The man allegedly responsible for the deaths of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau will stay behind bars for now.
Sean M. Higgins faced a New Jersey judge at a virtual hearing on Thursday, September 5. According to TMZ, the judge was expected to rule on 43-year-old Higgins’ “pretrial conditions” but the hearing was postponed until Friday, September 13. He will remain in jail until then.
Higgins was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide on August 29. The brothers were riding bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey when they were struck “from the rear” by a car and killed. Higgins was suspected to be drunk at the time of the incident.
The New Jersey State Police told Us Weekly that Higgins had been driving between two other vehicles when he “attempted to pass the slower-moving sedan and SUV” and “entered the southbound lanes of travel.” Once he passed the “the slower-moving sedan,” Higgins allegedly “attempted to re-enter the northbound lanes of travel when the SUV in front of Higgins moved to the middle of the roadway, splitting the north and south lanes to safely pass the two pedalcyclist traveling north on the right side of the roadway.”
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When attempting to pass the SVU, he struck Johnny and Matthew. “As a result of the collision, the two pedal cyclists sustained fatal injuries,” the police added.
Johnny was 31 and Matthew was 29 at the time of their deaths. The brothers were set to be in their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding the following day, which has since been postponed.
Katie offered an update on her wedding to fiancé Devin Joyce via Instagram Stories on Tuesday, September 3, while also remembering her late brothers.
“My brothers loved Devin more than he will ever know. They were so excited for us to get married,” she wrote, reposting Joyce’s tribute to the boys. “When the day comes, they are going to be dancing and celebrating more than anyone.”
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Other members of the Gaudreau family have since spoken out in the wake of Johnny and Matthew’s death. Their uncle Jim Gaudreau was first to release a statement.
“Last night we lost two husbands, two fathers, two sons, two brothers, two sons and brothers in law, two nephews, two cousins, two family members, two teammates, two friends but truly two amazing human beings,” he shared on August 30. “We want to let everyone know we are receiving your messages of love and support and we appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.”
In addition to their parents and sisters, Johnny is survived by wife Meredith and their two kids and Matthew is additionally survived by pregnant wife Madeline.
