Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - How Police Caught Luigi Mangione for UnitedHealthcare CEO's Murder

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Luigi Mangione, 26, has been taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Someone spotted Mangione at a McDonald's Monday morning and called police. The person recognized Mangione from surveillance images released by the NYPD. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the digital evidence that helped identify Mangione in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Ed Wallace https://www.youtube.com/@DutyRon CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. The chief of detectives and the police commissioner made the decision to release as much of a photo that we've that we had at the time. We sent it across the country. Photos of the man suspected of shooting and killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson led to his capture. I take a look at the digital trail. Police say Luigi Mangione left from New York to Pennsylvania.

Welcome to Crime Fix, I'm Anjanette Levy. The man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is in custody less than a week after Thompson was shot and killed on the street in Midtown Manhattan. His name is Luigi Mangione. He's 26 years old. He has a bachelor's and a master's degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. Right now, he's in custody in Blair County, Pennsylvania, after someone spotted him at a McDonald's in Altoona. Officers approached the

masked man who was sitting at a table with a silver laptop. As soon as he pulled, he was wearing a blue medical mask. As soon as we pulled that down or we asked him to pull it down, we, me and my partner and I recognized him immediately just from what we saw in the media with photos, videos. We just didn't even think twice about it. We knew that was our guy. That male was asked for a form of identification. He then provided a fake identification card out of New Jersey. After a brief investigation, it was determined that the ID provided was in fact a fake ID, and he was subsequently arrested for a forgery charge.

Once he was taken into custody for that forgery charge, he was transported to the Altamont Police Department. Once at the Altamont Police Department, that male was searched and sent to arrest. It was discovered that he had a United States passport that identified him as Luigi Mangione. From there, continued search of his property. A firearm was located and a suppressor was also located court documents offered more details about the gun police say they found in the backpack and it's very concerning to say the least the criminal complaint said officers located a black 3d printed pistol and a black silencer The pistol had a metal slide and a plastic handle

with a metal threaded barrel. The pistol had one threaded Glock magazine with six 9mm full metal jacket rounds. There was also one loose 9mm hollow point round. The silencer was also 3D printed. The search for the shooter began on December 4th at 6.44 a.m., right after those shots were fired at Brian Thompson from behind as he walked down the street. The shooting captured on camera was one of the first digital clues. The shooter's gun was visible, as was a backpack that he wore, both of those things offering clues. News Nation obtained footage that showed the shooter escaping on an electric bike moments after the shooting. He went into Central Park and then into a cab and to a bus station. These movements were likely all recorded by cameras. Surveillance photos from the morning of the shooting were released that showed

a man in black with a mask over his face. Unless you knew the man, it would be difficult to ID him from that. Then came the photos from the youth hostel that actually gave the clearest view of the shooter's face yet. The images were captured on November 24th. Sources told several news outlets that the woman at the counter asked the man wearing the mask to take it down in a flirty exchange. It may have been the only time his mask was down while he was in New York City. Those photos didn't lead to the shooter being identified. Then on Saturday, the NYPD released a new set of photos. One showed the man wearing a mask approaching a cab. Then another

photo showed him looking into the front seat from the back seat, almost as if he was looking for a camera. Those distinctive eyes and eyebrows captured in a crystal clear image. I want to tell you about Upside. It's a free app that gets you cash back on things like gas and groceries. This is real cash back. It's money that appears in your Upside app that you can transfer straight into your bank account. I used Upside when I went to Dunkin' Donuts recently for a cup of tea. I claimed an offer for Dunkin' on the app, paid as usual using a card, followed the steps, and I got cash back. It's so easy. You can also use Upside at places like Shell, Exxon, 7-Eleven, Taco Bell, and that's

just to name a few. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on your screen and use our promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CRIMEFIX for extra cash back. Those photos, coupled with the photos from the youth hostel, likely led to Monday's arrest in Altoona. It was a peaceful arrest, first and foremost. The officer quickly recognized the male as the suspect from the shooting. And within several minutes, seconds of the first contact, he had asked the suspect if he had been

in New York City recently. And that really invoked a physical reaction from the suspect. He became visibly nervous, kind of shaking at that question, and he didn't really answer it directly. So that statement alone really said a lot, and the suspect didn't have to say a lot after that question to show that he was very nervous at that point. While photos may have led someone to recognize the man in the McDonald's, Pennsylvania State Police anticipate more digital evidence will reveal even more clues. There were a number of items that were found on his person in his backpack that have been inventoried, and we've begun to do an analysis of some of those. There were written documents. There are electronic devices

that are in the process of being downloaded. Search warrants are obtained. And so over the next hours and days, those efforts will continue. And we're going to take a closer look at all of the information that we can glean from that regarding his activities up until and during the time of the homicide, his flight from New York, and we know that he has been in Pennsylvania for several days. And so part of that investigation will also focus on trying to retrace his steps. We've already identified businesses, for example, that he frequented in this area and activities that he engaged in. That led us to more evidence. And so all of that is becoming

kind of a mountain of evidence that has to be analyzed and looked at. I'm confident we'll have a much better idea of his activities over the past number of days in New York and in Pennsylvania. I want to bring in Ed Wallace. He is a retired NYPD detective. Ed, it really seems like the surveillance images in this case are what broke it wide open. Yes, it was critical to get that video of that photo, rather, of his face out there when he pulled his mask down to flirt with the counter person at the location he was staying at. And then getting that out to the general public. And that was critical because had that not been found, had that not gotten out there, they would have never been able to identify this person as quickly as they did. Just after 9-11, Commissioner Kelly took the reins of the NYPD

again, and he initiated some studies on law enforcement surveillance cameras. And so in partnership with private security companies throughout the New York City area, we have thousands upon thousands of cameras. You cannot walk in the streets of New York or drive in the streets of New York without being captured on one of these cameras. They're all over Manhattan. And at least two-thirds of these cameras are run by private security networks that we have access to. And then we have several command centers where we can tap into those security footages, security feeds rather, and look at them ourselves.

And and any any crime like this, whether it's, you know, the crime, not necessarily of this high media magnitude, but any crime in New York, one of the first things the detectives do is canvas these cameras. They'll even do so much as walk or drive by various locations near the crime scenes, coming to the crime scene or going away from the crime scene, identifying all kinds of cameras that may be available to capture images like ATM cameras or, you know, bodega cameras or anything like that, even ring cameras in residential neighborhoods and so forth. And then they'll send the detectives out to canvas and speak to the owners of these cameras if they're not in our system and ask them if we can review the camera footages for,

you know, specific periods of time. So it's critical in post-crime investigation. Ed, one of the things that really surprises me is how quickly they were able to get those images. So they tracked this guy very quickly. They put out the photo at the hostel the next day following the shooting and said, hey, look at this guy. Here's his image. And they didn't, to so eerie because he is clearly looking through the window from the backseat of the cab into the front seat. And he's literally looking, in my opinion, for a camera. And he's looking right at it. It's as if he sees that camera in that instant and probably went back into the seat. He's wearing the mask, obviously, to disguise himself. But he's got that distinctive eye and that distinctive eyebrow. And, you know, that

probably led to his undoing, especially with the mask, because that's what he was wearing when the tip came in from the McDonald's in Altoona. Exactly. And it's similar clothing, the mask, he didn't change his appearance at all. Okay. He didn't shave those eyebrows. You know, he wore the mask again. And in many small town USA, especially in the Pennsylvania, Altoona area, not many people are wearing masks these days. Okay. Especially if they're in a restaurant eating, all right. You know, they're not wearing masks. It's not the height of COVID anymore.

That's right. That's right. So, you know, those locals that were in the McDonald's at that time, you know, they spotted him as not being a local and his behavior being suspicious because of the clothing, the mask, and the appearance that they saw on the images that we broadcasted over the media looking for this suspect. Manhattan on the e-bike into Central Park and then out of Central Park to the bus station without that whole thing, or at least the majority of it being captured on video. And then I would assume there's probably images of him getting on the bus at the bus terminal, the George Washington Bridge bus terminal, I would assume him getting on the bus. And then they're going to probably be able to track him for quite some time digitally as far as surveillance images go. Yeah, I'm sure they have more surveillance images of him and his movements prior to entering the

Greyhound bus in Atlanta and coming up because the Greyhound bus has surveillance cameras on the bus too. So they have that. Then the Port Authority getting off and then all his movements prior to the attack and then his movements after. There's no doubt in my mind that all of that footage has not been released and then is in the custody of the police and that they're now searching for the similar surveillance footage of him on the bus leaving New York and then going to possibly Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania because apparently from the news conference yesterday, he's been in Pennsylvania for several days in different parts of Pennsylvania. So,

and based upon his note, his manifesto, if you will, it appears that to me, at least he used a plural statement, not a singular statement. So it suggests to me that maybe he was searching for other targets, that he was going to commit more homicides. That's why he kept the gun. That's why he kept all those things. The head of the Pennsylvania State Police said there's even more digital evidence that they're going to go through. They got search warrants for phones, other electronic devices. He had a silver laptop with him when they took him into custody. So there's going to be a treasure trove of information on those devices. That is going to be very important. How long do you think it will take them to go through

that information once they download the electronic devices, the phone, and what do you think they will find? Well, he's going to have a treasure trove of digital forensics. They're going to track his movements on the cell phone. They have the cell phone carrier. They'll subpoena or get a warrant for the cell phone carrier to produce the records. We'll identify where the phone was pinging throughout the entirety of this incident. And we'll identify all the um information in there because the cell phone has gps capabilities uh inside the phone if if he did not shut it off and um and so there would be that information the cell phone towers there's gonna be geo fencing

all of these things will come into play social media um the cell phone uh records will show who he was talking to who he's texting to at that time during these times. So, you know, even though his manifesto says that he worked alone and it was the suspect assisting him, you know, that's all going to be run down. See who he was, because he was on the phone, clearly in some of the photos, he's on the images, he's on the phone. Yeah, he most certainly was. He was talking to someone right before the shooting so they're going to track all that down the computer is going to be a treasure trove of information all right um you know it appears you know this kid uh somehow radicalized and and he uh i said several weeks ago well not weeks ago but I said several days ago on a show that it seems so eerily similar to Ted Kaczynski in, you know, very intelligent, highly intelligent person.

And, you know, he's got a beef with this corporate America and in specific health insurance. And we have to identify what that beef is, why he chose this target. And, you know, there's a lot of open source information that he could have gathered on and that should be on the computer too. If he did searches of this CEO, if he did searches of this event that's held annually in Manhattan or this conference that the CEO goes to annually, every year it's done. And there's an itinerary that's published out there. There's information that Hilton also will have published about the events that they're hosting at their hotel. And so all of that has to be tracked down

and put into the case. It's a very strong case and it's getting stronger by the minute. Now the DNA is going to come back. The ballistics is going to come back. And there's very little wiggle room, you know, that's going to help this suspect at trial. Yeah, it's just a terribly sad case, really awful, awful set of facts. And we're going to learn a lot more about the motive in this case, the motivation, even though we kind of have an inkling of what it might be right now. Ed Wallace, thank you so much for your time. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix.

I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.