Authorities Believe Man Charged In Murder Of Nashville Restaurant Owner Is Illegal Immigrant

 The man charged by Tennessee police with criminal homicide over a deadly hit-and-run that left a beloved Nashville restaurant owner dead is believed by authorities to be an illegal immigrant, The Daily Wire has learned. 

Police captured 29-year-old Ulises Raigoza Martinez on Thursday and charged him over the death of 42-year-old Matt Carney, the owner of Smokin Thighs, a popular chicken restaurant and bar in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer on Martinez, telling The Daily Wire it would be interviewing him immenently to confirm his immigration status. 

Carney died earlier this month after spending over two weeks in the hospital. According to police, Carney was attempting to stop Martinez and 31-year-old Adrian Diaz on June 19 from stealing tools out of his vehicle parked outside of the restaurant when they struck him with a Nissan Frontier truck and sped off, leaving Carney seriously injured on the road. 

Carney died on July 4 from his injuries. A GoFundMe was set up to fund a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the capture of the men who hit Carney, and to support his wife Molly. The fund has already raised more than $57,000.

He was remembered as a pillar of his community in his funeral service at Brentwood Baptist Church last week. 

Matt and his wife Molly. (GoFundMe)

On Wednesday, ICE confirmed that Diaz, who police say was with Martinez when they struck Carney, was a Mexican national illegally in the United States, and said that he has been deported four previous times. He has an extensive criminal history including convictions in 2014 for aggravated burglary in Tennessee, possession of controlled substances in Indiana in 2019, and illegal re-entry in 2020 in Indiana. He is currently been held in Williamson County Jail and charged with evading arrest and drug possession.

Martinez was charged Thursday with five counts, including criminal homicide, tampering with evidence, vehicle theft, criminal impersonation, and evading arrest. He is being held in Davidson County jail and scheduled to appear before a Nashville judge on Monday. 

According to court records, Martinez previously had three felony theft charges dismissed in March by Nashville Democrat Judge Jim Todd.

There had been a week-long manhunt for Martinez after police named him as a person of interest in Carney’s death. Police attempted to question him on July 10, but he took off in a vehicle with Diaz and 25-year-old Francisco Javier Martinez-Lopez, another illegal immigrant from Mexico. 

Eventually, Martinez-Lopez and Diaz were arrested after a foot chase in a wooded area of Brentwood, Tennessee, but Martinez escaped. On Wednesday, Martinez was again spotted near Chattanooga, but again evaded arrest before being arrested Thursday morning in Nashville. 

Carney grew up in Adair, Iowa, before graduating from Full Sail University in Orlando and moving to Tennessee. After moving to Nashville, he built up Smokin Thighs from the ground up, with the restaurant first starting as a food truck back in 2012

“Matt will be remembered for his joyful spirit, his loud laugh and his smile that lit up the room,” his obituary reads. “His friends knew him as the life of the party, with his positive attitude, jokes and loyalty to those he loved. He loved big.”