31yo allegedly killed his brother then ‘ate his eye’, police claim

A man allegedly killed his younger brother at their family’s luxury home, in an attack so “gruesome” police were horrified.

A former college soccer star has been accused of ripping out his little brother’s eyeball after beating and slashing him to death in the family’s luxury apartment on Saturday night.

Matthew Hertgen, 31, has been charged with murdering his brother Joseph Hertgen’s in a suspected fratricide after officers found a bloody knife, fork and plate near victim’s body.

Police now believe the athlete, who attended Princeton in New Jersey, ate his brother’s eye, a law enforcement source told The New York Post.

Hertgen also allegedly set the family cat on fire during the incident, sources said — several months after posting a chilling poem to Facebook that included lines about “knives sharpening” and “blood oozing out of his eyes”.

Murder suspect Matthew Hertgen allegedly beat and stabbed his younger brother to death in Princeton, NJ. Picture: NJ Prosecutors office

The apocalyptic verses proved eerily prophetic, as police claim Hertgen used a blade and a golf club to kill 26-year-old Joseph around 11:15pmon Saturday.

Afterwards, Hertgen called the cops to report a body and a fire inside the upscale apartment complex, in a street where units go for up to $2 million USD, or around $3.1 million AUD.

Hertgen’s victim, younger brother Joseph, was a standout high school soccer player who later graduated from Michigan Universtiy. Picture: Instagram / Marcello Borges

When officers arrived, they discovered Joseph’s corpse and quickly suspected his sibling was behind the crime.

They also uncovered the grisly body of the torched cat, sources said.

“It was gruesome,” one police source told the New York Post. “It was way overboard.”

Another high-ranking police officer said the “brutality of the homicide shocked most detectives”.

Joseph, David and Matthew Hertgen in a family photo from happier times. Picture: Matthew Hertgen/Facebook

The ghastly details of Hertgen’s alleged cannibalism are the latest twist in the sorrowful story of an all-American family shattered by unimaginable violence.

“It’s incredibly tragic,” a high-ranking police source said.

“Matthew Hertgen came from what appeared to be a perfect, all-American family. No one could have predicted something like this would happen.”

Authorities have charged also charged Hertgen with a string of other offences alongside the murder charge, and he faces life in prison if convicted.

A cleaning van parked outside the Hertgen family’s Princeton apartment. Picture: Leonardo Munoz

Both brothers were high school soccer stars who played at university level.

After graduating with a business degree, Joseph worked as an analyst at a New Jersey based asset management firm, Locust Point Capital, the company website said.

Meanwhile, his brother was arrested for drunk driving in South Jersey in February 2017 and lost his license for three months.

But other than that, he had not crossed paths with the law before the alleged murder.

The three Hertgen boys — Matthew, Joseph and eldest brother David, Jr. — were born into a privileged life built by their mum, Debra, and their father, wealthy tech executive, David.

For decades, David has worked at WiLine Networks — a high-tech Princeton firm with annual revenue between $25 million to $100 million — where he currently serves as president and chief financial officer, according to his LinkedIn.

Joseph Mahon, the Matthew and Joseph’s former high school soccer coach, said the Hertgens are “good people”. Picture: Leonardo Munoz

“The Hertgens are good people,” Joseph Mahon, 50, who coached both brothers at high school, told The New York Post.

“His mum and dad are great. They treated me very well.

“They were great to me and the boys, anything I would ask for them to do, they would do — on and off the field.”

But despite being born into a life of luxury, Matthew somehow descended into chaos as the years passed — something his warped poetry implied.

The killings came a day after Matthew Hertgen took a selfie with a cat toy. Picture: Facebook/hertgen

“What have you created?/Why have you created it?/Who are you trying to strangle?” his verses read.

“And what God are you serving?/I can see the knives sharpening/I can hear the arrows whizzing/I can feel my heart beating/But can he?”

“Someone sits alone in that room/That room where the walls shake,” the poem continued.

“He still has a pulse/Blood still flows through his veins/But something is wrapped around him/Squeezing him/Choking him/Suffocating him.

“His ears are sparking/His face vibrates/He convulses, and he doesn’t stop/He’s lost/He’s asleep/He’s dead.”

When asked if anything ever seemed off with Hertgen, his old coach said no — he had lots of friends, worked hard and was a good soccer player himself.

“It’s devastating,” Mr Mahon said. “I just can’t wrap my head around it right now”.

Originally published as 31yo allegedly killed his brother then ‘ate his eye’, police claim