Regardless of their medium, stories have captivated humanity throughout history. Our obsession with shocking twists, dramatic characters and plotlines, satisfying revelations, and lessons learned proves their existential necessity to cope with the things we do not know or understand. Netflix's latest docuseries, The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga, dives into the bizarre, true story behind the 2013 presidential assassination attempt -- highlighting the damaging result of replacing reality with more interesting narratives.
The show details the soap-opera-esque life of Paul Kevin Curtis, an Elvis impersonator consumed by body-part trafficking conspiracy theories. In three parts, viewers get to see his unshakable pursuit of justice, leading him on a path of personal and political rivalries, jail time, and becoming a major suspect for the infamous 2013 crime. With conflicting perspectives from Curtis, his family, and his enemies, The Kings of Tupelo uncovers the unexpected truth that eventually clears his name.
Double Trouble: A Tale of Two Elvises
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Kings of Tupelo
Release Date December 11, 2024 Main Genre Documentary Seasons 1
Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley, brings with it an innate adoration for the rock and roll legend among its residents. Paul Kevin Curtis, who was also born and raised in the small-town, was no exception. Brought up with a mother constantly playing the king's music and possessing a charismatic likeness to the singer, Curtis began his lifelong career as an Elvis impersonator at an early age. He performed for increasingly large crowds, won competitions, and started a popular Elvis-duo tribute act with his older brother, Jack, called Double Trouble. Off the stage, he shared three children with his wife Laura and ran a successful cleaning business. All aspects of his younger years promised a fun and fulfilling life.
Unfortunately, things headed for the worse after Curtis earned a significant cleaning contract with the North Mississippi Medical Center, the largest rural hospital in the United States. During one of his shifts, he was tasked with cleaning out a hazardous area of the morgue. While looking for something to drink, Curtis opened a freezer and discovered it was full of body parts, including the severed head of a patient he'd seen in the ER a few days prior. Shocked and confused, he began telling everyone what he'd seen, eventually leading to his termination.
The NMMC assures that the body parts were kept by standard procedures for government-regulated organ donation. However, Curtis instead believes something shady was going on, and they only fired him to keep it all quiet. After losing his job, he spiraled down into an obsessive fixation on body-part trafficking conspiracies that led to erratic behavior and an onstage outburst, costing him his friends, family, and reputation.
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Posts Missing Pieces and Conspiracy Theories Close
Throughout the docuseries, Curtis is adamant about his uncanny ability to make connections that uncover the hidden truths behind people in power. When it comes to his theories about a black market for body parts, some interesting coincidences made his belief in it a convenient, though far-reaching, conclusion.
During his dark-web research into the matter, he developed numerous websites and a book called Missing Pieces to bring public awareness to underground body-part harvesting and selling. At the height of his personal losses in 2006, a news story broke out about Michael Mastromarino, who was arrested for leading a human tissue trafficking ring in New York funeral homes. Since Mastromarino was on Curtis' radar, to him the revelation confirmed his ideas about identical corruption in Mississippi. Falling into a non-sequitur line of thinking, he felt Mastromarino's case was proof of NMMC's involvement in similar criminal activity.
Curtis then moved toward political activism to illegalize the buying and selling of organs in his home state. He contacted Mississippi House of Representatives Steve Holland to sponsor a bill banning the practice. However, Holland, who is also a funeral home director and champion of life-saving organ donation programs, took offense to Curtis' conspiratorial insinuations and refused to help him. As a result, Curtis became convinced that Holland and his funeral home were directly involved in body-part trafficking.
In the following years, Curtis incessantly contacted Holland and Senator Roger Wicker to approve his bill. Through growing paranoia and desperation, he became increasingly isolated, believing he was the target of people in power. After an altercation with DA David Daniels, he was sentenced to six months in prison by none other than Judge Sadie Holland -- Steve Holland's mother. Her involvement and the harassment from police following his release further cemented his delusions about corruption on a massive scale. So, he didn't stop spreading his message online, in-person, and through letters to his state officials. Unfortunately, this provided a paper trail of motive against him when his political enemies received envelopes of ricin through the mail in 2013.
Framed: A Mississippi Rivalry Culminated with an Assassination Attempt on Barack Obama Close
On April 17, 2013, an envelope addressed to former President Barack Obama that tested positive for the deadly poison ricin was intercepted. Inside was also a threatening letter that spoke of "missing pieces" and was signed with the initials KC (which Curtis used in his online discourse). Since Senator Wickers and Judge Holland also received the same correspondence, it didn't take long before the FBI showed up at Curtis' home to arrest him for the crime.
However, during their interrogations, things weren't adding up. When asked about ricin, Curtis claimed that he couldn't stand to eat rice. Clearly, he had no clue what the poison even was, let alone how to make it. Plus, after searching his home, there was no evidence to suggest that he was behind the letters. Curtis was also a lifelong Democrat who loved Obama, and the trail leading to him seemed too convenient. Officers then questioned him about any enemies he may have. One name immediately came to mind: Everett Dutschke.
Leading up to the postal poisoning, Curtis had developed a rivalry with Dutschke, a martial arts instructor, self-proclaimed Mensa member, and a Wayne Newton impersonator living in Tupelo. Initially, the two hit it off, but things turned sour when Dutschke refused to publish Curtis' body-part conspiracy story. The two mostly kept their feud online. Curtis would constantly troll Dutschke, photoshopping himself in his pictures, posting "professional" karate videos, and putting up a fake Mensa membership certificate to get under his skin. In retaliation, he came up with a preposterous plan to frame Curtis and ruin his life forever.
When investigators turned to Dutschke as a suspect, the pieces started fitting together. There was ricin residue found in his trash and home, castor beans bought in bulk, and a coffee grinder used to make the poison. After collecting enough evidence, law enforcement freed Curtis and arrested his arch enemy. In 2013, he was indicted by a grand jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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The Kings of Tupelo teases audiences with a perfectly complete denouement. Curtis performs as Elvis with his brother again, and asserts that he's redirecting his life's purpose toward his family instead of conspiracy theories. But the filmmakers fit in one last twist. Curtis now believes that Everett was also framed, and Dutschke contends that he is a former CIA operative who's been targeted after discovering damning information on the Obama administration. Although the claims from both characters are only that, claims. There is no real evidence suggesting the truth behind any of it.
The series wraps up by showing the two rivals as they are today. Curtis is spouting off more obsessive and meritless stories about Everett. Everett, on the other hand, continues to spin his tale into one where he is innocent. Both men are telling stories in which they are either the hero or the victim, addicted to their comforting delusions and still unable to question their own beliefs (at least publicly). To them, the real villains remain at large, telling the world not to believe in secret corruption with two fingers crossed behind their backs. When the show ends, audiences can't help but see the truth: Curtis and Everett just want to feel important, exceptional, like everyone does. Chasing that desire got them caught up in telling a grand story, one in which they refuse to leave listeners with "The End."
The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga is now streaming on Netflix.