The exhaustive manhunt for the suspect behind the calculated murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continues, as detectives use digital clues to track the culprit still at large. In a development shared by Gothamist, the NYPD circulated fresh images yesterday showing the alleged assassin seated in the back of a taxi, veiled in a facemask and obscured by a hood, shortly after the fatal shooting near the Hilton Hotel on West 54th Street.
As detailed by Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny in a statement obtained by FOX 5 New York, the enigmatic figure, who police believe employed a fake ID and transacted strictly in cash while in New York, meticulously masked his presence, except for a brief smile at a hostel employee. The man's movements, tracked through the city's surveillance net, culminated in the crime on the morning of December 4th, the assassin then believed to have fled the metropolis with unnerving precision.
Investigators, relying on video evidence, traced the suspect's path from the hostel to the site of the ambush, and onward to an electric bicycle escape into Central Park. The NYPD proposed that at around 7 a.m. on that fateful Wednesday, less than an hour after the killing, the suspected murderer had hailed a taxi to the George Washington Bridge bus terminal. The NYPD has extended a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest, a sum supplemented by the FBI's $50,000 offer, recognizing the suspect's alleged crossing of state lines.
A second image assists the narrative painted by the authorities, as it portrays the man, now outside—detached from the temporary anonymity a vehicle provides. Strikingly, "deny" and "defend" were inscribed on bullet casings discovered at the crime scene, a potential nod to the insurance industry's critics, noted both by the Gothamist and FOX 5 New York. These terms echo the sentiments from the book "Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It" by Jay M. Feinman, possibly linking the assassin's motives to a broader critique of the insurance behemoth Thompson represented.
The public remains a key asset in this ongoing investigation, with authorities urging anyone with knowledge of the suspect's identity or whereabouts to come forward.
