UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination: Here Are the Breadcrumbs a Killer Left Behind

Although authorities have witnesses, plenty of street footage and even DNA evidencethe nationwide manhunt for the gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been fraught with challenges for law enforcement as it stretches into its fourth day.

Since the attack at 6:46 a.m. Wednesday, the details have come into sharper focus. The attacker entered New York City On a bus from Atlanta on November 24, stayed at an AYH hostel on the Upper West Side and possibly escaped the city via the Port Authority bus station.

The FBI Local police have joined the search, and a relatively clear photo of the suspect has been distributed so the public can do the same. Here are the breadcrumbs of evidence investigators are following.

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1. A bag was lost in Central Park.

NYPD investigators found a bag in Central Park West on Friday that they believe belonged to the suspect who killed Thompson. Oh Law enforcement agency It will be taken to a lab in Queens for forensic testing, Fox News Digital told Fox News Digital.

Retired FBI agent Scott Duffy explained that the bag would go through “trace evidence processing.”

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“[It’s] A process for hair, fibers [and] DNA, Duffy said Saturday. “If he puts his hand against the strap and tightens the buckle like most of us do, that’s where the DNA can be found. And the zipper.”

2. A bottle of water fell on the scene.

After Thompson was ambushed at 57th Street and 6th Avenue outside the Hilton Midtown, the gunman took off down an alley. Investigators are now examining a water bottle they believe he dropped there for DNA evidence.

Still, Duffy said DNA would only be useful if the killer He has already been arrested in the United States and is in the National Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

“If CODIS is not a match, that DNA means nothing unless you are taken into custody. [to compare it against]Duffy said.

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A genealogical DNA profile can be set up to run against existing DNA profiles submitted to genealogy websites, but the time-consuming process of catching a mass murderer can be very time-consuming.

“If there is a genetic match, it will give you a family profile, but an investigator will [then] Need a driver’s license, photos, criminal background,” Duffy said.

A genealogical profile, Duffy said, likely won’t work unless other leads come cold.

“But let’s just say the family match that comes up is in Atlanta. That could be a start because we believe the bus came from Atlanta,” Duffy said.

3. A discarded cell phone

A cell phone, believed to belong to the gunman, was also found in the alley he used to escape.

Less than 15 minutes before the shooting of the unknown person, a video of him holding his cell phone to his ear has also emerged.

“If he was actually on the phone call — his phone was live — you could. [collect data from] Cell tower. You’d need a search warrant for that, and that’s a ton of data,” former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Morrow previously told Fox News Digital.

“You have video. You have great space and time. So, what does it do? [is] It places that phone within a certain cell grid, and you see the data around it when it looks like a call has been made. And you look at the phone calls that were made there, and, by process of elimination, you not only get the phone number that was assigned to that phone. You’re going to get what he called,” Morrow added. “And now you’ve got a real data point.”

But cracking a cell phone can take anywhere from seconds to weeks, Duffy said.

Duffy said some devices can be quickly unlocked using technology like the Celebrite, which plugs into a phone and “downloads everything that’s in that phone into a brilliant, readable, usable product.” allows for loading,” Duffy said.

But in other cases, such as when biometric security is difficult to bypass, law enforcement agencies need to contact the service provider, which prolongs the process. Duffy said some companies are more receptive to law enforcement than others because some prioritize their reputation for security and the integrity of their security measures over investigations.

4. Shell casings with a message

A popular phrase in the health care industry – “delay, deny, defend” – three shell casings with the words “deny,” “delay” and “delay” were left behind on the scene.

These lids can be scraped for DNA evidence, and the message left on them can point to a motive.

An NYPD detective told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the words were “obviously left out to make a deliberate statement.”

“It will help identify a goal and “Ultimately the suspect.” said the detective.

Alternatively, former Washington, D.C., homicide detective Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that the message could have been left behind “to throw off investigators.”

5. An adorable exchange caught on camera.

A candid photo of the suspect was taken at the AYH hostel where he stayed on November 24-27. Although others at the hostel said the man wore his mask at all times, pulling it aside only to eat, he reportedly pulled it aside and smiled while chatting with the receptionist.

While facial recognition software has come a long way in the past two decades, Duffy said, the picture likely isn’t clear enough to yield a reasonably small pool of matches.

“Still the shots are easily distorted like this person,” Duffy, who used earlier versions of facial recognition in bank robberies a decade ago, told Fox News Digital. “There might be a little bit of distortion because it’s not a good video shot.”

Some “points” are needed to match the photo to a current driver’s license or passport photo, Duffy said. He said that this is the reason why passengers can no longer smile in their passport photos.

“If you took a high school yearbook photo and submitted it, no glass, no cover, I guarantee that if the person has a driver’s license or passport photo in a state that allows It allows law enforcement agencies to use facial recognition technology,” he said. “Now you’re taking a grainy picture. That’s not enough.”

However, he said, the image is likely good enough that someone who recognizes the gunman could come forward.

6. Surveillance footage

The NYPD has access to more than 18,000 security cameras through its domain awareness system. But finding that footage — in addition to pulling additional surveillance from businesses on the killer’s trail — can be a daunting task.

“Digital Video Recovery Teams. [are] The detectives who train, go out, collect all the surveillance video from the doorbells, the cameras, all the cameras in the city. [to gather evidence] Whatever equipment they have. They are able to quickly download it, put it on their forensic thumb drive, bring it back to the police department and upload it quickly and easily,” Duffy said.

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“It hurts,” he said. “I’ve been a part of it, [and] You have to dedicate an entire team that is watching. [footage] Maybe 24/7.”

Duffy said investigators are likely looking for footage of the attacker when he first visited the city about 10 days before the shooting if there is a clear image of his face.