The story that gripped the nation culminated with the arrest of Luigi Mangione for the suspected killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Authorities said they recovered multiple fraudulent IDs, a U.S. passport, and a firearm with a suppressor at the time of his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, at a McDonald’s restaurant.
Additionally, officers also recovered a handwritten, three-page document indicating a potential motive for the crime. According to NPR, NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said the document suggested some "ill will toward corporate America."
In light of the information, social media users unearthed several online accounts that purportedly belong to Luigi Mangione. One of the profiles allegedly linked to Goodreads showed Mangione is an avid reader, who earlier this year appears to have left a positive review for the Unabomber’s manifesto online. A Reddit user who unearthed the profile wrote:
“Luigi Mangione’s most recent review on Goodreads. “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive.”
Independent and Fortune confirmed in January 2024 that a Goodreads account with Luigi Mangione’s name and photo gave a four-star review to Theodore Kaczynski's, aka the Unabomber's, infamous anti-technology tome, Industrial Society and Its Future. Mangione, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, studied AI at the University of Pennsylvania with a minor in Mathematics, allegedly wrote:
“Clearly written by a mathematics prodigy. Reads like a series of lemmas on the question of 21st century quality of life.”
The review continued:
“It’s easy to quickly and thoughtlessly write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.”
Luigi Mangione allegedly had multiple back surgeries
According to the Daily Beast, Luigi Mangione, who spent the summer of 2019 at Stanford as a counselor for a Pre-Collegiate Studies Program, secured a job in late 2020 as a developer at TrueCar, a car resale site based in Santa Monica, California.
However, according to friends cited in multiple reports, including CNN and The Daily Beast, in 2023, Mangione, who was socially active, went “radio silent” after he was laid off from his job.
While the motive for the alleged shooting is unclear, his X profile reportedly showed an X-ray image of a spinal injury. Friends told Daily Beast Mangione dealt with debilitating back pain for years and underwent multiple painful surgeries that required giant screws lodged into his spine.
Former roommate in Hawaii, R.J. Martin, told CNN Mangione moved to the state “hoping to get stronger in Hawaii.” However, Mangione was supposedly bedridden for a week after a basic surfing lesson.
“It was really traumatic and difficult. You know, when you’re in your early 20s and you can’t, you know, do some basic things, it can be really, really difficult.”
The Daily Beast cited another Goodreads book review in which Luigi Mangione hinted at his struggles by sharing a book he had read. The book was titled Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery.
Luigi Mangione was reported missing last month
Mangione, who had back surgery earlier this year, was reported missing by his mother on November 18. Friends told the New York Post Mangione had lost touch with his family after the surgery.
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Mangione was reportedly also charged with a petty misdemeanor in 2023 for entering a closed area within the Nuuanu Pali Lookout, near Honolulu.
He now faces charges of murder.
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