In this episode of Zone 7, crime scene investigator Sheryl McCollum sits down with Danny Cupples, a decorated death investigator and Southern crime-fighting legend, to examine one of Tennessee’s most haunting cases.

They retrace the exact path Sheriff Buford Pusser took that night, analyzing every detail with fresh eyes and modern forensics. They explore high-velocity blood spatter, missing pools of blood, and unusual wound trajectories. Sheryl and Danny delve into long-whispered secrets of the Dixie Mafia, question the motives behind Pauline’s exhumation after 50 years, and reveal how far the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has gone to uncover the truth.

Danny Cupples is a certified forensic death investigator and Tennessee’s first Chief Death Investigator. He has trained New York City’s elite forensic teams, teaches infant death investigations at MTSU, and serves on a newly formed cold case unit. He also co-created the life-saving Locator Bulb.

Listeners can learn more about Danny Cupples at The Locator 911, and on Linkedin @DannyCupples

Show Notes:

• (0:00) Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum
• (0:10) The ambush of Buford Pusser
• (2:00) Sheryl welcomes guest, Danny Cupples to Zone 7
• (4:00) Chance meetings and cold case connections
• (6:30) Tour bus incident and tenstions in the town
• (10:00) “Let the evidence produce the truth. An autopsy will do that.”
• (10:30) The forensic importance of delayed autopsy
• (13:30) Blood spatter, voids, and contradictions
• (19:00) Rear door blood and alternative theories
• (22:00) The narrow road and tunnel effect
• (22:30) Forensic truth vs. local legend
• (24:30) The Dixie Mafia
• (27:00) Two ambushes, one victim - does this add up?
• (30:00) The critical need for an autopsy
• (32:00) Questions of motive
• (34:30) Car forensics, and witness testimonies
• (37:00) Two things that don’t make sense in the case
• (40:00) The Locator 911 bulb
• (41:00)  ”I will answer all calls.” -Sherrif Buford Pusser
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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.

Social Links:

• Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
• Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
• Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum

Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

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