NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #4

[acehard]

Gives me the effing creeps.

Scott Ratigan CCTV footage on the left.

Lot of people dress like that in winter in the cities. They still didn't catch Scott Ratigan's killer. Not sure if they even know their identity. The PD released this a year after the crime.

I hope they act fact in this case before they get away. MOO

 

[CityKid]

Is there anyone who saw the hostel photo and blvd this to be a woman?

TBH he resembles an ex of mine. He also had very fine features (in an almost "pretty" way), pale skin, slim but in good shape. He was also fully Colombian, which is why I'm not weighing in on gender or ethnicity with this perp! The one thing I'd say is either by visiting or by receiving intel on NYC, he's done a lot of things that show familiarity with the city.

 

[Torbs]

Greyhound operates out of the GWB bus station, with buses to Philly, Boston and DC. Other bus operators are also there with other routes. From the GWB bus station website -- bus gates & routes:

NJ Transit:
Gates 11-18

• Route 171: Gate 12
• Route 175: Gate 13
• Route 178: Gate 17
• Route 181: Gate 14
• Route 182: Gate 18
• Route 186: Gate 15
• Route 188: Gate 11

Express/Spanish Transportation:
Gates 9, 10, 20, 21

• Bergenline: Gate 9 & 10
• Paterson: Gate 20 & 21

Greyhound:
Gates 6-8

• Service to Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC.

Rockland Coach/Red & Tan:
Gate 1

• Route 9A/AT

OurBus:
Gate 2

• Service to Ithaca, Binghamton, Syracuse.

Field Trips 101 (OurBus):
Gates 2,3

• Service to Binghamton, Ithaca, Geneva-Waterloo, Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara Falls (Connection to Scarborough, ON-Toronto).

Niagara Scenic Tours (OurBus):
Gates 2,3

• Service to Binghamton, Sayre, Elmira, Corning, Geneseo, Batavia, Buffalo Airport, Buffalo. George Washington Bridge Bus Station

This is good stuff, I wasn’t aware of Ourbus. Greyhound is out because they only pass through in the afternoon and evening. Ourbus, on the other hand, has a suddenly very conspicuous 8:20 AM outbound bus that terminates in Niagara Falls at around 5. If you subscribe to the international angle to this, it would be quite easy for him to have gone to Canada using this route.

As far as I can tell that is the only bus leaving the GWB station at around the time he was there that goes anywhere far away.

 

[GRT]

NJ, like most states, embeds holograms, etc., to make it easier to spot fake IDs, so this guy must have had a fairly convincing one. Did he make it himself? If someone made it for him, they're obviously laying low.

 

[Deleted member 306806]

Wow, that does sum it up. While it can be tricky to make generalizations, "American crimes" have the feel of being more boisterous, more impulsive, and less slick and "stylish."

Maybe because American crimes like public shooting have the hallmark of not smart enough to plan, and seem to get caught awful quickly? The guy here seems to have planned how to travel to the area, how to take out a target, and then how to leave. He had to have known at any point he might get caught, but to carry on until he did. I bet he had plan A and plan B for each step along the way.

 

[Kapua]

No. The eyebrows give the gender away.

And the hands, if you look at the other pic.

 

[clearskies1]

This is interesting isn’t it (unless it’s sloppy reporting), why did he check out and why check back in again OR did he stay somewhere else for one night? Is there a limit on the continuous number of nights you can stay at that hostel?

Is it possible he is still in NYC? Eg gone back to his normal life?

The only time limitation noted on that hostel's website is this: "Maximum length of stay is 21 days per calendar year". When I entered dates to book a room, exceeding 21 continuous days was the only thing that caused an error -- a message that the maximum length of stay was exceeded. HI New York City Hostel - HI USA

 

[CityKid]

I'm still leaning towards BT setting up the murder himself.
1. Scheduled it for NY so that it will be far away from his wife and kids. He knows it will be bad for them either way, but setting it up in NY is almost like a buffer between the two places so that locals don't have to deal with it, hence involving his family. Anyone looking to kill him would find it easier in the small suburb in Minnesota: less cameras, less traffic, less police experience in these kinds of killings. So much easier in Maple Grove, Minnesota than NYC, NY.
2. He was under investigation with insider trading. Maybe he was afraid the money would be taken from him, thus his kids and estranged wife would be left with nothing, plus the shame of him being found guilty and possibly going to jail. He would rather die than go to jail or his boys be ashamed of him. Plus he had life insurance going to them.
3. Shooter had no qualms about going to Starbucks less than 30 minutes before shooting. He had no worries about "missing" the timeframe of BT walking out, so he knew absolutely what time BT would walk out. How? Only BT would know as no one was with him. Even if a bellman would tip him off, he sure as heck would not be hanging out getting a latte and missing the chance when bellman would call him with the tip "Hey, he just got off the elevator." I think he was on the phone with BT himself who said "I'm heading down right now. And I've got on a bright blue blazer."
4. BT wore a bright blue jacket -- not something a CEO going to a conference would wear. Plus it was frigid. BT worth millions. Would have had a nice suit, plus overcoat. And I don't think BT had any kind of bag with him. Most people going to a daylong conference would have his laptop bag. I think BT knew he was NOT going to need his laptop, so he left it behind. BT was 50 years old. Young enough to be very techy savvy. My adult kids and my husband all rely on their laptops at work: leaving it in a hotel room while going off to work for a day in NYC would make no sense at all.
5. Hitman was in NYC for 10 days. I think he was given $$ ahead of time. Thought, well, I might as well visit NYC because they will be looking for me afterwards, so I'll just go early and see the sights. BT was in town for just one day conference, so it's not like Hitman was looking at BT's regular activity for ten days.
6. Bullets being labeled was a setup to let everyone think it's a disgruntled insurancee or their family member.
7. BT used to have security. Why not in NYC?
8. Hitman seemed too casual to be on a personal vendetta. More of a professional hitman who knew he had a job to do, but was experienced enough that this was not too big of a deal. If I was wanting revenge for a loved one or for myself, I would be focused on getting the job done: in Maple Grove closer to his home so his loved ones could experience the pain I had closer to them, not seeing the sights in NYC, not smiling at the hostel employee, not smiling at all. NYC is way too expensive to do a hit there and everyone knows there are cameras everywhere. Doing it in Maple Grove would have been so much easier and less newsworthy.

I like this theory. I'll just add that in the video, with BT in a bright-blue, very not CEO-like jacket, he's walking weirdly. Not a brisk, getting where he's going type of walk, yet not a gawking tourist walk. It's a stiff, slow walk. Like you know something is going to happen but you're not sure exactly when.

 

[Agatha3]

Is it unusual for UHC not to match the FBI reward in a situation like this?

Well there hasn’t been a situation like this and that’s why I think BT felt safe just strolling to conference centre alone.

 

[ElizaKate]

Good article on reasons why he hasn't been caught yet. Many have been theorised over the hours here but it's a good summary:

Why finding the suspected CEO killer is harder than you might think​

Surveillance Footage

• It could take weeks to find and scrub through a massive array of video footage from all the places where the gunman may have travelled.
• Suspect appeared on camera numerous times but always kept his hood over his head and wore a mask in public places.

Central Park evidence

• Spanning 843 acres, Central Park is larger than the country of Monaco.
• Suspect entered and left the park within minutes.

Police tips naming suspect

• Vigilante justice- thoughts that the man is enacting vigilante justice against a health care system that values profits over patients’ lives could hinder some people’s motivation to report possible sightings of him.
• Tens of thousands of social media users mocked the death of the health insurance CEO and showed little sympathy after the killing.

Facial recognition

• No central database - NYPD can't just search one database. If suspect is not a New Yorker, or committed a crime in NY before they are unlikely to have his image on file. Facial recognition requires cooperation from local LE across the US searching each of their databases.
• LE do not have automatic access to DMV database. "It’s a legal permissioning process."

Phone data

• "It’s a very complex matrix of hardware and software, and that’s kind of what determines whether or not law enforcement has the capability to get past that locking mechanism."
• “you might be able to get into an iPhone 7 running iOS whatever, but you couldn’t get into one if it was running a different iOS"
• "Once you get into the phone, then you’re dealing with the problem of encrypted content"

DNA from the water bottle

• Suspects DNA may not be in the database
• Familial DNA (if releatives are in the database) takes longer to process

“It’s far more complicated than it seems from the outside.” - former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/07/us/suspect-search-unitedhealthcare-ceo/index.html

 

[snarast]

And the hands, if you look at the other pic.

The jawline is very masculine. But given how lithe he is, he could pass for a woman, and a pretty one at that, if he tried to. IMO

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This + the several others mistakes he made in leaving evidence strongly suggests that despite the planning, it was not a professional hit. Nothing will be taken for granted, but I think the words on the bullets are a good indicator of motive.

I feel the words on the bullets are highly strategic, but nothing to do with the motive.

 

[user1276494748]

<modsnip - good link, so removing member's misheard comment>

 

[Agatha3]

Theory that BT had to be eliminated because he might have been thinking of telling the feds all he knew about the alleged insider trading and other fraud which they were reportedly investigating.

Was a ransom paid or promised in the cyber attack?

 

[Data Sleuth]

It did dawn on me today that the suspect appears to have left the city with nothing but the clothes on his back. Not to say you couldn’t make it to GA in that condition, if that’s the actual destination, but it is a long way to go without a phone(?) or many/any possessions. Maybe not top concerns when you’re evading a murder charge that’s national news but leads me to think he didn’t go too far, at least initially. Whether that was to catch a plane, receive some assistance etc

Or perhaps prior to the murder he rented a locker at the bus terminal that he departed NYC from and stashed a change of clothes and another burner phone. Then acccessed the locker prior to his subsequent departure.

 

[CamilleBSP]

I totally agree. The city is a main character in this assassination. We talk about it more than the victim for a reason. NYC is a big part of this crime and the killer used the city well.

jmo

He 100% chose NYC because even if there are lots of cameras, it’s easy to disappear in the crowd and blend in!
In Minnesota he’d stand out a lot more, I’d wager…

 

[clearskies1]

This is good stuff, I wasn’t aware of Ourbus. Greyhound is out because they only pass through in the afternoon and evening. Ourbus, on the other hand, has a suddenly very conspicuous 8:20 AM outbound bus that terminates in Niagara Falls at around 5. If you subscribe to the international angle to this, it would be quite easy for him to have gone to Canada using this route.

As far as I can tell that is the only bus leaving the GWB station at around the time he was there that goes anywhere far away.

Yes, I saw Greyhound buses from GWB to Boston, Philly and DC leaving in the early afternoon -- at 1:25 pm and 1:45 pm. Maybe I missed it, but didn't see any Greyhounds earlier than that from GWB. Risky to sit in the bus station and wait that long. Maybe he did get on a different bus carrier at GWB to somewhere else.

 

[Kapua]

The jawline is very masculine. But given how lithe he is, he could pass for a woman, and a pretty one at that, if he tried to. IMO

He's young, thin, and attractive, but personally I don't see any feminine features.

 

[Inthedetails]

Or perhaps prior to the murder he rented a locker at the bus terminal that he departed NYC from and stashed a change of clothes and another burner phone. Then acccessed the locker prior to his subsequent departure.

There are no lockers at the GWB. But he could've met someone who provided a change of clothes. There are restrooms.

jmo

 

[Elley Mae]

Or perhaps prior to the murder he rented a locker at the bus terminal that he departed NYC from and stashed a change of clothes and another burner phone. Then acccessed the locker prior to his subsequent departure.

10 days, you’d think he would have more then the clothes on his back.