Matthew Livelsberger's Widow Breaks Silence, Refutes 'Misinformation About My Family'

The widow of Matthew Livelsberger — the Colorado Springs Green Beret who died by suicide in a rented Tesla Cybertruck seconds before the vehicle exploded on New Year’s Day in Las Vegas — has broken her silence to refute what she believes are false and slanderous narratives about her late husband and their family.

In an interview with "Speak the Truth" podcast host Matt Tardio, Jennifer Davis recounted the days leading up to Livelsberger’s highly-publicized suicide, including what she called a “fabulous” Christmas, how she learned the devastating news about her husband and how she has been coping since.

“I wanted to ensure that I gave her a voice,” Tardio, based in the Dallas area, told The Gazette on Tuesday.

“Matt did 19 years in the Army, with multiple deployments, and he did that for his country. Regardless of how this investigation turns out in the end, he served honorably, to my knowledge. I think it is important that her side of the story be told.”

Tardio, a retired Green Beret who mentioned that he briefly served with Livelsberger, said Davis reached out to him through a “mutual contact,” and that he confirmed her identity through several avenues before releasing the interview on his YouTube channel.

“There’s a lot of slanderous information that is out there that, in my opinion, is based on false information,” he said. “I do believe her statements to be true.”

Davis, who has declined to speak with local and national media, said she decided to speak out for the sake of the 7-month-old daughter she shared with Livelsberger.

“There has been so much misinformation out there about my family,” Davis told Tardio.

The couple, who married in July 2022, had a home in Colorado Springs and another home in Germany, where Livelsberger was stationed, Davis said.

“It worked best for our family to make sure that I also had a home to go to where I had my support system,” she said.

Livelsberger, a member of Fort Carson’s 10th Special Forces group, came to Colorado Springs after being granted two weeks’ leave. Livelsberger had spent the majority of his 19-year military career at Fort Carson and on assignment in Germany, according to new information from the U.S. Army and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

“He was super excited to be home,” Davis said. “He couldn’t stop talking about it. He was so excited to see how big his daughter had gotten. This is the shock factor for me; there was no indication of any of this.”

Wanting to pack as many activities as possible into his two-week leave period, Livelsberger booked an Airbnb rental in Breckenridge for the family, Davis said. While there, he planned to meet with a Navy SEAL he knew, to pick up some drones to take back to Germany.

On the morning of Dec. 26, after Livelsberger made Davis breakfast in bed, the family had planned to go on a hike, but Livelsberger begged off due to a stomachache, Davis said.

“We discussed going to Breckenridge after that,” she said.

That was the last time she saw her husband.

“While I was gone, he rented a car, and decided to leave,” she said. “He decided to head to Breckenridge by himself.

“I gotta be honest: I felt totally abandoned and upset. I will say now that I understand why, based on his surveillance log. It’s obvious that he left to protect us.”

Excerpts from a journal retrieved from Livelsberger’s phone suggest that he believed he was being followed.

On Dec. 30, Livelsberger sent Davis an email saying that he needed to change the passwords on their shared online accounts “to prevent me from finding him, because he believed that I would have tried,” she said.

Vacillating between worry for her husband’s safety and anger at his impulsive actions, Davis had no idea about the Jan. 1 explosion in the valet area in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas until she received a phone call from Livelsberger’s father.

“He was getting calls from reporters,” she told Tardio. “He asked, ‘Do you know where Matt is?’ And I let him know (that I didn’t).

“Part of me was like, ‘There’s no way this could be my husband.’”

At about 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day, Davis received a phone call from the FBI, requesting to meet with her in person. Even as she packed up her daughter and dog, she was “in a space of denial,” she said.

When investigators asked Davis to identify some of Livelsberger’s tattoos, and requested a DNA sample from their daughter for comparison, the terrible reality began to sink in.

“The entire time, I was still hoping that, as soon as I walked into the station, my husband was going to be there,” Davis said, her voice breaking. “And that wasn’t the case.”

Since learning of her husband’s death, Davis has been in “Mama Bear mode,” wrapping herself and her daughter in a private, protective cocoon, as she struggles to make sense of what happened, she said. She only decided to break her silence after hearing multiple reports that she had thrown Livelsberger out of their home before his suicide.

“There was speculation that I kicked him out of the house,” Davis said. “That was definitely not true.”

Davis points to various journal entries as evidence that Livelsberger believed he was acting in the best interest of his family.

“I think that Matt was protecting us until the very end,” she told Tardio. “He thought that he was being followed. He clearly thought about us until the very end. I think that’s why he stopped communicating with us.”

Toward the end of the interview, Davis read part of a journal entry in which Livelsberger, 37, advocates for his family’s well-being.

“I have a wonderful wife and 7-month-old baby girl,” she read.

“All I ever wanted to do is have a family. My wife and daughter are the most incredible humans on this earth. Please physically protect my family, mostly because they are going to get caught up in all of this.”

Davis concluded by saying she wants the public to know about Livelsberger’s dedication to his country, and his love for his family.

“I just want to make sure that people understand who my husband was. None of this makes sense. I hope at some point we will receive answers.”

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