Bud Dearborne

 is a fictional character from "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" series of novels written by Charlaine Harris. The novels have been adapted into the popular HBO television series, True Blood, where the role of was played by actor William Sanderson.

Biography
Bud Dearborne is the sheriff of Renard Parish, and has served in this capacity for nearly twenty years. Bud is a fair-minded man who keeps in close contact with members of the community and is always willing to give a person the benefit of the doubt. He often works along side detective Andy Bellefleur, though he does not share Andy's hardline approach to law enforcement.

In 2008, Bud was called in to investigate the murder of a local woman named Maudette Pickens. A videotape recovered from the crime scene implicated a man named Jason Stackhouse, showing that he was with Maudette on the night that she died (even though the tape also provided evidence suggesting that he did not have anything to do with her death). Bud and Andy went to the job site where Jason was working and brought him in for questioning. Bud knew that Jason was a man of disreputable character, but didn't for a moment believe that he had killed Maudette. Andy however, disliked Jason greatly and was more than willing to believe that he was capable of just about anything. They showed him the videotape and asked him about his relationship with Maudette, but ultimately, they had to let him go.

Sheriff Dearborne then investigated two more strange deaths. Mack and Denise Rattray were found killed when a tornado apparently overturned the trailer they were living in at Four Tracks Corner. Bud labeled it a crime scene and had difficulty believing that a tornado would touch down exactly where the Rattrays lived and nowhere else. What made Bud incredulous was the fact that two nights prior, the Rattrays had a violent encounter with a waitress named Sookie Stackhouse. Dearborne knew that Stackhouse had developed an interest in a vampire named Bill Compton, and suspected that Compton may have killed the Rattrays and disguised their deaths to look like an accident. Without any hard evidence to pursue an investigation, Sheriff Dearborne kept these suspicions to himself.

Bud Dearborne soon found himself called in to investigate another murder, this time a waitress named Dawn Green. Similar to the case with Maudette, Dawn was killed the same evening after having sex with Jason Stackhouse. Jason arrived at Dawn's house only seconds after her body was discovered by his sister, Sookie. Bud was forced to bring Jason in for questioning once again, but still couldn't bring himself to believe that Jason was capable of murder. Andy Bellefleur however, was convinced that Jason killed both Maudette and Dawn. Jason's friend, Tara Thornton, didn't believe Jason was guilty either, and provided an alibi to Sheriff Dearborne to explain Jason's whereabouts. Dearborne knew that Tara was lying to protect Jason, but couldn't prove it. As before, he was forced to let Jason go.

Notes & Trivia

 * In the "Southern Vampire Mysteries" novels, Bud's last name is spelled Dearborn.