Authorities said Matthew Hertgen brutally beat and slashed his 26-year-old brother, Joseph.

A 31-year-old man has been charged with murdering his brother in February 2025 at their luxury Princeton apartment in the Michelle Mews apartment complex off Witherspoon Street. Police said that Matthew Hertgen, a former college soccer player, allegedly beat and slashed 26-year-old Joseph Hertgen, ripped out his eyeball and then ate it. He also reportedly set the family’s cat on fire.

Afterward, Hertgen called the police to report a body and a fire inside the upscale complex, where units go for up to $2 million. Police discovered the brother’s mutilated body together with 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 Hertgen at the scene. They believe he used both a blade and a golf club to kill his brother. His case will be heard on March 6 in Mercer County Superior Court.

The day before the killing, Hertgen posted a selfie with a cat toy.

Months before the attack, Matthew Hertgen had posted a poem on Facebook filled with references to knives, suffocation, and blood oozing from eyes – details that were mirrored in the crime scene.

“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.”

Joseph Hertgen was a former University of Michigan soccer player and an analyst at asset management firm Locust Point Capital. His brother Matthew, 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 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.

Authorities have charged Matthew Hertgen with first-degree murder, weapons offences, and animal cruelty. He faces life in prison if convicted.

One police officer observed,

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

It seems that, while New Jersey like most states has no laws against cannibalism, they do strongly disapprove of murder and animal cruelty, particularly when done by or to the rich.