Matt Kurtz was a decorated Sayreville cop.
SAYREVILLE -- Sayreville police detective Matt Kurtz's cause of death was suicide, the Sayreville police chief said Tuesday.
Sayreville police officer Matt Kurtz, pictured at right, receives his new rank of detective at a November ceremony. (Facebook) "Matthew's death sheds more light on an insidious predator that has taken his life and so many others in law enforcement as well. Sadly, suicide remains a leading cause of police officer deaths," Chief John J. Zebrowski said in a written statement. "Thus, the method by which he lost his life does not make our loss any less tragic. In fact, it leaves only a greater void as many questions will remain unanswered."
Kurtz's body was found outside the Amboy Cinemas off Route 9 at about 7:15 a.m. Monday.His death stunned Sayreville, and led to an outpouring of grief in the law enforcement community.
The confirmation that Kurtz died by suicide follows more than 24 hours of speculation and an investigation that has seemed to circle around the possibility all along. For example, police never said that they were looking for a suspect.
Robert Douglas, the executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation, said studies vary, but at least two police officers die by suicide for every one killed by another person or in an accident.
There's some disagreement in the mental health community about whether police officers are more susceptible to mental health issues and suicide than their fellow Americans, Douglas said. But for police officers, family issues and professional issues can come to clash as officers operate under two distinct values systems, the one on the streets and the one at home.
"They don't know how to make the transition from the street to the home," Douglas said.
One way to address the issue, Douglas said, is mental health training.
"It has not effectively been addressed," Douglas said.
Ron Clark, the chairman of an organization that helps advocate for police officer mental wellness called Badge of Life, said that police culture can make it hard for an officer to come forward to get help. They might fear it'll put their career in danger, Clark said. Younger officers, though, are more likely to seek help.
Overall, Clark said, the entire department, from the officers to the sergeants to the chief, has a role to play.
"Who's responsible for the emotional well being of the officer, besides himself?" Clark said. "The answer is, everybody."
Clark also said that Chief Zebrowski's statement on Kurtz's death hit the right notes.
"You've got somebody that gets it," Clark said.
Statistics from a study in which Clark participated showed that 141 police officers in America died by suicide in 2008, and 126 in 2012.
Clark said that information about resources for officers who might be having problems can be found online.
Kurtz was married with two children. In November, he was promoted to detective, tabbed as a rising star in the department. In December 2014, he had helped save a Sayreville family from a burning building, winning an award from the Middlesex County 200 Club.
"We lost a very good and fine young police officer today," Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O'Brien said Monday. "And our hearts and our prayers are with him, his parents, his wife, and his children."
He was proud of his work, friends said. Even before his death, his Facebook profile included a photograph of a blue bar across a black background, a universal symbol of an officer down and a department in mourning.
Kurtz, said Chief Zebrowski, was a "cop's cop."
"He was smart, hardworking, a volunteer in our community and a leader within the PBA," Zebrowski said. "Incidents like these cause us to consider that while we have equipped and trained our Officers well for the external forces that remain a daily threat, more remains to be done to reduce those internal factors that are equally threatening."
Paul DeSarno, whose family Kurtz helped save in a huge fire in December, said the cause of death makes the situation even more tragic, because he was a great man.
"No matter what the outcome is, we will always remember him fondly as a guy when, in a moment where he had to make the choice of what to do, he did the most heroic and life-saving thing," DeSarno said. "And afterwards, was extremely humble about it."
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.