Advertisement

Officials suspect drowning after district judge found dead in Arkansas lake

Forty-eight-year-old Jeremiah Bueker had been spending the weekend with family at a cabin in Jefferson County when he disappeared, officials said. Photo courtesy Bueker Law
Forty-eight-year-old Jeremiah Bueker had been spending the weekend with family at a cabin in Jefferson County when he disappeared, officials said. Photo courtesy Bueker Law

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Authorities in Arkansas suspect a case of drowning after they recovered the body of a state judge from a lake over the weekend.

Officials said that Arkansas County District Judge Jeremiah Bueker died and his body was found in the lake in far northeastern Arkansas on Sunday. He was 48.

Advertisement

Bueker's family said he'd been with family and friends over the weekend, but they became worried when he left the family alone on Saturday and didn't return, ever after dark.

"His family had a weekend at a cabin on the family property," Jefferson County Sheriff Maj. Gary McClain said according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

"It appears he decided to go swimming ... and he went missing. No one was with him, he was alone."

Authorities found Bueker's body in Mud Lake, which feeds into the Arkansas River in Reydell. Mud Lake is located in northeastern Arkansas 15 miles southwest of the state's border with Tennessee, and about 35 miles southwest of Memphis.

Bueker, a lead attorney at his own law firm in Stuttgart, Ark., has been a district judge in Arkansas since 2012.

"I, along with the City of Stuttgart and the Grand Prairie community are shocked and heartbroken at the loss of Jeremy Bueker," Stuttgart Mayor Norma King Strabala said in a Facebook post.

Advertisement

"Jeremy was an important and special person in this community, serving as a good friend, fierce attorney, and as Arkansas County Northern District Court Judge for nearly a decade."

"He was an avid outdoors man, a lifelong Ricebird and booster, and a very proud father," mayoral spokesman Eric Mahfouz said according to the Democrat Gazette.

Latest Headlines