By Luann Waldo | Special to the Times Vedette
A local family is finding some resolution to their grief in the loss of their son, brother and grandson following the conviction and sentencing of an illegal immigrant in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 22.
Matthew Allen Carney, 42, known by his friends as Matt, died from injuries sustained while trying to stop Ulises Martinez, 31, from stealing tools and items from his vehicle located in the parking lot of his restaurant business, Smokin’ Thighs, in Wedgewood, Tennessee, on June 19, 2024.
Martinez entered a guilty plea to one count of second degree murder, one count of theft over $2,500, one count of theft over $10,000 and one count of tampering with evidence. Additional charges were dismissed in a plea agreement.
He was ordered to serve 20 years in prison. Following his release, it is anticipated he will be returned to his home country of Mexico. More than 50 of Carney’s relatives and friends were in the courtroom to witness the guilty plea.
Martinez and another illegal immigrant (Adrian Diaz-Aguirre, 26) arrived at the restaurant in a stolen vehicle. Carney caught them in the act of stealing items from the back of his vehicle. The two climbed into the stolen vehicle and attempted to leave, but Carney was in front of them. Martinez allegedly accelerated the vehicle, causing Carney to be slid onto the hood. As the vehicle sped away, Carney was ejected, falling onto the street.
Carney suffered a serious brain injury along with broken ribs and chest injuries. He fought for life for 15 days in the intensive care unit of Vanderbilt University Medical Center but succumbed on July 4, 2024.
Martinez was on the run after the incident. He was arrested on July 18, 2024.
Matt’s brother, Adam Carney told The Tennessean that two things have made his brother’s death especially difficult: Martinez’ immigration status and his previous charges. Records show three criminal charges against Martinez in Nashville were dismissed in March of 2024. He was accused of vehicular burglary and two counts of theft.
His loved ones are serving a “lifetime sentence of grief,” Adam Carney said. He stressed that people who loved Carney, relied on him for their livelihoods or found his restaurant a place to call home will all feel his loss much longer.
Without Matt Carney to run the business, the restaurant closed in October of 2024 after 10 years in Wedgewood-Houston.
“Places like this do not just exist everywhere and in every neighborhood,” Landon Allen said in The Tennesean. Allen, who managed Smokin’ Thighs, commented, “When he was taken from us, it all died with him.”
“When you lose somebody that you love and care about, I don’t know that there’s any sentence that’s going to feel like justice to you,” Allen stated to WKRN.com. “The way that he cared about the people that he loved was unwavering, unfaltering and always there.”
Allen and Carney shared what type of man Matthew Carney was: a hard-working Iowa farm boy with a big, cackling laugh who seemed to know how to fix anything, always kept those he loved safe and secure, loved to cook and was always ready to go to the lake.
Carney is survived by his wife, Molly; father, Clifford (Lori) Carney of Adair; mother, Debra Taylor; brother, Adam (Amy) Carney; sister, Katelin (Chad) Jeffers; grandmother, Patricia Carney of Adair; other relatives and many friends.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security weighed into the conviction, issuing this statement on July 24, 2026. “This criminal illegal alien pleaded guilty to murder, theft, and tampering with evidence after he ran over and killed Matt Carney in Nashville, Tennessee,” Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “This criminal illegal alien should NEVER have been in our country to commit this heinous murder. 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.”
Martinez claims to have illegally entered the United States through Texas in 2021.
Information for this report was gleaned from The Nashville Tennessean, Evan Malins, July 22, 2026; dailywire.com, Leif Le Mahieu, July 23, 2026; WKRN.com, Katelyn Quisenberry, July 23, 2026, and foxnews.com, Brittany Miller, July 24, 2026.