BRISTOL, Tenn. — Bristol prosecutors said an Alabama man was found guilty Wednesday in the 2002 killing of Cody Matney after the Bristol man disappeared near West State Street more than two decades ago.
Christopher Havrilla, 52, was indicted in 2025 for the murder of Matney. According to the TBI, Havrilla faced one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of tampering with evidence, one count of abuse of a corpse, and two counts of false reporting. Havrilla was sentenced to life in prison.
A second local account said the TBI described Matney as having been met in the parking lot of a West State Street nightspot by Christopher Havrilla. Matney truck was recovered days later, but there has been no sign of him, though agents believe Havrilla dumped the victim body in a remote area. Investigators said they got a break in the case in 2024 that led to the indictment and noted that other individuals in the Bristol area could have been involved.
The long-open homicide file of a cold case two decades old now ends in Sullivan County court with a first-degree murder conviction and a life term. Both accounts place the disappearance on West State Street, name Havrilla as the defendant convicted of killing Matney, and describe a Bristol disappearance that local agents revisited after a 2024 investigative break.
Remaining questions about unrecovered remains and any other people who may have been involved are for investigators to address as the sentence takes effect. For residents who followed the Matney disappearance since 2002, the life sentence closes the court phase even as the search for remains continues.