Luigi Mangione’s mother filed a missing persons report on her son on Nov. 18 in San Francisco — 16 days before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York — law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Monday, shortly after his arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a five-day manhunt across several states. Mangion told a judge he was in contact with his family “until recently.”
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Mangione’s mother spoke with FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives a day before her son was arrested on Dec. 9.
That interview came after the FBI received a tip from San Francisco police that Mangione’s mother filed a missing persons report.
Shooting suspect Luigi Mangione is brought into the Blair County Courthouse on December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
Janet Klingbeil/AP
The SFPD’s tip was based on physical appearance and Mangione’s mother, in an interview with the Joint Violent Crimes Task Force last Sunday, said the person in the surveillance photos released by the NYPD could be her son, sources said.
The task force was still working on information provided by the mother and San Francisco Police when Mangione, 26, was arrested in Altoona.
The Mangione family released a statement saying they were “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest” and added “our prayers go out to Brian Thompson’s family and we ask the public to pray for everyone involved.”
Mangione is being held in a Pennsylvania state prison after a judge denied him bail on Tuesday. Mangion faces charges in Pennsylvania, including possession of an elusive ghost gun. In New York, he faces charges including second-degree murder.
Luigi Mangione Exterior view of SCI Huntingdon on December 11, 2024 in Huntingdon, PA.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Mangione’s new lawyer
Mangion has hired veteran former New York prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo to defend him, according to a statement from his law firm Agnifilo Intrater LLP.
Friedman Agnifilo was second in command of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2014 to 2021 under former District Attorney Cyrus Vance. A biography on his law firm’s website says he played a leading role in prosecuting “high-powered felony cases,” including mental health and cold-case homicides.
“Karen Friedman Agnifilo has a three-decade background in criminal justice, litigation and trial. Her practice focuses on criminal defense in state and federal courts, drawing on extensive experience prosecuting serious violent crimes, including complex homicide cases, from prosecution through investigation and arrest. and trial,” said the biography.
“While serving in the Manhattan DA’s office, Ms. Friedman Agnifilo was also instrumental in creating the office’s Human Trafficking Unit, Hate Crimes Unit, Antiquities Trafficking Unit, Terrorism Unit, its Cybercrime and Identity Theft Office, as well as working on Manhattan’s first Mental Health Court.” , continued the biography.
Friedman Agnifilo is also a frequent guest and commentator on television news and is a former CNN legal analyst.
Meidas is the host of a weekly podcast on the Touch Network where he discusses emerging legal issues and litigation strategy, and serves as legal counsel to the television show “Law & Order.”
In this Feb. 14, 2017, file photo, Attorney General Karen Friedman Agnifilo speaks at a news conference with the District Attorney’s team and Stan Patz, father of Etan Patz, following the guilty verdict in the trial of Pedro Hernandez.
Natan Dvir/Polaris, SHEET
Analyzed writings
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that writings seized from the suspect indicate that he had a growing fixation and malice toward UnitedHealthcare and that he allegedly talked about harming his boss for months.
Some of the notebook entries seized from Mangione during his arrest dated back to mid-2024, the sources said.
That settlement eventually turned into an alleged plan to fire the Thompson executive, sources said.
Some of the writing was diary-style, documenting how he felt that day and what he did. They also documented his desire to focus on his health and find his purpose, sources said.
But as time went on — and as Mangione allegedly fell out of touch with friends and family and became increasingly isolated — some of the writings indicated a deterioration in his state of mind, a gradual build-up to the alleged plan to kill Thompson. The documents, described as UnitedHealthcare’s “annual convention against parasitic beans,” the sources said.
Luigi Mangione is escorted after his extradition hearing at the Blair County Court House on December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Mangione’s writings, obtained by ABC News, show that the US has the most expensive health care system in the world, but ranks 42nd in life expectancy.
He said UnitedHealthcare “has grown and grown, but like our life expectancy? The reality is not, these (indecipherable) have become too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for enormous profits.”
“I apologize for the trauma conflict, but it had to be done,” he reportedly wrote. “Honestly, these parasites just came.”
Neither Mangion nor his parents received insurance through UnitedHealthcare, according to UnitedHealth Group.
