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Neighbors, acquaintances of Matthew Livelsberger offer range of reactions after Cybertruck explosion

By Glenn Wallace January 2, 2025 | updated 7 months ago

A close friend of Matthew Livelsberger’s ex-wife said she was stunned when she woke up to the news Thursday morning that the career Army man she knew as “bizarre and unhealthy” was apparently the person involved in the Las Vegas explosion at a Trump hotel.

Stacie Wilssens, of Manitou Springs, knew Livelsberger through his former wife, Sara Livelsberger. The women hit it off as friends around 2012 after the Livelsbergers moved to Colorado Springs for Matthew Livelsberger’s job with the military. The couple divorced in 2018.

FBI descends on Colorado Springs home as Las Vegas Cybertruck investigation continues

Wilssens said that Sara Livelsberger was often alone when her husband was deployed overseas, which left her struggling and depressed. Wilssens said she mostly hung out with Sara when her husband was not around because Wilssens disliked being around him.

“She was trying to get healthy and he would mock her,” said Wilssens. “He preyed on her.”

Wilssens added that the two were “polar opposites.” 

Wilssens said that she and Sara were staunch Bernie Sanders supporters during the 2016 election, and Matthew Livelsberger, whom she described as a conservative thinker, supported Donald Trump, which she believes was a major ideology disconnect.

Wilssens said that she hasn’t spoken with Matthew Livelsberger for years. Sara, she said, left Colorado after their divorce, has since remarried, and is healthy.

Documents obtained by The Gazette indicate that Sara Livelsberger started divorce proceedings in July 2017 and the couple’s split was final almost exactly a year later. “Nothing ever felt stable or steady between the two of them,” Wilssens said.

One neighbor in the northeast Colorado Springs neighborhood who asked not to be identified described Matthew Livelsberger as “quiet but polite.”

WATCH: Interview with neighbor of Cybertruck explosion suspect Matthew Livelsberger

Another neighbor, Cindy Helwig, said she’s known Matthew Livelsberger and his current wife, who just recently had a baby, for two years, said she was shocked to learn the bombing suspect was her neighbor.

“He seemed like a normal guy,” she said after talking to other neighbors Thursday morning. “His wife is awesome, too. I never expected anything like that. I would never have thought it would have been him.”

Helwig describes the neighborhood as usually very quiet and peaceful.

“This is a good neighborhood; you never have issues,” she said. “I’m a little worried now. I hope things get better.”

Keni Mac and her fiancé, why live directly behind Matthew’s home, said they were in shock after seeing all the police activity happening overnight and into the morning.

She said she would see Matthew, his wife, and their newborn at HOA meetings.

“Just to know if it was that family if it is is really heartbreaking,” she said. “They seem like good people. They’re a normal young couple with a family. They always have their windows open, they’re in and out with their dog. Doesn’t seem lie they’re hiding anything.”

Gazette reporter Carol McKinley contributed to this report.

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What Matthew Livelsberger texted ex days before Cybertruck explosion at Trump hotel in Las Vegas

Alicia Arritt had no inkling that her ex-boyfriend was planning to blow up one of the swankiest hotels on the Las Vegas strip.  In the days before the explosion and apparent suicide, Matthew Livelsberger’s texts to her were playful, almost like a kid with a new toy.  “I rented a Tesla Cybertruck. It’s the s***,” […]