Luigi Mangione’s Mother Told Feds Her Son Might Be Suspected CEO Killer Day Before Bust
The mother of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing UnitedHealth Care CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on Dec. 4, told the FBI that her son could be the person in surveillance photos circulated by police a day before he was arrested, according to reports.
Mangione’s family reported him missing to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) in mid-November, roughly two weeks before he is alleged to have ambushed Thompson, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
The FBI confirmed that SFPD reached out to them about the “possible identity of the suspect” four days before Mangione’s Dec. 9 arrest—an officer working on the missing-persons case recognized him in the surveillance images circulated by investigators in New York.
According to law enforcement officials who spoke to NBC News and the New York Post, Mangione’s mother, Kathleen, told investigators on Dec. 8 he could be the suspect, but that she was not completely confident that it was him.
Mangione was arrested the next morning at a McDonald’s Altoona, Pennsylvania, before members of the FBI’s Joint Violent Crimes Task Force could contact the New York Police Department about the conversation, the New York Post reported.
Mangione’s mother originally reached out to SFPD because, the Chronicle reported, she told them he had previously been working for car listing website TrueCar, which has an office in San Francisco.
She told police she had last heard from him on July 1. A TrueCar spokesperson told the newspaper he last worked for them in 2023.
Mangione, 26, has been charged with murder in New York in Thompson’s killing, which police say was targeted and may have been motivated because of Thompson’s position with the health insurance company.
The SFPD’s identification of Mangione from the missing-persons case is the first known instance where he was brought to the attention of authorities prior to his arrest.
Before he was taken into custody, Mangione was the subject of a widespread manhunt that included drones and trained dogs trying to retrace his steps as he fled Manhattan.
Authorities offered a $60,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said last week that the 3d-printed gun in Mangione’s possession when he was arrested last week matches the shell casings found at the crime scene in New York. She also said fingerprints found near the scene match his.
The shell casings had the words, “deny,” “delay” and “depose” written on them, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Mangione’s Pennsylvania attorney, Thomas Dickey, told ABC News he has seen “no evidence” linking his client to the crime, adding “a lot of guns look the same.”
