A 31-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his brother in their luxury Princeton apartment. Matthew Hertgen, a former college soccer player, allegedly beat and slashed 26-year-old Joseph Hertgen, ripped out his eyeball and ate it, police sources said. He also reportedly set the family's pet cat on fire.
The shocking crime unfolded late Saturday night at the Michelle Mews apartment complex off Witherspoon Street, The NY Post reported.
Officers, responding to a 911 call from Matthew Hertgen, discovered Joseph Hertgen's mutilated body, a bloody knife, fork, and plate - leading authorities to believe that the suspect had consumed part of his brother's remains. They also found the charred remains of the cat.
Authorities arrested him at the scene. They believe he used both a blade and a golf club to kill his brother.
Months before the attack, Matthew Hertgen posted an eerie poem on Facebook, filled with chilling references to knives, suffocation, and blood oozing from the eyes - details that closely mirror the crime scene.
Lines from the poem read:
"I can see the knives sharpening...
Blood oozes out of his eyes...
He convulses, and he doesn't stop...
He's lost... He's asleep... He's dead."
"It was gruesome. Way overboard," one police source said. Another senior officer noted the brutality of the homicide, especially in a community like Princeton, shocked investigators.
"It's incredibly tragic," a police source told The NY Post. "Matthew Hertgen came from what appeared to be a perfect, all-American family. No one could have predicted something like this would happen."
Joseph Hertgen was a former University of Michigan soccer player and an analyst at asset management firm Locust Point Capital. His brother Matthew Hertgen, who played soccer at Wesleyan University, had a prior DUI conviction in 2017 but no other criminal history before this alleged murder.
The Hertgen family, well-regarded in their community, originally lived in a $1.1 million Jersey Shore home before moving to Princeton. Their father, David Hertgen Sr., is a high-ranking executive at WiLine Networks, a tech firm with annual revenues between $25 million and $100 million, reported People magazine.
Authorities have charged Matthew Hertgen with first-degree murder, weapons offences, and animal cruelty. He faces life in prison if convicted. Joseph Hertgen's cause of death is still pending an official autopsy.
