Missing Lithia Springs Man's Body Recovered Earlier This Month

DOUGLASVILLE, GA —The Douglas County Sheriff's Office confirmed that earlier this month it recovered the body of a missing Lithia Springs man in Sweetwater Creek in Lithia Springs. The body was found by a fisherman, and the death has been ruled accidental.

Evans G. Muhia, 35, identified as Evans Gathaga Muhia in the online publication KahawaTungu.com, was a Kenyan immigrant who had been in the U.S. for 14 years. On May 12, a clergyman from Muhia's Clayton County church informed authorities that Muhia had not been heard from since May 8. Muhia's decomposed body was recovered on May 15, caught up in some trees in the creek near 2601 Skyview Drive, according to Sergeant Jay Hayes, of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Hayes said Muhia, a truck driver, lived within walking distance of that location.

An autopsy was performed, according to Hayes, though it could be several months before those results, and the results of toxicology tests, are known. Hayes said it is not known if there was any self-inflicted trauma, if the victim drowned or had some kind of heart-related episode, and the length of time the body was in the water could make it difficult to make a definitive determination on the cause of death. However, Hayes said there were no indications of any foul play.

"There were no broken bones or breaks in the skin consistent with trauma," Hayes told Patch.

Hayes said the clergyman who reported Muhia missing said Muhia had been in a manic state recently and was delusional, perhaps hallucinating, and speaking about the devil and quoting scripture.

Investigators initially believed Muhia may have fallen or jumped off a nearby bridge. But it was later determined Muhia likely had walked into the water.

According to the report in KahawaTungu.com, Muhia worked as an owner-operator with Gaxan Logistics, had studied at Aviation College in Nairobi, and had worked as an aircraft engineer with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) before moving to the U.S.

Close friends described Muhia as a man of very few words, reserved, and a man of good taste in fashion.