Blood is thicker than a viral surveillance image of a suspected killer grinning at a flirty clerk in the lobby of a New York City hostel. Luigi Mangione, the former Ivy League computer science major now suspected of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back in New York City has dozens of cousins in his prominent Maryland family. But none of them appear to have recognized him after his smiling face went viral in connection with a nationwide manhunt that ended Monday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told “Your World” host Neil Cavuto that of more than 200 tips police received in the case, none of them named Mangione.
One of Mangione’s former high school classmates had a simple explanation – the suspected assassin is most recognizable for his dark, curly hair, which was covered up in images that the NYPD released before his arrest. “I think when something so large-profile happens naturally, I automatically disregard that,” former classmate Freddie Leatherbury told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. He figured it could have been anybody – but not someone he knew.
“And the thing that I remember about Luigi, if anything, was his really distinct curly hair, and in all the security camera footage, all you saw was him with a hat on or a hood on,” he said. “That wasn’t a connection that I was making. And, of course, Italians in New York are a dime a dozen. So just the jaw structure alone, the face, that wasn’t a connection that I was really rushing to make. So I really just brushed it off when I saw it, to be honest.”
UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione is fighting extradition: Live updates
United Healthcare CEO slaying suspect Luigi Mangione pictured at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.
Still, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital Monday that it was Mangione’s distinctive eyebrows and the medical mask that made him stand out to customers and locals at an Altoona McDonald’s.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry and Chief of Patrol John Chell told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday that investigators were still vetting additional tips and it was unclear whether any relatives had reached out. “Thank God for the customer that was in the McDonald’s,” said Daughtry, who raced to Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a contingent of NYPD and Manhattan prosecutors Monday after the arrest.
According to court documents, witnesses and responding officers alike immediately recognized the suspect after having seen the widely circulated wanted poster.