The Princeton murder suspect accused of ripping out his younger brother’s eyeball after beating and slashing him to death attempted suicide inside his jail cell Thursday night, a law enforcement source told The Post Friday.
Matthew Hertgen, 31, who wore a suicide vest during a virtual court appearance earlier in the day, attempted to hang himself at the Mercer County Correction Center, where he is being held on murder charges for the heinous killing.
Hertgen allegedly beat and stabbed his 26-year-old brother, Joseph, to death with a golf club and a knife in their family’s luxury apartment on Saturday night.
He is also accused of setting fire to the family cat, tearing out and eating his brother’s eyeball, according to police sources.
If convicted of the heinous fratricide, he faces a 30-year to life sentence.
The twisted rampage, which has stunned those who knew the well-to-do family, occurred months after the accused cannibal killer posted chilling poems on Facebook about blood oozing out of eyes and “knives sharpening.”
Hertgen also took a selfie with a cat toy the day before the brutal slaughter.
The brothers and their eldest sibling were standout athletes who grew up in a $1.1 million house in Toms River before moving to a posh neighborhood in Princeton.
The murder occurred Saturday night at the family home in Michelle Mews apartments, a prime location in the college town with units selling for up to $2 million.
Officers discovered the grisly scene after the alleged murderer called 911 to report a dead body and a fire inside the upscale home on Witherspoon Street.
A bloody knife, fork, and plate were discovered near the victim’s body, according to a source, leading investigators to believe Hertgen consumed the missing organ.
The motivation for the alleged killer’s descent into homicidal madness remains unknown.
Joseph’s funeral will take place Saturday morning at St. Luke Roman Catholic Church in Toms River, according to his obituary.
He will be interred at Saint Gabriel’s Cemetery and Mausoleum in Marlboro.
Hertgen is due back in Mercer County Superior Court on March 6.
