UnitedHealthcare shooter suspect ditched backpack found to have jacket and Monopoly money. Is this the latest cryptic clue behind the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson?
First it was cryptic messages on shell casings and now it’s ‘Monopoly money’ found in an abandoned backpack in what increasingly appears to be the shooter suspect who gunned down a healthcare CEO in NYC toying with authorities in a ‘made for TV drama’ while continuing to remain at large following Wednesday’s shooting.
In the latest developments, police revealed finding monopoly money in a backpack thought to belong to the masked assassin who gunned down UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson outside of a midtown, Manhattan, Hilton Hotel.
The colorful play money was found by NYPD detectives inside of a gray backpack hidden in the brush in Central Park on Friday that may be the one the gunman ditched after the shooting, police sources told the nypost.
The backpack, similar to the one the shooter wore in the caught-on-camera killing, was recovered south of the carousel near Heckscher playground.
In addition to the board game cash, a jacket was also found inside, sources said.
The jacket has since been sent to FBI headquarters for forensic analysis in the hopes it may lead to the suspect shooter’s identity and whereabouts.
The recovered backpack, which appears to be the one that the shooter was seen wearing at the time of Wednesday’s slaying appeared to be in good condition after police fetched it from wooded area in Central Park.
Of intrigue is whether the shooter had masterminded leaving the backpack along with its contents, under the assumption that police would use surveillance video to track his movements in the immediate aftermath of Brian Thompson’s shooting death.
If recovered shell casings with the words, ‘depose,’ ‘deny’ & defend’ were meant to allude to the controversial practices of the health insurance industry, and potentially referencing a 2010 book on tactics to deny insurance policy holders claims, while amassing vast riches, what potential reference could the Monopoly money hold?
The game involves players spinning die and amassing rental property along coveted streets and then exacting increasingly high rents, with each acquisition of new real estate, from those players unfortunate to land on those slots.
UnitedHealthcare CEO suspect monopoly money found in ditched backpack cryptic clues
Perhaps in the same way, the health insurance industry exacts vast wealth at the misfortune of policy holders, left out of pocket for medical expenses after believing money they had been paying into policies all along would insure them in the event of a medical need. Only to have their claim denied.
Following Wednesday’s bold shooting, in which the victim CEO had been slated to take part in an investor’s meeting at the Hilton Hotel in less than two hours, the unidentified assassin was captured on surveillance video, fleeing on a bike (yet to be recovered) through Central Park on the South side and making his way to the northern end of the park, no longer wearing his backpack.
Prior to the shooting, the assassin had been captured leaving the vicinity of the Upper West side, near the Ferederick Douglas Houses public housing complex before eventually being traced to a nearby hostel where they had stayed for the week leading up to the killing. Authorities said the assassin had paid for his stay using cash and had kept his identity concealed, booking under a fake alias.
Even while staying at the hostel, the assassin kept his mask up – even in his room, according to the alleged shooter’s roommates.
‘[The roommates] said he didn’t speak. He kept his mask on even when he was eating. He would pull the mask down to take a bite,’ a roommate told the nypost.
Nevertheless, the assassin did reveal his face for a quick second while flirting with a female worker at the front desk. NYPD has widely circulated a photo of that moment.
Along with the recovered backpack and jacket, a dropped burner phone, authorities also recovered a discarded water bottle and protein bar wrapper thought to belong to the suspect, items which will be tested for DNA.
The shooter has evaded law enforcement for four days as the FBI has joined in the massive manhunt.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Saturday that authorities have identified the suspected murderer. While declining to publicly out the man’s id and give the shooter a leg up.
‘The net is tightening,’ Adams said.
Preliminary theories behind the gunman’s identity and shooting motive include a disgruntled former employee along with a policy holder or a relative of a policy holder who had their claim denied and believing they had been cheated by UnitedHealthcare.
