PRINCETON, NJ — The preppy soccer star brothers at the center of a shocking fratricide case in an upscale New Jersey apartment were both described by their former coach as “great kids” from a “top-notch family” — as questions swirl about how such an unthinkable murder could have happened in an all-American household.
Matt and Joe Hertgen were by all accounts born into a charmed life — blessed with good looks, a wealthy tech exec father and enviable athletic abilities. But an unexplained darkness crept into Matt’s life that culminated in him brutally stabbing and bashing his younger brother to death — then setting the family cat on fire, according to law enforcement.
“It’s incredibly tragic. Matthew Hertgen came from what appeared to be a perfect, all-American family. No one could have predicted that something like this would happen. To have it end in such violence is shocking, and the loss of his brother Joseph is devastating,” a high-ranking police source said.
“The Hertgens are good people,” Joseph Mahon, 50, who coached both brothers at Toms River North High School, told The Post.
“His mom 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.”
He said the accused killer was, “Very intelligent, great grades … Very talented.”
Mahon said he heard of the horrific murder when a friend called him.
“It’s devastating,” he said, noting that both he and former teammates of Joe — or “Joey” to those who knew him — are “gutted” by his sudden death. “I just can’t wrap my head around it right now.”
Mahon spoke glowingly of Joe’s abilities as a student athlete. The 26-year-old went from Toms River to the University of Michigan soccer team.
“He was our best player. He was our guy. He was a leader. He did it in the classroom and on the field. He made Toms River North a better place to be,” Mahon recalled.
“For me to come to work and see him walking down the hallways, he always had a smile on his face, and I think anyone who you talk to will say that.”
Matt and Joe — as well as their eldest brother, David Jr., — were standout athletes who grew up in a $1.1 million home in the shore town before the family uprooted and moved to tony Princeton.
The murder occurred at the family home in Michelle Mews apartments — a prime location in the college town, where units can run $2 million.
David Jr., 34, the eldest brother, was a minor league golfer who graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a BA in finance. Middle brother Matt, who is facing life in prison if convicted of murder charges, played soccer at elite Wesleyan University — where tuition runs nearly $70,000 per year.
But Joey, 26, who cops say was brutally murdered inside the family’s high-end apartment Saturday, outshined them all, racking up distinguished soccer awards starting in high school and continuing his excellence both in the classroom and on the field at Michigan, where he was a three-time Academic all-Big Ten before graduating in 2020.
“The news and circumstances surrounding the death of Joey Hertgen is unspeakably sad and tragic. We mourn the passing of one of our own — a beloved former student athlete and friend to many — and express our deepest condolences and sympathies to everyone who knew and loved Joey,” a Toms River Regional Schools spokesman told The Post in a statement.
The brothers were raised by their parents Debra Hertgen and their father, David, who has spent decades working at WiLine Networks — a high-tech firm based in Princeton with an estimated annual revenue of $25 million to $100 million — and currently serves as its President and Chief Financial Officer, according to his LinkedIn.
But the boys’ once-bright future is now in tatters, with Matt sitting in a Mercer County jail cell and cops saying he used a knife and golf club to slash and beat his little brother to death — even setting the family cat ablaze in the alleged attack — and his motive for the grisly alleged crime still uncertain.
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“It was gruesome. It was way overboard, he even killed the cat, setting him on fire,” a law enforcement source at the scene.
Matt, whose college athlete portraits show a clean-cut, smiling young man, appears in police mugshots sporting a scraggly beard and a vacant expression after the alleged murder, which took place at the pricey Michelle Mews apartment building in Princeton, where units can fetch upwards of $2 million.
Asked if anything ever seemed “off” about Matt, Mahon said no, and that he had “a lot of friends” in high school, calling the accused brother killer “a hard worker” and “a very, very good player himself.”
Joe graduated with a bachelor’s in finance and accounting from Michigan University’s Stephen M. Ross business school, then worked as an analyst with Red Bank, NJ-based asset management firm Locust Point Capital, the company website said.
Aside from a few traffic tickets and a February 2017 drunk driving arrest, his brother Matt mostly kept his nose clean.
Authorities have charged Matt with first-degree murder, weapons offenses and animal cruelty.
If convicted, he faces up to 30 years to life in prison.
Prosecutors said Joey’s official cause of death will be determined pending the results of an autopsy.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy.
