UPDATE: Teen arrested in 2007 slaying of detective’s son

Chesterfield County police have made an arrest in the August 2007 shooting death of Ryan Matko, son of a Richmond homicide detective.

A 17-year-old male has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony. Because the suspect is a juvenile, police would not release his name.

He was being held without bond in the Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home awaiting a hearing Thursday in the county's Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

Police said last year that it appeared Matko had been killed during a robbery. But today, Chesterfield police Capt. Robert Skowron was not able to confirm that theory.

He said only that the arrest and murder charge had resulted from an extensive investigation in which the department developed witnesses and forensic evidence.

Matko disappeared Aug. 22, 2007. The next day, his car was found on a dead-end street near Cogbill Road.

When police dogs tracked his scent, they went to an isolated wooded area about 100 yards away, where his body was found with gunshot wounds to the head and back.

Matko's mother, Rose Matko, said his car was parked outside their home when she left that morning to work at her Chester restaurant, the Wild Rose Café. Matko, who was 16 and a student at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, worked at his mother's restaurant as a cook, but that day he didn't show up for his 1 p.m. shift.

He had been interested in studying culinary arts after high school and was interested in a career as a chef, his family and friends said.

His father, Max Matko, is head of the Richmond Police Department's cold-case homicide squad. He and Ryan Matko's mother are divorced. Neither parent was available for comment today.

At the restaurant tonight, patrons said the crowd at the bar got very quiet during a television news report saying a suspect had been arrested in Matko's death. After they heard the report, many people clapped.

"It's excellent news as far as we're concerned," said Pam Tuggle of Prince George County. She said she didn't know Matko but has been coming to the restaurant for a long time and knows his mother.

Menus at the Wild Rose Café feature a small photo of Matko on the cover with the words "R.I.P. Ryan Matko. A life short of nothing but time." A black jersey on the wall is labeled "Matko 15" and printed with the words "Forever a champion" and the dates of his birth and death.

Amanda Moore, 18, who remembered Matko today as one of her best friends, said the arrest "made me feel a lot better about it.

"The person . . . can't harm anyone else and will be punished for taking away a person who meant so much to so many people," she said. "I pray every day for Ryan and his family because it's pretty messed up."

Last summer, on the anniversary of Matko's death, Rose Matko requested a meeting with Chesterfield police for a progress report.

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, she said: "Basically, the way they explained it to us was that they only get one chance to get it right. And they don't want to proceed until everything is exactly where it needs to be."

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or .