Matthew Desha
Matthew Desha
Matthew Ryan Desha is veteran from North Ridgeville, Ohio, a suburb on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. [undefined]
Matthew served in the United States Marine Corps from June 2004 to June 2008 and was deployed to Iraq twice. After serving, Matthew suffered from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was also addicted to heroin, and had been arrested multiple times for drug and firearms crimes. [undefined]
Murder of Deborah Pearl
On August 27, 2016 Matthew Desha fatally shot Deborah Pearl, a mother of three, after running a red light an crashing his SUV into her car.
Matthew was charged with murder and is being held on $1 million bond.
Matthew Desha ran a red light in his 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WJ) just after 7:20 a.m. on Solon Road and hit Deborah Pearl's Ford Taurus at the intersection of Richmond Road, while she was driving to work. [undefined]
The impact pushed Pearl's car several feet east onto Solon Road.
Desha's Jeep flipped several times and landed on its roof about 50 feet from Pearl's car, police said.
Witnesses said Desha got out of his car with a 5.56-millimeter high powered assault rifle.
He then shot Deborah 12 times while she had her hands up after she got out of her car.
Police found Pearl lying in the roadway.
She died after paramedics took her to University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Criminal Record
North Ridgeville Police Department officers investigating a noise complaint at Matthew's house on May 5, 2011 were warned that he suffered from PTSD and slept with a loaded gun under his pillow, according to a police report. [undefined]
Officers arrested him July 4, 2011 after a neighbor reported seeing him with a pistol.
A woman later told officers she asked Matthew to point the pistol at her head so she could take pictures as a prank.
But the officers charged him with using a weapon while intoxicated after a breath test showed he had a.227 blood-alcohol content, according to a police report.
The local Veteran's Administration office requested a welfare check on Oct. 3, 2013 after Matthew failed to show up to several group meetings.
Officers spoke with Matthew and learned that he did not attend because he had been ill, according to a report.
Matthew has also had run-ins with law enforcement in other counties.
In Mahoning County, he faces a carrying concealed weapons charge stemming from a May 30 traffic stop in Boardman Township, court records show.
Matthew told a Boardman Township officer that he was taking medication for anxiety issues and that he was previously addicted to heroin, according to a police report from the incident.
The officer stopped Matthew's 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WJ) May 30 after he turned left without signaling. The officer searched the Jeep and found a loaded Taurus 9 mm handgun and drug paraphernalia with residue from an unidentified white power, the report says. [undefined]
Matthew appeared Aug. 9 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and was released after posting 10 percent of a $2,000 bond.
His next court date had not been scheduled.