Just a few days before New Year’s Eve, Alicia Allitt suddenly received a text message from her ex-boyfriend, decorated U.S. Special Forces officer Matthew Libersberger.
The two had not spoken since 2022, but this time Libersberger asked if he was single. Over the next few days, they exchanged casual text messages, and then Mr. Libersberger began sending photos and videos of the Tesla Cybertruck he said he had rented.
“This sucks,” he wrote on New Year’s Eve morning, according to a message shared with NBC News. “I feel like Batman or Halo.”
“How fast?” she asked.
“It is ungodly,” he answered.
They continued texting into the evening, but Mr. Libersberger gave no indication that he was making any drastic plans.
It wasn’t until FBI agents showed up at Allitt’s home two days later that she learned the painful truth. Libersberger, 37, had attempted to commit suicide with a gun inside his Tesla seconds before it exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Saturday. New Year’s Day.
“They actually asked me if I wanted to see the video of his death,” Alit said in an interview. “It was tough to find out about that.”
Investigators are still working to determine exactly what led to Libersberger’s suicide. He was a sergeant major in the U.S. Army’s elite Special Forces and a resident of Colorado Springs.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, law enforcement officials discovered notes on Libersberger’s cell phone describing the country’s leadership as “weak” and the United States as “terminally ill and heading toward collapse.” announced.
“This was not a terrorist attack,” one of the letters said. “It was a wake-up call.”
Officials said that after consulting with the military, an investigation found that Mr. Libersberger likely suffered from PTSD, and that investigators were investigating potential “family issues and personal issues in his own life.” The company added that it is aware that grievances may have been a contributing factor.
Alit told NBC News before Friday’s press conference that she had no idea what was behind her ex-girlfriend’s death.
“It’s been spinning around in my head for two days now. I don’t understand,” she said. “He was always really brave, so I guess whatever he thought he was doing was probably brave.”
Her text message exchange with Libersberger was first reported by the Denver Gazette.
The two dated on and off for three years starting in 2018. We bonded over our love of the outdoors. They also had military service in common. Allitt was an Army nurse who worked at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
As their relationship continued, it became clear to her that Riversberger was suffering from injuries sustained in the military. Allitt said he had two back surgeries and a brain injury during his time in the paratroopers, which he hid from his superiors.
“We talked about it a little bit, but I think he was embarrassed about it,” she said. “He is ashamed of his memory loss and head injury. He was unable to receive treatment while on active duty. He was worried that if he did, it would affect his career.”
Libersberger also suffered from headaches and had difficulty concentrating, she said.
“He coped very well for a long time when I knew him,” she said. “He had a deep well of inner strength that he drew from, and I can’t believe he’s gone.”
But at one point in their relationship, he didn’t pass the “advanced school” the military sent him to, which “really destroyed him,” Alit said.
“He was a very smart man,” she said. “He was always careful in everything he did. He was always planning and analyzing things.”
She said he did not have particularly strong political views but loved his country.
“He was not a blind patriot,” she said. “He thought about what he believed and thought the government was doing wrong, but he loved his country and he loved the people there. ”
After they separated, Libersberger married a second time. Alit said she still thought highly of him, even though she lost contact with him until the last days of his life.
“He could have accomplished so many great things,” she said. “He had a deep sense of empathy for others. He had enough military experience to be active in the world.”
