The Princeton, New Jersey, male known as a celeb trainee in senior highschool that’s at the moment charged of eliminating his sibling and a members of the family pet cat almost certainly had a psychological wellness break down that inevitably broken his members of the family, in line with a lawful skilled.
Matthew Hertgen, 31, is charged of killing his 26-year-old sibling, Joseph Hertgen, within the members of the family’s Princeton home, purportedly with a blade and golf membership. He is likewise billed with pet viciousness pertaining to the fatality of a pet cat.
One of Matthew Hertgen’s friends from Toms River High School knowledgeable Fox News Digital that he has “nothing bad to say” relating to the earlier soccer gamer, that befell to look at at Wesleyan University inConnecticut Joseph Hertgen likewise performed soccer at Toms River previous to he was employed to the University of Michigan.
“He was just a cool kid who played soccer, got good grades, funny,” the pal said, together with that “Matt was a cool guy” and the present info “just doesn’t sound like him.”
PRINCETON PREPPY CHARGED IN BRO’S TERRIBLE MURDER HEADS TO COURT: WHAT TO KNOW
Matthew Hertgen’s aged picture within the 2011 Toms River North High School yearbook. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Matthew Hertgen reveals up in court docket for a terror listening to onFeb 27. (Mercer County)
But that needed to do with 14 years earlier, when each Matthew and Joseph had their whole lives prematurely of them. One senior highschool yearbook net web page reveals that Matthew Hertgen, along with another girls schoolmate, have been elected “Best All Around.”
An picture from the 2011 Toms River North High School yearbook applications Matthew Hertgen with a classmate the place they have been each known as “Best All Around.” (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
More recently, Joseph was functioning as an professional at Locust Point Capital in Red Bank on the time of his fatality. Matthew’s specialist job stays obscure.
In May and September of in 2014, Matthew shared some troubling visuals verse together with uncommon summary artwork work on his Facebook account.
PRINCETON GUY SHARED SPOOKY RHYMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITE BEFORE PRESUMABLY ELIMINATING PREVIOUS CELEBRITY PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE BRO, FELINE
Joseph Hertgen’s aged picture within the 2016 Toms River North High School yearbook. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
“These are brilliant individuals. The intellectual ability is there,” lawyer Daniel Gotlin of Gotlin & & Jaffe in New York knowledgeable Fox News Digital of the Hertgen siblings, but he included that Matthew “obviously” had some “mental health issues.”
Gotlin, that’s not related to the Hertgen scenario, effectively tried a psychological wellness safety in 2014 whereas standing for a male charged of fatally stabbing his mother. He thinks Matthew’s public protectors will definitely consider a insanity enchantment for the 31-year-old suspect, which will surely assure that he’s maintained within the guardianship of a psychological wellness heart versus jail up till and if he’s discovered to not be a hazard to tradition.
SUBSCRIBE TO OBTAIN REAL CRIMINAL OFFENSE E-NEWSLETTER
General sight of the Michelle Mews actual property facility in Princeton, N.J., onFeb 26, 2025. Matthew Hertgen is affirmed to have really killed his sibling, Joseph, inside their home. (Kevin Downs for Fox News Digital)
“There’s absolutely no doubt he’s got a phychiatric disorder,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of physical evidence they have on him, but if [prosecutors] have got a good case, you’ve got to look at a psychiatric defense.”
Gotlin thinks it’s “very unlikely this guy would see the light of day” if he have been to be devoted to a psychological wellness heart.
PRINCETON GUY CHARGEDS OF MURDER PREVIOUS CELEBRITY PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE BRO, FELINE WITH GOLF CLUB, BLADE NEAR IVY ORGANIZATION INSTITUTION
Joseph “Joey” Hertgen indications with the University of Michigan as a soccer gamer. (Toms River Regional School District)
The protection lawyer saved in thoughts the chance of schizophrenia, which normally reveals up in males after they stay of their late youngsters and really early 20s with their late 20s.
Hertgen confirmed up principally for a distant pretrial apprehension listening to in Mercer County on Thursday early morning. His members of the family was not current.
BETTER HALF OF MURDERED MINNESOTA PRIEST CHARGED IN ALLEGED STORY TO KILL SPOUSE ON GOAL JOURNEY: CHURCH
An picture from the 2011 Toms River North High School yearbook applications Matthew Hertgen taking part in soccer for the establishment group. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Assistant deputy public protector Jason Matey, aide district legal professional Tim McCann and Judge Amber Gibbs inevitably decided to reschedule for March 6 to allow each district attorneys and the safety much more time to gather exploration, or particulars relating to Hertgen’s scenario.
Princeton cops at first replied to a 911 contactFeb 22 round 11:16 p.m. protection a hearth and a stays on the Michelle Mews Apartments facility.
Upon arrival, cops positioned Matthew Hertgen, that was discovered to be the 911 buyer, within the house collectively together with his sibling’s physique, which “exhibited signs of blunt force trauma and lacerations,” the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a information launch.
An picture from the 2011 Toms River North High School yearbook applications Matthew Hertgen with schoolmates the place they said issues they will surely miss out on most round establishment was taking part in fiddlestick lacrosse in bodily schooling. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Police assume Matthew might need eliminated his sibling’s eye and tried to eat it, a police useful resource knowledgeable the New York Post.
Authorities have but to outline any form of form of intention pertaining to Hertgen’s homicide charges.
BRAND-NEW ORLEANS ‘BOURBON STREET HUSTLER’ SUSPICIOUS IN DINNER DISH PRESS REPORTER’S FATALITY MIGHT BE TIED TO 2ND DEATH: AUTHORITIES
Princeton cops at first replied to a 911 contactFeb 22 at round 11:16 p.m. reporting a hearth and a stays on the Michelle Mews Apartments facility. (University of Michigan|Wesleyan University|Google Maps)
Gotlin said that whereas it’s uncommon for people from upscale members of the family to come back down proper right into a psychological wellness dilemma that finishes in fatality, it isn’t unusual. He said the scenario of Luigi Mangione, the suspicious charged of eliminating UnitedHe althcare chief government officer Brian Thompson in December on a walkway in Manhattan.
Mangione completed valedictorian from the Gilman School, a private all-boys senior highschool in Baltimore, in 2016. He befell to acquire his bachelor’s and grasp’s ranges in laptop know-how from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
An vacant court docket home is seen as authorized representatives assemble and Judge Gibbs instructions the Matthew Hertgen homicide listening to by video clip assembly on the Mercer County Criminal Court onFeb 27, 2025, in Trenton, N.J. (Stephanie Keith for Fox News Digital)
GO HERE TO OBTAIN THE INFORMATION APPLICATION
“It’s not common, but the best example of it is Luigi Mangione. He grew up, went to the best schools, private schools … and he’s obviously mentally ill,” Gotlin said. “There’s no question about it. People get sick. Mental illness is something, unfortunately, the medical industry hasn’t really conquered.”
Joseph Hertgen was noticable lifeless on the scene, and his postmortem examination outcomes are pending. Local and state authorities are testing the 26-year-old’s fatality as a homicide.
An examination proper into Joseph’s fatality is recurring.
