UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect reported missing last month
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Senior officials confirmed to NBC News that Luigi Mangione was reported missing to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) in November.
After the shooting on December 4, a San Francisco officer found similarities in the images of the wanted suspect in New York and the individual in the missing persons report and alerted the FBI.
Two senior officials confirmed to NBC News that San Francisco had a missing persons report in November for Luigi Mangione, the 26 year old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Now, new details are emerging about who reported what after the shooting on December 4. The killing sparked a large manhunt that included the wide distribution of surveillance photos of a person of interest.
Law enforcement officials say a San Francisco officer recognized similarities in the images of the wanted suspect in New York and the individual in the missing persons report. So, they contacted the FBI.
The tip from San Francisco police came on December 6, just two days after the shooting.
Two law enforcement sources familiar with the matter tell NBC News police reached out to Mangione's mom two days later on Sunday, December 8. She told investigators the man in the image could be her son.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania the next day.
Andrew Black used to work at the FBI Field Office in San Francisco. He says typically a tip like this would be easy to get from SFPD to the FBI office.
"From there, it would be sent directly to the New York Police or the New York office of the FBI for action...These types of high profile cases generate a lot of tips, an enormous number, in this case since its coming from another law enforcement agency that the SF FBI has a relationship with, they're going to act on it, and it comes along with credibility."
Chief Andrew Black. Chief of Department of Public Safety, University of Hawaii
Whether Mangione was in San Francisco in recent months is still unknown.
The missing flyer shows Mangione's mom last spoke to him on July 1 and that he worked for TrueCar located on Montgomery.
However, the flyer states it was permanently closed and the main number was disconnected, and a TrueCar spokesperson told CNBC that Mangione had not worked with the company since 2023.
Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare says mangione was never insured by the company, with the New York Police Department (NYPD) saying he may have targeted Thompson because of the size of UnitedHealthcare.
Mangione is being held in Pennsylvania and is fighting extradition to New York. The next hearing in the Pennsylvania case is scheduled for December 30.
