Kentucky Judge Killed by Close Friend Sheriff in Courthouse Controversy

Tragic Courthouse Killing in Kentucky

In a shock­ing turn of events, a Ken­tucky judge was alleged­ly mur­dered by his close friend, the local sher­iff, in a pri­vate encounter inside the courthouse. 

The inci­dent has left the tiny moun­tain town of Whites­burg scram­bling to under­stand the dis­turb­ing motive behind this sense­less act of violence.

Investigating a “Sex Scandal” Motive

Police are prob­ing a poten­tial “sex scan­dal” as one of the lead­ing the­o­ries behind the killing of Judge Kevin Mullins by Sher­iff Shawn “Mick­ey” Stines. Lurid alle­ga­tions about the mar­ried judge’s per­son­al life began cir­cu­lat­ing almost imme­di­ate­ly after the shoot­ing, though the claims remain unverified.

A Longtime Friendship Turned Deadly

What makes this case all the more baf­fling is the fact that Mullins and Stines were described as close friends of over 20 years. The two men were reg­u­lar lunch com­pan­ions at a local sports bar, and had even col­lab­o­rat­ed on ini­tia­tives to com­bat the opi­oid cri­sis in their com­mu­ni­ty. Their sud­den and vio­lent falling out has left res­i­dents of Whites­burg reeling.

Conflicting Accounts and Unanswered Questions

Author­i­ties are sift­ing through a range of evi­dence, includ­ing video footage and cell phone data, in an effort to piece togeth­er the exact sequence of events and deter­mine the motive behind this shock­ing crime. As the inves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ues, the small town is divid­ed between those spread­ing rumors and those deter­mined to pro­tect the fam­i­lies of the two for­mer pil­lars of the community.