On December 31, 2024, State Court Judge Stephen Yekel was found dead

On December 31, 2024, State Court Judge Stephen Yekel was found dead from an apparent suicide inside the Effingham County Courthouse in Georgia. Yekel, aged 74, had lost his re-election bid earlier that year, and it was his last day on the bench. He was discovered by a sheriff's deputy in the courtroom, believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound sometime between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.