Princeton, New Jersey is known as the currently accused high school star student Kill his brother and family cat Legal experts say there was a mental health breakdown that ultimately destroyed his family.
Matthew Hertgen, 31 years old He was accused of murder His 26-year-old brother, Joseph Hartgen, is said to be a knife and a golf club at his family's Princeton apartment. He is also charged with animal cruelty related to the death of a cat.
One friend of Matthew Hertgen of Toms River High School told Fox News Digital that he had “nothing to say” about the former soccer player he studied at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Joseph Hartgen played football on the Toms River before being recruited to the University of Michigan.
“He was a funny and cool kid who played football and did well,” a friend said. “Matt was a cool guy,” he added, and the recent news “doesn't sound like him.”
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Advanced photo of Matthew Hertgen from the 2011 Toms River North High School Yearbook. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital)
Matthew Hertgen will appear in court on February 27th for a detention hearing. (Mercer County)
But that was about 14 years ago when both Matthew and Joseph had their whole life before them. A high school yearbook page shows Matthew Hartgen was voted “best” along with another female classmate.
The photo from the 2011 Toms River North High School Yearbook is named “Best All Around” along with Matthew Hertgen. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital)
More recently, Joseph worked as an analyst at Red Bank's Locust Point Capital at the time of his death. Matthew's professional career remains unknown.
In May and September last year, Matthew shared strange graphic poems and strange abstract artwork on his Facebook profile.
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Advanced photos of Joseph Hertgen from the 2016 Toms River North High School Yearbook. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital)
“These are great individuals. They are intellectually abilities,” Daniel Gotlin, a lawyer in New York, told Hartgen brothers Fox News Digital, but added that Matthew clearly has “mental health issues.”
Gotlin, who is not involved in the case of Hertgen, represents the man accused of successfully trying mental health defenses in 2014 He fatally stabbed his mother. He believes Matthew's public advocates are taking into account the crazy plea of the 31-year-old suspect.
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A general view of the Michelle Muse Housing Complex, located in Princeton, New Jersey, February 26, 2025. Matthew Hartgen is said to have murdered his brother Joseph inside the apartment. (Kevin Downs from Fox News Digital)
“There's no doubt he has a plant disorder,” he said. “I don't know what physical evidence they have for him, [prosecutors] There is a good case, you have to look at psychiatric defense. ”
Gotlin believes that if he were to commit to a mental health facility, “this guy rarely sees the sunlight.”
The Princeton man was accused of killing a former star athlete brother, a golf club cat and a knife near an Ivy League school
Joseph “Joey” Hartgen signs with the University of Michigan as a soccer player. (Tom's River Regional School District)
The defense attorney pointed out the possibility of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia usually appears in men in their late 20s to late 20s.
Hartgen effectively appeared Thursday morning for a remote pretrial detention hearing in Mercer County. His family was not present.
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A photo from the 2011 Toms River North High School Yearbook shows Matthew Hertgen playing football for his school team. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital)
Deputy Defender Jason Maty, prosecutor Tim McCann and Judge Amber Gibbs ultimately decided to reschedule it on March 6th, allowing both prosecutors and the defense to gather information about the discovery or Hertgen case.
Princeton police first responded to a 911 call on February 22 at about 11:16pm. Fire and corpses In the Michelle Muse Apartment complex.
Upon arrival, police determined Matthew Hartgen was the caller of the 911, and at his residence, along with his brother's body, “showed signs of trauma and laceration of blunt force,” the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said in a press release.
Photos from the 2011 Toms River North High School yearbook show Matthew Hartgen with his classmates who said the thing he missed most at school was playing Fiddlestick Lacrosse in gym class. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital)
Police believe Matthew may have teared his brother's eyes and tried to eat it, a law enforcement source said. New York Post.
Authorities have not yet explained any kind of motives related to Hertgen's murder charge.
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Princeton police initially answered a 911 call on February 22 at about 11:16pm, reporting a fire and body at the Michelle Muse Apartment complex. (University of Michigan | Wesleyan University | Google Maps)
Gotlin said it's rare for people from wealthy families to fall into a mental health crisis that ends in death, but it's not unheard of. He mentioned the case of Luigi Mangione, a suspect who was accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk in December.
Mangion graduated from Gilman School, a private all-boy high school in Baltimore in 2016. He received his bachelor's and master's degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
The empty court will be seen as counsels are convened and Judge Gibbs will be seen on February 27, 2025, when he hears the murder of Matthew Hartgen by videoconference at Mercer County Criminal Court in Trenton, New Jersey. (Fox News Digital's Stephanie Keith)
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“It's not common, but the best example of it is Luigi Mangione. He grew up, went to the best school, private school… and he's clearly mentally ill,” Gotlin said. “There's no doubt about that. People get sick. What is mental illness, unfortunately, the healthcare industry hasn't really conquered.”
Joseph Hertgen has been declared dead at the scene, and the results of his autopsy are pending. Local and state officials are investigating the death of the 26-year-old as a murder.
An investigation into Joseph's death is underway.
