(KTNV) — The ex-girlfriend of Matthew Livelsberger is speaking out on Monday about text messages he sent her just days before he died by suicide in a Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel.
"I didn't recognize the warning signs for what they were," Alicia Arritt said in an interview with ABC News.
Arritt says she noticed the struggles her former boyfriend faced from his years of service in the U.S. Army. And in the wake of his death, she says she feels she failed him as a friend. She tells ABC News Livelsberger texted her out of the blue on Dec. 28.
"He asked if I was single still," Arritt said. "I hadn't spoken to him in two years. I know he got married. He was happy. He had a baby."
Arritt says she and Livelsberger had an on-again, off-again relationship for several years. During their time together, she tells ABC News Livelsberger opened up to her about his struggles with trauma and depression from his time in the military.
Livelsberger, 37, was a highly decorated member of the Army's special forces, known as the Green Berets. He was a five-time Bronze Star recipient and had deployed nine times throughout his career, including five deployments to Afghanistan.
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"He wasn't that depressed in 2018," Arritt said. "He was in a lot of pain, and he talked about being exhausted from all his deployments, but the severe depression started in 2019."
In her recent text exchange with Livelsberger, Arritt says he seemed upbeat. On Dec. 29, he sent her pictures of the Tesla Cybertruck he rented, joking that he felt like Batman and saying the truck reminded him of shoes he had as a kid.
Arritt didn't hear about the Cybertruck explosion and what happened in Las Vegas on New Year's Day until the FBI showed up at her door.
"They said that Matt was dead," she said. "At the time, we didn't know that he had shot himself. So they started to show me a video of him in the Cybertruck and I thought he was burning alive. My whole heart broke for him that he was so broken that he got to that place."
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While Arritt can't speak to Livelsberger's state of mind in recent years, she does want people to know this about him:
"Throughout his life, the most important thing for him was being there for his teammates, and he gave everything he had to them in the Army. He loved the Army."
Throughout her time with Livelsberger, Arritt — a nurse who also served in the military — says he suffered through a lot of pain from injuries he sustained in the Army.
Looking back, she says she did see signs of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. She tried to get him to seek help in their time together, but he was concerned if he sought help he would be marked "non-deployable" and couldn't be there for his fellow special forces officers.
An Army spokesperson stated Livelsberger did seek mental health assistance through the military and "did not display any concerning behaviors" when he was granted leave before the bombing.
