GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — It came as an absolute shock to Matt Krueger’s ex-girlfriend when FOX 17 told her what he’s accused of doing. She says she spoke with him just last week and never sensed anything unusual until all contact abruptly stopped.
“I’m shocked, like I said it gave me goose bumps you saying that because that’s the first thing that came to my mind was that i was worried, this can’t be something good,” she said.
With local charges stacked against him and federal charges sure to follow, Krueger’s ex girlfriend, who doesn’t want to be identified said she never imagined he was capable of causing fear nationwide of a possible terrorist attack.
“Blown away,” she said. “He’s very genuine, very polite.”
What appears to be Krueger’s Facebook page is filled with photos of friends and the now charred old Texaco gas station in Oceana County.
Krueger and his ex met a few years ago through an online dating site.
“He absolutely loved his job and his family,” she said. “He was very determined to succeed in his job as a conductor,” she said.
She says he was a train conductor for Metra, which is a commuter rail system in Northeast Illinois and though their relationship initially only lasted 6 months, they had recently started talking again.
“Even when I talked to him last week he was the same, hey this is my new number, I’ve moved to Michigan,” she said. “He didn’t tell me what he was doing there but he was sending me snap chats and saying hey.”
She says everything seemed normal until all communication suddenly stopped.
“I’m telling you, when he stopped responding to me last week, that’s a red flag for me because that’s not his personality, he would be always someone who would respond, he’d be very friendly,” she said.
Imagining what would cause him to allegedly burn a building down, call in a bomb threat and storm Coast Guard Station Grand Haven — she knows something must have gone terribly wrong.
“That does not seem like the person I know,” she said.
She says she doesn’t believe he has any connection to the military or the Coast Guard, leaving the motive for all of this still a mystery.
Krueger was arraigned Monday and will be back in Ottawa County Court Feb. 17.
