TRUE CRIMEUnitedHealthcare CEO's Accused Murderer Luigi Mangione Went 'Radio Silent' Months Before Brian Thompson's Tragic Murder
Brian Thompson's accused killer allegedly didn't speak to his family for months before the UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder.
Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO murderer Luigi Mangione's behaviors in the weeks leading up to Brian Thompson's cold-blooded killing are being re-examined following the suspect's arrest on Monday, December 9.
After Mangione was charged with murder and other related counts, a friend of the University of Pennsylvania alumni confessed his pal suspiciously went "radio silent" for "several months" before the murder of Thompson in New York City.
Luigi Mangione was booked in Pennsylvania on Monday, December 9, before he was charged in NYC for murder hours later.
A man named R.J. Martin — who founded a co-living space named Surfbreak near Honolulu’s Ala Moana Beach Park in Hawaii, where Mangione lived from January to June 2022 — spoke out during an interview with a news publication after learning of his friend's arrest.
"I loved this guy. In some ways I feel like my members are my kids," Martin admitted of Mangione, whom he recalled suffering from "chronic back pain" as a result of an apparent pinched nerve.
Luigi Mangione was arrested at McDonald's in Pennsylvania.
Martin was last in touch with Mangione when exchanging texts after the accused murderer's back surgery — though he abruptly stopped hearing from the 26-year-old over the summer.
"He went radio silent in June or July," Martin informed the news outlet.
The 26-year-old went to the University of Pennsylvania and lived in Hawaii for half a year.
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Martin's spokesperson Josiah Ryan told a second news publication Mangione underwent and passed a background check before moving into the co-living space in Hawaii.
"Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints," Ryan explained. "There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed."
Regarding Mangione's alleged "debilitating" back pain, Ryan said the physical setback would at times impact his everyday life.
"He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back," Ryan shared, mentioning how Mangione and Martin used to go rock-climbing together until heading back to mainland United States for surgery last year.
The suspect used a fake ID to stay at a hostel in the Upper West Side before allegedly killing Brian Thompson.
"His spine was kind of misaligned," Martin claimed, per the second news outlet. "He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he’d be doing well and other times not."
Martin additionally alleged Mangione felt he couldn't be in a romantic relationship because "he knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks."
Another old pal of Mangione named Aaron Cranston — who was the accused killer's former classmate at Gilman School in Baltimore — told the news publication he and some other pals were contacted by Mangione's family members after they had failed to get in touch with him for months.
Honolulu Civil Beat spoke to Martin, while the New York Times interviewed Martin and his spokesperson.
