For many years, Netflix has been known as the premiere streamer of documentaries and true crime stories. Nowhere is this more evident than with the recent release of The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga. Spanning just three roughly one-hour episodes, the series premiered on December 11 and was instantly compared to other Netflix classics. like now king tiger. Those already familiar with the gripping story of sabotage, attempted murder and other fringe crimes were struck by the newly revealed information in the document, while others were encouraged to look based on the absolutely insane trailer. The story, as he tells it law enforcement officials and those involved, centers on a pair of Mississippi residents embroiled in a years-long personal feud that led to a scandal that nearly took the life of then-President Barack Obama.
The key players in The Kings of Tupelo are Paul Kevin Curtis, a janitor turned Elvis impersonator, and James Everett Dutschke, a martial arts instructor and editor of a small local newspaper. Although the Southern Crime Saga told primarily from Curtis’ perspective, true crime buffs everywhere have raised the question of where the two men are today, more than ten years after the incident that brought them both into custody federal To understand exactly what’s going on with Paul Kevin Curtis and James Everett Dutschke in 2024, let’s go through a brief history of their tumultuous relationship and see how their mutual hatred for each other got completely out of hand. While the following write-up will unpack some of what’s discussed in the documentary series, the full story reaches levels of insanity that cannot be predicted, so it’s worth watching the whole thing if you haven’t already.
How did Paul Kevin Curtis and James Everett Dutschke meet?
Although the climax of Paul Kevin Curtis and James Everett Dutschke’s story came in 2013, the story finally began before the turn of the century. In 1999, Curtis was working as a janitor at a hospital in Tupelo, Mississippi, when he came across a discovery that would change the course of his life. As the Elvis superfan explains, he was looking for a drink in the hospital basement when he accidentally stumbled upon a morgue freezer, which contained countless organs and body parts, wrapped in plastic and labeled with barcodes. Although the hospital maintained that these organs were provided by donors, Curtis became convinced that he had discovered a human trafficking operation to harvest and sell human bodies.
Over the years, Paul Kevin Curtis has maintained this belief, even though there doesn’t seem to be much evidence to support his findings. However, he continued to voraciously pursue the alleged human trafficking ring, even writing a book about his findings titled Missing parts. None of the mainstream media would take him seriously in his quest to expose Tupelo’s undercurrents, so he was forced to turn to small, independently funded operations like the one run by local instructor martial arts James Everett Dutschke. Much to Curtis’ chagrin, even minor acts like Dutschke wouldn’t direct the story, leaving his plot dead in the water. From there, the two men engaged in a heated argument, which turned into a physical confrontation and eventually led to a lifelong feud. As Curtis states in the trailer for the documentary, “I had a nice, quiet life. But one person hated me and made my life hell.”
Unpacking the Ricin cards
As Curtis and his colleagues explain throughout the narrative of The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime SagaJames Everett Dutschke became obsessed with him after their physical confrontation and cybernetically stalked the Elvis impersonator for years to come. Dutschke allegedly harassed Curtis with emails, blog posts and other online attacks, making her life difficult at every turn. In 2010, both Curtis and Dutschke lawyered up and sued each other in court on various civil charges, many of which devolved into courtroom taunts and insults. The fight reached a fever pitch in 2013, when elected officials, even sitting President Barack Obama – received letters in the mail containing cryptic messages and a threat of ricin poisoning.
For a report a the guardianthe letters say: “No one wanted to listen to me before. There are still “Missing Pieces”. Maybe I have your attention now even if it means someone has to die. This has to stop. To see an error and not expose it, is to become a silent partner in its continuity. I’m KC and I approve of this message.” It didn’t take long for investigators to find similar messages posted all over the web by Paul Kevin Curtis, and just days after the letters were sent, the Elvis impersonator was in federal custody before the charge of threatening to kill or harm the President After facing almost constant harassment from Dutschke up to this point, Curtis quickly assumed he was being framed after his initial arrest, FBI investigators confirmed that Curtis did not in fact send the letters, and eventually arrested Dutschke.
Where is James Everett Dutschke today?
In May 2014, James Everett Dutschke reached a plea deal with the courts and accepted a sentence of 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole. To make matters worse, several children came forward during Dutschke’s trial, alleging that he had sexually abused them while acting as a martial arts sensei. The incidents, which ran from 2007 to 2013, were serious enough to warrant an additional 20-year prison sentence, which Dutschke is serving concurrently at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson. He is expected to be released no earlier than August 2034, though he will be forced to join a sex offender registry and then face several years of supervised probation.
Where is Paul Kevin Curtis today?
Although Paul Kevin Curtis was acquitted of all charges related to the ricin case, he explains inside The Kings of Tupelo that the situation still haunts him to this day. Curtis claims she receives frequent online harassment because of the notoriety she gained from her arrest, and even told the Clarion Ledger that various bullies and fanatics have keyed his car, slashed his tires, jammed his mailbox and more. He explained: “There’s no obscurity after you’ve gone international and been framed in a presidential assassination plot by a karate instructor… Everywhere I go, there’s been this kind of prejudice about me “.
Despite the rocky road he took to free himself from his feud with James Everett Dutschke, Curtis seems to be living a serene life in 2024 and beyond. As he explains in the documentary Southern Crime Saga, he now lives alone in an undisclosed location in Mississippi and rarely communicates with his family. at the end of the day, The Kings of Tupelo serves as a cautionary tale against infatuation, obsession, and escalation when it comes to problem solving. Paul Kevin Curtis effectively lost his family because he couldn’t let go of his obsession with a seemingly non-existent trafficking conspiracy, while James Everett Dutschke lost everything because he couldn’t let go of his obsession with Paul Kevin Curtis. Any way you slice it, the off-the-wall feud makes for some seriously riveting entertainment, as evidenced by the positive response the documentary has received from Netflix subscribers.
