WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers was remembered for his public service as mourners looked for answers to unravel a mystery still shaking their tiny Appalachian town — why their popular sheriff is behind bars and charged with the slaying.

The sheriff was a defendant in a lawsuit arguing he failed to supervise a deputy who coerced women into having sex with him.

As residents of a small town in southeast Kentucky mourn the loss of a prominent district judge, they’re looking for answers about the argument that authorities say led up to his killing inside the judge’s chambers and the sheriff’s arrest in his death.