The alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Luigi Mangione was estranged from his family for more than a year, leading them to hire a private investigator to locate him, sources told DailyMail.com.
A friend at Mangione’s private boys’ club, The Gilman School in Baltimore, said the 26-year-old had stopped contact with his family last year in 2023, leaving them increasingly concerned for his safety.
“I knew he had problems,” said the school friend, who wished to remain anonymous. ‘He didn’t speak to his family and no one could find him.
“They hired a private investigator, they were so concerned.”
The friend said they were told Mangione was on pain medication due to an injury.
‘There was some kind of accident. “I knew he was hurt a while ago and that led to the painkiller thing and then the whole family thing,” he said.
“I can’t confirm what the specific problem was, but I know he was estranged.”
Other friends have told the media they believed Mangione injured himself in a surfing accident in Hawaii, where he lived on and off from around 2022 until this year.
Suspected killer Luigi Mangione sparked concerns among his family after he stopped talking to them for more than a year, friends told DailyMail.com. He is pictured exactly in his booking photo on Monday
Suspected murderer Luigi Mangione (center) comes from a prominent Baltimore family. In the photo: Mangione with (L-R) brother-in-law Paul Giulio, sisters Lucia and MariaSanta, father Louis and mother Kathleen
Although classmates talked to each other about Mangione’s alleged estrangement, Luigi’s wealthy and influential Maryland family was discreet about their troubled son.
“They’re a big Baltimore family. They like to keep it quiet,” the school friend said.
He painted a picture of a brilliant and caring classmate, who designed an app for his fellow students and helped others around him – but who changed later in life.
‘He was extremely smart, friendly and helpful. He was just a really good person. And he was an innocent child, he almost looked like my younger brother.
“So this whole thing is extremely shocking,” the school friend said.
“I ran into him in Baltimore about two years ago,” he added. “Something wasn’t right.”
The friend said Mangione told him he had temporarily stepped away from his work projects and was “taking a break.”
“He said he was taking a break from some things. His voice was much deeper and much more serious and toned down,” the friend said.
Mangione is now being held in Pennsylvania on weapons charges and will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges
Mangione was seen lashing out about police being “completely out of touch” and “insulting the intelligence of the American people” as he was bundled into court by a horde of sheriff’s deputies for his extradition hearing on Tuesday.
Mangione was described as a brilliant and caring classmate, who designed an app for his fellow students and helped others around him – but who changed later in life
“I just put it down to maturity and getting older. Something had changed, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was exactly.
“A few months later I heard that he was estranged, had cut everyone off and they had to hire a private investigator to track him down, but they couldn’t find him.
The friend said that when he learned of Mangione’s estrangement, he and his former Gilman School classmates exchanged theories about what happened to their friend.
‘In our class we heard a lot of reasons why. People said, ‘I think it’s drugs,’ or ‘he’s probably depressed,’ or whatever. But we never talked about it beyond that.
“You start to rethink every conversation you’ve had, just to piece things together.”
Another classmate told DailyMail.com that they also learned that Mangione had a spinal cord injury that led to chronic use of pain medications.
Mangione’s spinal cord injury left him unable to surf or “be physically intimate” with partners while living in Hawaii, his former landlord told the newspaper. New York Times.
“His spine was a little misaligned,” said RJ Martin, owner of the co-living space Surfbreak in Honolulu.
Surveillance camera footage showed the gunman, believed to be Mangione, shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in downtown Manhattan on December 4.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan
“He said his lower vertebrae were almost half an inch away, and I think there was a pinched nerve. Sometimes things went well for him, other times not.’
Martin told the Times that Mangione had to replace his mattress because of pain after taking a group surfing lesson.
The landlord added that Mangione also never shared his bed.
“He knew that dating and being physically intimate was not possible with his back condition,” Martin said. “I remember him telling me that, and it just breaks my heart.”
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his prep school in Maryland, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, a university spokesperson told The Associated Press on Monday.
He comes from a prominent Maryland family on his father Louis’ side.
His grandfather Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a successful real estate developer.
One of his best-known projects was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978.
Mangione is now being held in Pennsylvania on weapons charges and will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges in Thompson’s death, said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the NYPD.
In addition to a three-page handwritten document showing he harbored “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said Mangione also had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home and is difficult to trace.
Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a U.S. passport, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.
Officers also found a silencer, “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the chief said.