Washington (AP) A previous lover who had been an Army nurse told the highly decorated Special Forces man who died by suicide in a Cybertruck explosion on New Year’s Day that he experienced severe pain and fatigue, which she claims are important signs of traumatic brain injury.
The green beret The 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger received five Bronze Stars, including one for courage under fire with a V gadget. In addition to having a newborn last year, he had an impeccable military record that stretched around the world. However, he suffered from the psychological and physical effects of his service, which forced him to kill and resulted in his seeing other troops die.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal information not yet made public said Livelsberger recently sought therapy for depression from the Army, although he primarily carried that burden in private.
He started seeing the former nurse in 2018 and found a confidante in her.
Livelsberger and 39-year-old Alicia Arritt met on a dating app while they were both in Colorado Springs. Many of the worst combat injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan were first treated at the largest U.S. military medical center in Europe, Landstul Regional Medical Center in Germany, where Arritt had served before being sent to the United States.
There, she observed and treated soldiers who had been hit by roadside bombs and incoming fire and had traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs. These injuries are serious yet difficult to detect, and their effects may not show up for years.
I witnessed numerous serious injuries. However, Arritt noted that personality changes could occur later.
Livelsberger partially revealed his situation to Arritt through the texts and pictures he sent him.
“Just a few concussions,” he wrote in a text message on a deployment to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. In order to commemorate the lives he took in Afghanistan, he got a graphic tattoo of two skulls punctured by bullets on his arm, which he shared with her. He spoke of agony and fatigue, sleep deprivation, and reliving the violence of his deployment.
According to text messages she gave the AP, he informed Arritt early on in their relationship, “My life has been a personal hell for the last year.” Seeing someone so kind emerge is refreshing.
The way Livelsberger killed himself was deliberate, intended as a wake-up call as well as to free himself of the issues he was dealing with from losing fellow troops and killing lives, according to extracts of texts he left behind that were made public by Las Vegas law enforcement officials on Friday.
At the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Las Vegas on Thursday, January 2, 2025, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill provides an update to the media on the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded at the Trump International Hotel. (Las Vegas Review-Journal/K.M. Cannon via AP)AP
The topic of whether Livelsberger’s killing in front of the Trump Hotel using a truck made by Elon Musk’s Tesla company was an act of political violence has been raised.
Arritt stated that she and Livelsberger were both Tesla aficionados, and officials stated on Friday that Livelsberger seemed to have no animosity toward President-elect Donald Trump.
In 2019, I also saved a Tesla from a junkyard, and we used to work on it together and form bonds over it, Arritt added.
After splitting up in 2021, the two stopped communicating on a regular basis, and she hadn’t heard from him in over two years when he unexpectedly texted her on December 28 and again on December 31. A video of him operating the Cybertruck and another of its dancing headlights were included in the positive messages; the car can synchronize its music and lighting.
However, she added that Livelsberger had a profound emotional connection and that I could see him use the vehicle and hotel as symbols.
Arritt maintained he wasn’t impulsive. I suspect that he was considering his options because I don’t see him acting rashly.
After being on active duty from 2003 to 2007, Arritt spent 2011 in the Army Reserve. She observed TBI symptoms in Livelsberger as early as 2018.
According to Arritt, he suffered from melancholy, memory loss, and spells of retreat.
I’m not sure what motivated him to do this, but I believe the military failed to provide him with assistance when he needed it.
She observed, however, that Livelsberger was also kind and gentle: He simply had a lot of integrity and a really deep pool of inner strength and character.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh informed reporters on Friday that the Pentagon has given local law enforcement access to all of Livelsberger’s medical information and urged soldiers who are experiencing mental health issues to get help from one of the military’s support systems.
According to Singh, you can seek resources both on and off base if you need assistance, feel that you need to seek mental health care of any kind, or simply want to chat to someone.
Arritt encouraged Livelsberger to get assistance while he was having difficulties when they were dating. However, he refused, claiming that if he was determined to be medically unfit, it might prevent him from deploying.
According to her, there was a lot of stigma in his unit because the Special Forces members were huge, muscular, and there was no room for weakness. They also believed that mental health was a weakness.
CNN was the first to disclose that Livelsberger was seeking treatment for depression.
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