and please join us for
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best
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  Speaker 2: to find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides.
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  Speaker 2: With this crime alert, I'm Nitsy Grace