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Luigi MangioneHis mother reportedly spoke with FBI officials the day before he was arrested in Pennsylvania on suspicion of killing the CEO of a health insurance giant after federal authorities received a tip.
According to New York Posta San Francisco police officer recognized the suspect in surveillance photos distributed by the New York Police Department. Mangione’s parents filed a missing persons report with the San Francisco Police Department in November after he allegedly went on a solo trip to Asia, apparently not telling them where he was.
The tip reportedly came four days before the parents were contacted.
Federal investigators with the Joint Violent Crimes Task Force spoke with Kathleen Mangione, the mother of Luigi Mangione, Sunday night in connection with the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. She reportedly told investigators her son resembled the suspected killer, but said she wasn’t completely convinced it was the same person.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was spotted eating a hash brown at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania the next day. A McDonald’s employee called the police and told them someone in the restaurant looked like the suspect. He was arrested on murder and weapons charges after an officer asked him if he had been to New York recently and he allegedly started shaking. He was reportedly found with a gun matching the murder weapon and a handwritten manifesto.
Police believe Luigi Mangione took the train to Pennsylvania. Officials searched for the suspect for nearly a week with what appeared to be very few leads. The breakthrough came when an employee of the New York hostel where he was staying flirted with him and asked him to lower his mask.
The suspect did so, allowing authorities to release a picture of the killer’s face that went viral, eventually leading to an arrest.
Before the murder, the alleged killer had reportedly disappeared for several months after leaving the US for Asia on a solo trip. His mother said she did not know where her son was and had not spoken to him since July. Mangione’s friends said The Washington Post that he suffered from a painful spinal condition that could have triggered the alleged attack.
“The injury he suffered was a life-changing injury,” one friend told the agency. “and that’s what may have led him down this path.” According to The Washington PostMangione was not insured by UnitedHealthcare. His alleged manifesto reveals that he was disturbed by the state of health care in the US and wanted to take action.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement through his cousin Nino Mangione, a Republican congressman from Maryland. “We send our prayers to Brian Thompson’s family and ask people to pray for everyone involved.” Mangione is from a prominent family in the Baltimore area.
Mangione is currently being held at a facility in Pennsylvania. In order to be prosecuted in New York, where the crime took place on December 4, he needs to be extradited. He is fighting extradition in court, which could delay the process for more than a month.
Luigi Mangione’s attorney, Thomas M Dickey, who represents him in Pennsylvania, told reporters this week that there was no evidence linking his client to the crime.