Mike Elam
Appearances
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
Of course, the perception that America has is that Buford was a real hero, that he cleaned up the state line and that he sought revenge for his wife's death. But, you know, there's a whole other story that needs to be told.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
Like everybody else, when I first heard the story of Buford Pusser, I was a huge fan. I don't think they made fans any bigger than me. I admired the man and everything he did. The 12th of August had me convinced. Then the movie came out and I saw the movie. I thought it was incredible. It told a really entertaining story. And, you know, I was just filled with admiration for Buford.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
I think I can speak for just about anyone who's been in law enforcement. They will tell you that one thing you never do is take your spouse to a disturbance call. A disturbance call can go sideways so quickly, and it's just dangerous for everyone.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
It was a very convoluted system of back roads to get to the state line. That didn't make sense to me because he was just two blocks from Highway 64 and he could have got on Highway 64, then on 45, been to the same location in a very short time. Whereas this convoluted system of roads, several of them were unimproved at that time. And so it would have been a much slower route.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
Wouldn't they be waiting on either 64 or 45 or possibly even there at the site where he was supposed to be responding to? So that didn't make sense.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
We set up a scenario where I would pass by representing Buford's car passing by the church, and we actually had a Cadillac beside the church that gave chase. However, by the time that I got to the bridge, they were still about 200, 250 yards behind me.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
And that really started to ring true that if they couldn't catch me in broad daylight, how could that have happened in the pre-dawn hours with no headlights?
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
Well, I was going 45 and at one time they reached 92 miles an hour in that seven tenths of a mile stretch trying to catch me. And like I say, they were still over 200 yards behind me by the time I reached the ambush point. And that just convinced me that there was no way it happened the way that Buford said. At this point, I just started to gather up all the information that I possibly could and
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
Blood spatter tells you several different things. It can tell you the direction that a shot came from, the height that it came from, the distance the firearm was away from a person. And none of it matched Buford's stories.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
You had blood on the front bumper, the hood of the car, the top of the car, the sides of the car, all over the outside of the windshield. So you knew that something was not correct with his story.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
So all of the blood spatter on the outside of the car leads you to believe that someone was actually standing in front of that car when they were shot, not on the inside.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
He said that he was sitting in the car, that they pulled up close enough that they were right next to him. You would expect the shell casings to have been found in between the cars, possibly some being ejected inside the Cadillac and some even going over into Buford's car after the window was blown out.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
And he told me that the prosecutor and the local medical examiner had to concur on the need for one. So for some reason, they could not concur, and you have to wonder about the reasoning for that, because that autopsy would have told so much about her death that they just passed up the opportunity to get trajectories, the angles, the distance, so much there that needed to be told.
Revisionist History
Presenting Gone South
You know, it is possible that Buford absolutely did not want an autopsy done and convinced the two men not to have one. It makes absolutely no sense otherwise.