A Mexican national who entered under the Biden administration pleaded guilty to killing a Nashville, Tennessee, restaurant owner who confronted him during an attempted theft of tools.
The defendant, Ulises Raigoza-Martinez, was charged in the fatal hit-and-run involving restaurant owner Matt Carney in June 2024. Carney suffered major head trauma and died of his injuries at the hospital on July 4, 2024.
Two years later, on July 22, Raigoza-Martinez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, theft over $10,000, tampering with evidence, and theft over $2,500. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ulises Raigoza-Martinez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, pled guilty to murder, theft, and tampering with evidence after he RAN OVER and KILLED restaurant owner Matt Carney in Nashville, Tennessee.
He should NEVER have been in our country to commit this heinous murder.… https://t.co/eY1qIbvnvJ pic.twitter.com/4VZSZpV9x9
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 25, 2026
Officials said in a statement following the plea deal that Martinez “accepted the plea of 20 years in prison at 100%,” meaning he will serve the full two decades, but his additional time for the other counts will be served concurrently, WKRN Nashville reported.
Raigoza-Martinez reportedly said he illegally entered the United States through Texas in 2021 under the Biden Administration.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer for Raigoza-Martinez and plans to deport him after he serves time in prison, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared in a news release.
“This criminal illegal alien should NEVER have been in our country to commit this heinous murder,” Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “We will work with our state and local partners in Tennessee to ensure that he is handed over to ICE custody once his sentence is complete, so that we can remove him from our country.”
According to WKRN Nashville, the hit-and-run occurred on June 19, 2024, in the parking lot of a popular restaurant Smokin’ Thighs, and led to the death of a “beloved business owner.”
In an interview with detectives, Raigoza-Martinez, a suspect in other vehicle thefts, reportedly admitted that he stopped to steal tools from a pickup truck belonging to 42-year-old Carney.
Martinez told investigators that Carney came out, confronted them, and tried to stop the Nissan Frontier from leaving, WKRN reported.
Raigoza-Martinez took off and Carney ended up on the truck’s hood, DHS officials said.
Carney was then thrown off the hood when Raigoza-Martinez made a turn. Carney sustained serious injuries and died at the hospital two weeks later.
Following the hit-and-run, the Metro Nashville Police Department released surveillance footage of the suspect’s vehicle. Officers located the vehicle — a Nissan Frontier pickup truck, which had been spray painted and had a temporary tag — in the parking lot of a LaQuinta Inn.
WKRN reported that Raigoza-Martinez was an accused auto thief who was believed to have been involved in Carney’s death. Police issued an arrest warrant charging him with the theft of a pickup truck from a Franklin Pike church the same day as the hit-and-run.
MNPD detectives spotted Martinez getting into the backseat of a car outside of a Bell Road motel on July 10, 2024. The driver reportedly sped off when detectives tried to stop the vehicle.
A MNPD helicopter tracked the vehicle as it pulled onto a dead-end gravel road. The vehicle’s three occupants ran into the woods. The driver and another passenger were arrested, but Martinez fled the scene.
On July 18, 2024, following a manhunt for the suspect, police in South Nashville located and arrested Raigoza-Martinez. During an interview at police headquarters, Martinez admitted that he and the passenger arrested after the vehicle pursuit were trying to steal tools from Carney’s pickup truck.
A few months after the hit-and-run, Smokin Thighs posted on social media that it was closing after 10 years of operation following the unexpected loss of the owner.
