Investigation into UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Murder Reveals Clues, Yet Lacks Clear Answers

NEW YORK—While a hostel security camera captured a fleeting smile from the suspect, his identity remains a mystery. Authorities discovered the backpack he abandoned during his escape, yet his current whereabouts are unknown.

As the investigation into the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continues, law enforcement faces an intriguing duality: there is a wealth of evidence, but the perpetrator is still unidentified.

Investigators are uncertain of the shooter’s identity, location, or motives; however, they believe the attack was premeditated rather than random.

“The net is tightening,” stated New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday.

Following his remarks, police divers were observed searching a pond in Central Park, which is thought to be where the assailant fled post-shooting. Officers have been combing the park for several days in search of any potential evidence, and they located his backpack there on Friday.

Later in the day, police released two new images of the suspected shooter, captured by a camera inside a taxi. The first image displays him outside the cab, while the second shows him peering through the partition between the back and front seats. In both photos, his face is partially concealed by a blue medical-style mask.

By analyzing surveillance footage, police have established that the gunman escaped the city by bus shortly after the shooting on Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown, with video evidence placing him at an uptown bus station approximately 45 minutes later, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

As the high-profile investigation extends beyond state borders, the FBI announced on Friday that it is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, complementing the NYPD’s $10,000 reward. Authorities believe the suspect acted independently.

While no new updates were provided by police on Saturday, investigators are appealing for patience—even as the perpetrator remains at large.

Hundreds of detectives are meticulously reviewing video footage and social media, assessing tips from the public, and interviewing individuals who may hold information, including Thompson’s family, coworkers, and the shooter’s temporary roommates at the Manhattan hostel.

“This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes,” Kenny remarked to reporters on Friday. “We are diligently examining every piece of evidence we can find.”

The shooter paid for his hostel stay in cash, presented what appears to be a fake ID, and is believed to have used cash for taxi fares and other transactions, avoiding verbal exchanges with others at the hostel, and frequently covering his face with a mask, only lowering it when eating.

However, investigators gained a significant lead when they uncovered security footage showing a brief moment when the shooter let his mask down shortly after arriving in New York on November 24.

Law enforcement has shared these images with the media and on social platforms, but attempts to identify him through facial recognition have so far been unsuccessful—potentially due to image angle or restrictions on how the NYPD can utilize that technology, according to Kenny.

On Friday evening, police found a backpack in Central Park that belonged to the shooter, though they did not disclose its contents right away, stating that it would undergo testing and analysis.

Another possible clue, a fingerprint found on an item he bought at a Starbucks shortly before the shooting, has so far not yielded any leads for his identification, stated Kenny.

Using extensive surveillance coverage across the city, police have been able to trace the shooter’s movements.

They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. as the CEO arrived at the Hilton for an annual investor conference, using a 9 mm handgun resembling those typically utilized by farmers for quiet euthanasia of animals. The ammunition recovered near Thompson’s body had words such as “delay,” “deny,” and “depose,” echoing phrases used by critics within the insurance industry.

Kenny indicated that the shooter’s awareness of the UnitedHealthcare conference and potential routes taken by Thompson points to the possibility of him being a disgruntled employee or client.

From surveillance footage, police confirmed that the shooter fled Central Park on a bicycle, discarding it around 7 a.m. near 85th Street.

Subsequently, he walked a short distance and hailed a taxi, arriving by 7:30 a.m. at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is located at the northern tip of Manhattan, offering transportation services to New Jersey as well as Greyhound routes towards Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington.

The sequence of events after this remains unclear. Investigators are still combing through surveillance footage, but have yet to uncover any recordings of the shooter boarding a bus or leaving the station.

“We have reason to believe that the individual in question has exited New York City,” affirmed Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to CNN on Friday.

From video evidence, police determined the shooter was in the city for ten days prior to the incident. He arrived at Manhattan’s primary bus terminal via a Greyhound bus from Atlanta, but it remains unclear whether he boarded there or at one of several other stops along the route.

After his arrival, he took a taxi to the area near the Hilton and remained there for approximately 30 minutes, according to Kenny.

Later that evening, around 11 p.m., he took another taxi to the HI New York City Hostel. It was during his interaction with a lobby employee that he briefly lowered his mask and smiled, providing investigators with a crucial moment they are now counting on to identify and apprehend the perpetrator.

By Michael R. Sisak