COPS: PREP SCHOOL GRAD USES GOLF CLUB TO KILL BROTHER FACES PROBABLE CAUSE HEARING
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
3.9 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
11:16 p.m. Saturday. Princeton police respond to a 911 call about a dead body and a fire in an apartment building. The caller remains cryptic, refusing to answer the dispatcher’s questions about who is dead, why they are dead, or who owns the apartment.
Police and first responders surround the building, but nothing prepares them for what they find inside.
Matthew Hertgen, 31, answers the door. Inside, officers see a bloody, unresponsive young man with blunt force and laceration injuries covering his body. He is pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators note that one of his eyes has been removed. Nearby, they find a bloody plate, fork, and knife. Officers also discover a bloody golf club and what appears to be the charred remains of a cat. The victim is identified as 26-year-old Joseph Hertgen.
Matthew Hertgen is immediately arrested for the murder of his younger brother. The discovery of the bloody plate leads police to believe that, in addition to beating Joseph to death, Hertgen ate his eye. Princeton police have not disclosed a possible motive for the attack. Hertgen is also charged with animal cruelty and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
The Princeton community is stunned. Residents describe Joseph’s death as devastating and tragic. A police source says no one could have foreseen such violence. Matthew Hertgen, they say, came from what appeared to be a stable, all-American family, with no signs he was capable of such brutality—especially against his own brother.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Sam Bassett - Criminal Defense Attorney at Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey, Former President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Educational Institute, Long-Time Faculty member of the Texas Criminal Trial College (Huntsville, TX), MBFC.com, Facebook: MintonBassett, Instagram: @MBFC_Law
- Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski - Forensic Psychologist, Author: “Darksides;" YouTube: "Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, Forensic Psychologist"
- Fil Waters - Former homicide detective for the Houston Police Department, President & CEO of Kindred spirits Investigations & Security, Inc.
- Dr. Jan Gorniak - Former Medical Examiner, Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner (Las Vegas, NV), Board Certified Forensic Pathologist, World Peace Forensic Consulting, LLC
- Karen Wall - Senior Local Editor at Patch Media [covering the Jersey Shore region], Website: patch.com; X: @karenwall1966, Facebook: karen.e.wall,
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:06.3 | In the last days, a star athlete accused and his brother's gruesome murder back in court as prosecutors |
| 0:15.5 | prepare an indictment. |
| 0:18.2 | I'm Nancy Grace. |
| 0:19.1 | This is crime stories. |
| 0:20.2 | Thank you for being with us. |
| 0:22.3 | That's right. A Princeton man known as a star student now accused of murdering his own |
| 0:28.0 | brother and the family cat, he was in court. Prosecutors preparing to take his case to a secret |
| 0:34.9 | grand jury. The victim, 26-year-old Joseph Hurtgan, the family |
| 0:40.2 | superstar, brutally murdered in the family's Princeton apartment with a knife and a golf club. |
| 0:48.3 | A probable cause hearing is set down for the next few weeks, but that may be totally sidestepped if the state gets an |
| 0:58.4 | indictment first. A probable cause hearing is when evidence is brought forth to a magistrate judge. |
| 1:06.3 | The judge decides if there's enough probable cause for the case to be bound over to |
| 1:13.0 | Superior Court or felony court. |
| 1:15.8 | But all that can be easily sidestepped if the state simply takes the case to a grand jury. |
| 1:22.6 | A probable cause hearing is never a good thing for the state. |
| 1:25.7 | Why? |
| 1:26.7 | Because it's a public hearing and the defense |
| 1:29.3 | gets a chance to cross-examine the state's witnesses. That's kind of like a dry run for the trial. |
| 1:36.8 | No, no, no, don't do that. Go to grand jury. That said, what do we believe happen based on police sources and police reports we've |
| 1:47.2 | managed to obtain? Listen. Flashing lights and sirens break the usual silence outside the luxury |
| 1:52.3 | Michelle Mews apartments just off Princeton University campus around 11.15 p.m. Police answer a 911 |
... |
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