The suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was reported missing by his family last month after becoming incommunicado after recent back surgery, according to sources and reports.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was eating at McDonald's on Monday when a fast-food employee believed he resembled the gunman wanted in last week's brazen shooting outside a Manhattan hotel. He was spotted and arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was found with a ghost gun, a mask and ramblings about the ambush, authorities said.
As investigators continued to piece together a possible motive for the cold-blooded killing, it became clear that Mr. Mangione had not been in touch with his loved ones in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Mangione's mother reported him missing on Nov. 18 — possibly from his home in San Francisco, law enforcement officials told the Post.
Police said they know the suspect was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and had a last known address in Honolulu.
Meanwhile, one former classmate from the Gilman School in Baltimore said: new york times The message was forwarded to Mangione's family earlier this year as they searched for him.
Classmate Aaron Cranston said the messages showed Mangione had not been in contact with his relatives since undergoing back surgery several months ago, the paper said.
Meanwhile, RJ Martin, a friend and former roommate from Hawaii, told CNN that Mangione had previously spoken to him about his past problems.
“I remember when I first interviewed him before he moved, he said he had back problems and wanted to get stronger in Hawaii,” Martin said.
Mangione's back pain was so “traumatic and difficult” that he was bedridden for a week after just taking basic surfing lessons, his roommate said.
Martin said that when he underwent surgery, a friend sent him an X-ray image.
“It looked brutal, just a giant screw driven into the spine,” he said.
This may be because Mangione had a grudge against United Healthcare executives because of his ties to the medical industry, sources said, and the four pins in his spine are visible. This comes after someone pointed out an X-ray photo on his X account.
The reading list on Mangione's GoodReads account also included five books about chronic back pain.
It includes titles such as “Crooked: Outwit the back pain industry and get on the path to recovery” and “Why we get sick: The hidden epidemic at the root of most chronic diseases and how to fight it.” was included.
These were added to his virtual bookshelf between May 2022 and February 2023.
The development came to light after Mangione was arraigned in a brief court hearing Monday night and ordered held without bail.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in a “brazen, targeted attack” outside a luxury midtown hotel on Wednesday, police said.
- Mr. Thompson was appointed CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Justice Department.
- Thompson's wife, Paulette, said she had received threats before her husband was killed.
- The Thompson shooting sparked an online frenzy and even sparked a tasteless lookalike contest in New York.
- A dignitary was arrested by police inside a McDonald's store in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland. He was a former Ivy League student who hated the medical world.
Follow the Post's live updates on news about Brian Thompson's murder.
He was charged with unlicensed possession of a firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Authorities said they expected murder charges to be filed in New York within the next few days.
Police said Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as she walked alone to a Midtown hotel where UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.
