Suspect in 2002 Bristol cold case indicted on additional charges

An Alabama man arrested in March in connection to a 23-year-old cold case from Bristol, Tennessee is now facing additional charges.

Christopher James Havrilla, 52, was arraigned on the superseding indictments in Blountville court for the first degree murder of Cody Scott Matney, 24, who was last seen in April 2002 at a West Main Street bar.

The TBI said those additional charges include especially aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and two counts of false reporting.

The initial investigation showed Matney made eight phone calls on a calling card before he was spotted talking to another person in the bar’s parking lot while inside his truck. That truck was found five days later in that parking lot with Matney’s checkbook sitting on the dash.

Virginia State Police said Matney may have left the bar with an acquaintance bound for Buchanan County. Havrilla is being held on a $1 million bond.

(IMAGE: SCSO TN)