UnitedHealthcare CEO slaying: Luigi Mangione’s mother indicated to FBI suspect photos could be her son: sources

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione’s mother filed a missing persons report on her son in San Francisco on Nov. 18 — 16 days before he allegedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City — law enforcement sources told ABC News.

This comes as prosecutors prepare for Mangione to return to New York as early as Tuesday. Sources tell ABC News the suspect is “almost certain” to waive extradition from Pennsylvania after hiring a high-profile defense attorney. A grand jury can also issue an indictment at any time, speeding up the extradition process.

Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania last Monday, shortly after his arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a five-day manhunt across several states. Mangione told a judge he was in contact with his family “until recently.”

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Mangione’s mother spoke with a task force made up of FBI agents and NYPD detectives a day before her son’s arrest on Dec. 9.

That conversation followed a tip the FBI received from San Francisco police where Mangione’s mother filed the missing persons file.

RELATED: Defense fund set up by supporters of suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione tops $100,000

The tip from the SFPD was based on physical appearance, and Mangione’s mother indicated in her conversation with the Joint Violent Crimes Task Force last Sunday that the person in the surveillance photos circulated by the NYPD could be her son, the sources said.

The task force was still working on the 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 offered “our prayers for Brian Thompson’s family and we ask people to pray for everyone involved.”

Mangione is currently being held in a Pennsylvania state prison after a judge denied bail on Tuesday. Mangione faces charges in Pennsylvania, including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun. In New York, he faces charges including second-degree murder.

Mangione’s new lawyer

Mangione has now hired veteran former New York City prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo to defend him, according to a statement from her law firm Agnifilo Intrater LLP.

Friedman Agnifilo served as deputy commander in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2014 to 2021 under former District Attorney Cyrus Vance. A biography on her law firm’s website says she played a lead role in the prosecution of “high-profile violent crime cases,” including those involving mental health and cold-case murders.

“Karen Friedman Agnifilo has a three-decade background in criminal law, trial and litigation. Her practice focuses on criminal defense in state and federal courts and utilizes her extensive experience prosecuting serious violent crimes, including complex homicide cases, from indictment to investigation to arrest . and trial,” the biography said.

“While serving in the Manhattan DA’s office, Ms. Friedman Agnifilo was also integral to the creation of the office’s Human Trafficking Unit, Hate Crimes Unit, Antiquities Trading Unit, Terrorism Unit, its Cyber ​​Crimes and Identity Theft Bureau, as well as work on the creation of Manhattan’s first Mental Health Court,” it continued the biography.

Friedman Agnifilo is also a frequent television news guest and commentator and is a former legal analyst for CNN.

She co-hosts a weekly podcast on Meida’s Touch Network, where she discusses emerging legal issues and litigation strategy, and serves as legal counsel for the television show “Law and Order.”

Writings analyzed

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that writings seized from the suspect indicate he developed a fixation and increasing malice toward UnitedHealthcare and allegedly talked about harming its manager for months.

Some entries in the notebook seized from Mangione after his arrest were dated as far back as mid-2024, the sources said.

That fixation eventually evolved into the alleged plan to fire the managing Thompson, the sources said.

Some of the writings were diary style, documenting how he felt and what he did that day. They also documented a desire to focus on his health and find his purpose, the sources said.

But as time went on—and as Mangione allegedly fell out of touch with friends and family and became increasingly isolated—some writings indicated a deterioration in his state of mind, illustrating a gradual build-up toward the alleged plan to kill Thompson on what writings described as UnitedHealthcare’s “annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” sources said.

SEE ALSO: Murder suspect CEO Luigi Mangione appeared to discuss spine issues on Reddit

Mangione’s writings, obtained by ABC News, claimed that the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world, but ranks about 42nd in life expectancy.

He said that UnitedHealthcare “has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No, the reality is that these (indescribable) have simply become too powerful and they continue to abuse our country for enormous profit.”

“I apologize for any controversy about trauma, but it had to be done,” he reportedly wrote. “Honestly, these parasites just came.”

Neither Mangione nor his parents received insurance through UnitedHealthcare, according to UnitedHealth Group.