Police have begun searching Central Park Lake as part of the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Divers were seen in the water near the Bethseda Fountain on Saturday afternoon.
Investigators confirmed the search was linked to Wednesday’s “brazen, targeted attack” that left the 50-year-old insurance executive dead.
It comes hours after authorities found the suspected gunman’s backpack in Central Park.
The search is taking place less than half a mile from where the backpack was discovered, hidden between two rocks near Carousel Central Park.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said the net is tightening around the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, as he revealed police now have a name for the suspect.
Adams told the New York Post that the police have made important developments in the case.
He spoke as the search for Thompson’s killer enters its fourth day, but said authorities will not reveal the suspect’s identity at this stage.
Police have begun searching Central Park Lake as part of the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
Divers were seen in the water near the Bethseda Fountain on Saturday afternoon
The search is taking place less than half a mile from where a backpack believed to belong to the killer was recovered
“We don’t want to release that now,” the mayor said. ‘If you do that, you are essentially giving a tip to the person we are looking for and we absolutely do not want to give that person the upper hand.
‘Let him continue to believe that he can hide behind the mask. We revealed his face. We are going to reveal who he is and we are going to bring him to justice.”
Thompson was shot on Wednesday as he headed to an investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown Manhattan.
His killer fled the scene on an e-bike and was seen heading towards Central Park.
He has baffled detectives by evading capture for the past four days thanks to what appears to be a meticulously crafted act of disappearance.
The suspect reportedly arrived in New York last month via the Greyhound bus that began its journey in Atlanta.
He checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side and was seen at several locations around the city prior to the murder, including a Starbucks near the crime scene he visited moments before he struck.
Brian Thompson was shot and killed Wednesday morning as he headed to the Hilton hotel downtown
Police struggle to identify killer despite execution taking place in one of the busiest and most heavily guarded cities in the world
According to police sources, shell casings with the cryptic messages on them were found at the scene
However, he paid in cash and did everything he could to ensure he could move relatively unnoticed.
The public got its first look at his face on Thursday, when the NYPD released footage of him checking into his hostel, where he briefly removed his balaclava to flirt with the receptionist.
Investigators believe he has since fled the state after he was seen arriving at a Port Authority bus station and not seen when he left.
A motive has yet to be released, but police found bullet casings at the scene with the words “deny,” “depose” and “dedefen.”
The messages bear similarity to Jay Feinman’s 2010 book “Delay, Deny, Defend,” which describes “why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it.”