Bullet casings bear a mysterious message. A happy picture from a fortuitous meeting. A water bottle with a smudged fingerprint on it. Investigators are using these pieces of evidence to help them find the masked shooter who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a busy Manhattan street on Wednesday.
Amateur social media detectives and true-crime fans are going crazy over the suspect’s motivations and how he seems to have disappeared into thin air after the heinous murder of the 50-year-old executive, which police described as a targeted killing. A $10,000 reward is being offered by the authorities for information that results in an arrest.
Details on the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
Here is what we know about the suspect after more than 36 hours have passed since the deadly shooting:
According to CNN, which cited law enforcement officials, the suspect used a fictitious New Jersey driver’s license to check into the HI New York City Hostel just days prior to the murder. A CCTV photo taken at the hostel that momentarily displays the man’s face after he lowers his mask while flirting with a receptionist was a crucial discovery.
Wow. Per @JohnMillerCNN, among the interviews law enforcement has been conducting, they spoke to a female employee at the hostel who said, at one point, she asked the then-masked man to lower his mask while flirting with him, which is when this photo released by NYPD today was… pic.twitter.com/elHa7r70N7
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 6, 2024
The image, which shows the suspect grinning while wearing a black mask that hangs from his chin, has taken center stage in the inquiry. He is shown in the hostel’s CCTV footage sporting the same gray bag and sweatshirt as the shooter who killed Thompson without a fight outside the Hilton Midtown hotel.
Read More: The Whereabouts of the UnitedHealthCare CEO Murderer Gets Exposed
Near the crime site, investigators found important evidence, such as a protein bar wrapper and a water bottle that the suspect had thrown away. The objects might still produce DNA even when a fingerprint taken from the bottle was smudged.
At the location, investigators discovered 9 mm round casings permanently imprinted with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” Just before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, he was spotted “lying in wait” for Thompson outside the Hilton Midtown.
The gunman was last spotted at 6:48 a.m. after killing Thompson, crossing the street, escaping through an alleyway, and boarding an electric bike on 55th Street before continuing north on 6th Avenue into Central Park.
