A judge from Arkansas was found dead at the bottom of a lake roughly 70 miles east of Little Rock on Sunday morning in what appears to be an accidental drowning, per authorities.
Jeremiah Bueker, 48, who was the Arkansas County Northern District judge, had been in Jefferson County with several friends and family members over the weekend, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. At one point, he ventured off and went missing, which set off a manhunt for him.
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“I truly pray that the successful recovery of Judge Bueker’s body by our deputies and Arkansas Game & Fish Wildlife Officers brings some sense of closure to the Bueker Family and those who knew him best. The scour of emotions they must feel right now is devastating,” Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods said.
Bueker was last seen Saturday near Mud Lake, and his family members called the police after they could not find him. Authorities commenced a search of the premises. Boats equipped with side-scan sonar and other tools were deployed to help locate him.
“The boats used were equipped with side-scan sonar, which provides a birds-eye view of the water,” Woods noted.
Eventually, sonar revealed his body at the bottom of the lake around 9:15 a.m. on Sunday local time. Upon discovering his body, deputies deployed rescue hooks to recover his body, according to the sheriff’s office. His family then identified the body.
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Bueker was elected district judge in 2012 and had roughly 20 years of experience in the legal arena. He was described as an “avid outdoorsman” by a city official, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. His family described him as an avid swimmer and said it would not have been unusual for him to go swimming in the lake, Maj. Gary McClain of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet.
“His family had a weekend at a cabin on the family’s property,” McClain said. “They were riding side-by-sides [utility task vehicles] and returned back to the cabin. It appears he decided to go swimming after maybe being dusty, and he went missing. No one was with him; he was alone.”
A medical examiner will conduct an autopsy on him.
