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Body Discovered in Seasonal Lake Home
Riihimaa

A local homeowner had a bit of a scare last week, after a visit to his seasonal lake home resulted in the discovery of a dead body. The DeKalb Sheriff’s Department investigated and a local man known to authorities was later identified as the deceased.

According to a news release by Sheriff Patrick Ray, on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, at 11:08 p.m., DeKalb Central Dispatch received a call from a person on Captains Point Road stating he found a dead body at his residence. Officers arrived on the scene and discovered a badly decomposed body of a man in a detached sunroom of the residence. The homeowner stated he had not been to the residence since November 1, 2021.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said, “We believe the body of the man is someone we are familiar with. It appeared the man had been living in the sunroom without the owner’s consent. The residence is a summer home and no one stays at the residence full time. The body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville for a positive identification and a cause of death.”

On Friday, the State Medical Examiner's Office positively identified the man as 68-year-old Matthew Edwin Riihimaa. Riihimaa was well known to authorities, having been arrested multiple times at another Captain’s Point Road address for assaults and violations of an order of protection dating back to at least 2019.

He was arrested in December 2019 for an order of protection violation, then again in September 2020 when a female said Riihimaa was trying to get into the residence after an active order of protection had just been served on him the same day. 

On December 2020, Riihimaa was charged with domestic assault and violation of an order of protection from an incident that occurred on November 27.

A deputy responded to a 911 domestic assault call from a residence on Captain’s Point Road. Upon arrival the officer spoke with Rhiihimaa and the victim and learned through a further investigation that Rhiihimaa had assaulted the woman by forcibly grabbing her left arm and pushing her down on the couch all the while verbally threatening her.

Two days later, on November 29, a deputy was called back to the woman’s home due to an unwanted guest. Upon arrival the officer found Rhiihimaa asleep in an upstairs bedroom, and he was there in violation of the order of protection.

He was arrested yet again in December 2021 for the same violations.

Sheriff’s officials say the case remains under investigation.