{"id":36922,"date":"2026-07-12T09:23:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T14:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=36922"},"modified":"2026-07-12T09:23:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T14:23:47","slug":"bemidji-man-recovered-from-movil-lake-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-man-recovered-from-movil-lake-identified\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji: Man Recovered From Movil Lake Identified"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Bemidji: Man Recovered From Movil Lake Identified<\/h2>\n<article><strong>BEMIDJI, Minn.<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A man recovered from Movil Lake has been identified by Beltrami County authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beltramicountymn.gov\/departments\/sheriffs-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beltrami County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> identified him as Matthew James Rayta, 23, of Maple Grove, Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s office released Rayta\u2019s name on Tuesday, July 7.<\/p>\n<h2>Body Spotted in Movil Lake<\/h2>\n<p>Deputies received a report about a deceased man in the water around 5 p.m. Friday, July 3.<\/p>\n<p>The report sent deputies and other emergency crews to Movil Lake, north of Bemidji.<\/p>\n<p>First responders and bystanders searched the area after arriving at the lake.<\/p>\n<p>A body was spotted around 5:30 p.m. in about 25 feet of water.<\/p>\n<p>Severe thunderstorms then moved into the area and forced crews to clear the lake.<\/p>\n<p>The dangerous weather stopped recovery work until teams could safely return.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Replace the URL below with a verified and publication-cleared photo --><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin: 25px auto;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" style=\"display: block; max-width: 600px; width: 315px; height: 423px; margin: 0px auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Matthew-James-Rayta.png\" alt=\"Verified photo of Matthew James Rayta\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em>Matthew James Rayta, 23, of Maple Grove, Minnesota.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Dive Team Recovers Body<\/h2>\n<p>The Lakes Area Dive Team later resumed the underwater search.<\/p>\n<p>Divers located Rayta\u2019s body around 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>The recovery happened about three hours after the body was first spotted.<\/p>\n<p>Crews recovered the body and transported it for an autopsy.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s office has not released the autopsy findings.<\/p>\n<p>Officials also have not released more details about the circumstances surrounding Rayta\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<h2>Several Agencies Assisted<\/h2>\n<p>Several local and state agencies helped with the search and recovery.<\/p>\n<p>The Bemidji Fire Department and Bemidji Ambulance Service assisted at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dnr.state.mn.us\/aboutdnr\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota Department of Natural Resources<\/a> also helped during the response.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakes Area Dive Team handled the later underwater search and recovery effort.<\/p>\n<p>Bystanders also assisted first responders during the initial search.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s office said the case remains under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>No additional information has been released about the case.<\/p>\n<p>The agency has not announced when another update may become available.<\/p>\n<p>Official updates may be posted by the Beltrami County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota DNR provides boating and water safety information online.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ci.bemidji.mn.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">City of Bemidji<\/a> also provides local department and public safety information.<\/p>\n<p>Rayta\u2019s identification came four days after crews recovered his body.<\/p>\n<p>The recovery operation lasted several hours and was interrupted by severe weather.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have not released further details about events before the report.<\/p>\n<p>This story will be updated if officials release new confirmed information.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m Adrian Cole, reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TRF News<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beltrami County authorities identified Matthew James Rayta, 23, after crews recovered his body from Movil Lake north of Bemidji, Minnesota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1224,772,109,2111,1455,151,20474,10771],"class_list":["post-36922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-bemidji","tag-crime","tag-from","tag-identified","tag-lake","tag-man","tag-movil","tag-recovered","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37681,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36922\/revisions\/37681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}