The surviving brother of a former college soccer player accused of murder reportedly sent their youngest brother a warning text message around an hour before he was killed, according to a probable-cause affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital and NBC News.
Matthew Hertgen, who played soccer at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, has been charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses following the death of younger brother Joseph Hertgen.
Matthew, 31, is accused of using a knife and golf club to attack Joseph, 26, before ripping out his younger brother’s eye in a Princeton, New Jersey, apartment on Feb. 22, the the probable-cause affidavit. He has also been charged with animal cruelty as he is believed to have been involved in setting the family’s cat on fire, Fox News Digital and the New York Post reported.
Joseph received a text message from the pair’s other brother about an hour before he was killed, advising him to reach out if he needed any help with their troubled sibling, according to the aforementioned probable-cause statement.
The surviving brother said Joseph replied “will do” and thanked him, having also informed Joseph that Matthew was struggling with “visions.” He then texted Matthew inviting him to go on a hike the following day and told him to “hang in there,” but received no reply, the document states.
Matthew Hertgen at his detention hearing in Mercer County State Superior Court on March 6, 2025.
Thomas P. Costello / Asbury Park Press / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
On Feb. 22, Matthew claimed that Joseph had been deceased for around 30 to 40 minutes when he called 911, telling them there was a fire and a dead body at a Princeton residence, per the probable-cause statement.
When dispatchers arrived, they found Joseph dead “on the dining room floor with a large pool of blood around his head and torso,” having seemingly sustained blunt force trauma to his head and a laceration to his chest and abdomen.
His “right eye was not visible,” while blood-soaked eating utensils and a plate were on the dining table, according to the documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Matthew Hertgen.
Wesleyan.edu
Matthew allegedly told officers that he had gone “into a fit of madness,” as he was placed in handcuffs, the filing shows.
The surviving brother had spent several hours with Matthew prior to the killing and described him as being “extremely distressed, despondent and experiencing terrifying visions,” NBC News reported.
He told authorities that Matthew had suffered from “severe mental illness” for five years.
Matthew has consented to remaining detained ahead of his next court appearance on March 24, per the latter outlet.
