The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive was yearning for a normal lifestyle, but a severe back issue made it impossible for him to have sex, a former roommate revealed.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday following a six-day manhunt and charged with the December 4 cold-blooded murder of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
Mangione, a “well-educated” Ivy League graduate, comes from an affluent Italian-American family that owns a real estate empire in Baltimore County in Maryland.
His arrest shocked family members and friends, who described Mangione as a non-violent person and remembered him as more of a “friendly and thoughtful leader.”
“He was a very thoughtful person. Communicated really well, was friendly. Had good relationships with everyone. He was even, in some ways, a bit of a leader,” RJ Martin, the founder of Surfbreak, a co-living community in Honolulu, Hawaii, told CNN.
Martin, who befriended Mangione and initially interviewed him for a space at the co-living community, described the alleged assassin’s back problems that at times left him bedridden from basic surf lessons.
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.
RJ Martin
“His back was kind of misaligned,” Martin told The New York Times.
“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.”
What we know so far…
Martin recalled the difficult and traumatic condition Mangione was in and confided in him and several other roommates how he was incapable of being in a relationship due to his back issues.
“He knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible,” Martin added.
“I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks.”
Mangione underwent back surgery in 2023 that left him with screws in his back, Martin told CNN.
“He sent me the X-rays. It looked heinous with just giant screws going into his spine,” he added.
“After that, he called me once, I didn’t pick up.”
The two texted back and forth briefly in April, and Mangione promised Martin they would catch up via phone but never did.
“Yo! You awake?” Martin texted Mangione in late May, according to the New York Times.
Then, on June 23, Martin followed up, “Where in the world are you?”
Martin never heard from Mangione again but remembered, “He was absolutely a not violent person, as far as I could tell.”
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