Details On UnitedHealthcare CEO Murder Suspect Emerge: Luigi Mangione's Chronic Back Pain, Unabomber Book Review, Distance From Friends & Family - UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)

Luigi Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania Monday morning as a person of interest in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He has now been charged with the murder of Thompson and details are emerging as people interview friends and family and comb through his various social media accounts.

What Happened: Mangione is facing various charges related to weapons and the death of Thompson, who was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group UNH.

The murder led police on a manhunt in New York City. Mangione was recognized at a Pennsylvania McDonald's where he was arrested and found with a ghost gun, silencer and clothes that matched the suspect at large.

The 26-year-old has connections to various states including Pennsylvania where he was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League grad earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the school and was also the valedictorian of Gilman School in Baltimore before attending college, as reported by the New York Times.

Distance from Family & Friends: As more details emerge on Mangione and the potential motives for the murder he is being charged with, friends and family have shared that the suspect wasn't in regular contact over the last six months.

One social media post found Monday was from a friend of Mangione asking about his plans to attend his wedding and honoring the commitment he made. The post has since been deleted.

Former classmates and friends said Mangione was outgoing, played sports and the silence was unusual. Mangione came from a wealthy family in the Baltimore area well-known for their wealth and charity work.

A school friend said that they received a message from Mangione's family earlier this year saying they had not heard from him for several months after his back surgery. Friends also had not heard from him, according to the report.

The suspect's mother reported him missing on Nov. 18, sources told the New York Post.

At his arraignment Monday, Mangione said he had been in contact with family "until recently."

Back Pain: Mangione was found with a reported manifesto where he lashed out at healthcare companies for focusing on profits over the health of their customers. It is unknown if Mangione had a personal connection to UnitedHealthcare at this time.

"I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming," the manifesto which has not been made public, reportedly said, according to the Associated Press.

The attack against the CEO of a large insurance company has sparked questions about whether Mangione was seeking revenge or retaliation for a denied claim.

Some on social media have praised Mangione due to their own distrust and problems with insurance claims, sparking wide debate about the case and concerns that it could be harder to find a jury of peers without preconceived notions.

Mangione lived in Hawaii for six months at a co-living space called Surfbreak. R.J. Martin, who co-founded Surfbreak, has given several interviews about the case and shared that Mangione suffered from back issues.

"His spine was kind of misaligned," Martin said. "He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve."

Martin said Mangione did not regularly complain about the back pain or take painkillers, but it was known that his pain affected him physically. Mangione left Hawaii in 2023 for what Martin said was likely back surgery. Martin said Mangione returned to Hawaii at one point after the surgery, but they were never able to meet up.

Martin also recalled that Mangione tried to go surfing once, but it didn't work out due to his back pain.

Reading Habits: An account believed to belong to Mangione on the social media site for book lovers GoodReads shows that the suspect had read books on back pain.

A book review on the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, has drawn increased attention after Mangione's arrest.

"It's easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies," Mangione wrote in his review. "But it's simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out."

Mangione gave the Unabomber manifesto a four-star rating and ended the review with a quote he said he found online that includes the words: "'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators."

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