In The End, It Was a Good Old-Fashioned Photo That Led to Arrest of UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter

A McDonald’s customer recognized murder suspect Luigi Mangione from this photograph (above).

Despite the police’s use of facial recognition technology, AI, and drones, it was a photograph that helped police catch the man suspected of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

On Monday, Luigi Mangione was arrested in connection with last week’s fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown, Manhattan on New York City.

Mangione was taken into custody at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania about 300 miles away from New York City — after a customer spotted him eating at the fast-food outlet just after 9 A.M. that day.

The customer recognized 26-year-old Mangione from the photos that the New York Police Department (NYPD) distributed of the murder suspect. The customer then told a McDonald’s employee who then notified the police.

Luigi Mangione is seen in a mugshot from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

After the shooting of Thompson last week, the NYPD reportedly used cutting-edge facial recognition technology, drones, AI, police dogs, DNA, and divers in the huge manhunt for the killer who shot the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

However, in the end, it was ultimately a photograph of the suspect, that were circulated by the police and viewed by millions of Americans, which led to Mangione’s arrest.

Investigators released security camera images of an unguarded moment in which the unmasked suspect briefly showed his entire face as he smiled in the lobby of a Manhattan hostel.

In the photo, that seems to have led to Mangione’s arrest, the suspect is seen with distinct facial features including dark eyes, prominent eyebrows, high cheekbones, and a broad smile.

Photos show the unmasked suspect in a hostel.

Police apparently were unable to ID the suspect in the security footage using facial recognition technology, possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology.

So instead, the police distributed the photo to the public via news outlets and social media. Following this, a McDonald’s customer recognized Mangione eating a sandwich at the restaurant from this image.

Altoona Police Officer Tyle Frye was among two cops who responded to a local McDonald’s on Monday morning. He says they asked Mangione to pull down the surgical mask he was wearing and “recognized him immediately” from the images.

“We didn’t even think twice about it, we knew that was our guy,” Frye tells reporters.

A Photo Was The Most Important Piece of Evidence

According to a report in The New York Times, the case has highlighted, that despite advancements in facial recognition technology, distributing photos and relying on the public to recognize a face can still play a critical role in criminal investigations.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny tells the publication that if he had to credit any one moment or piece of evidence, “it would be the release of that photograph to the media.”

Along with the incriminating image of the killer, the police released several photos of the suspect including two pictures of him in a surgical mark and a black coat taken from a taxi.

Further photos showed the suspect in a cab.

In one photo, he is shown peering through the partition in the taxi, his dark eyes and eyebrows visible above his mask. These images all helped widespread interest in the case.

“There’s a reason why people are still doing things that would seem strange, like printing ‘Wanted’ posters,” Mr. Farkas, a defense lawyer who has worked as a New York City homicide prosecutor, tells The New York Times. “People actually recognize photos from hard-copy sources.”

Altoona Police say they found Mangione at a McDonald’s with a gun and silencer similar to the one used in the shooting, a three-page manifesto, and a fake New Jersey ID he allegedly used to stay at the New York hostel before the shooting.

Mangione was charged with murder, three weapons possession-related charges, and one forgery charge in Manhattan state court. He will reportedly be extradited to New York to face charges there.