An intensive search of New York City's Central Park seems to have yielded an important break in the hunt for the assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson: Police think they've found a backpack that the killer ditched as he fled the murder scene. Meanwhile, police have released a detailed timeline of his movements around the city, and say the suspect the mystery man fled the city by bus very soon after carrying out his premeditated crime on Wednesday morning.
At 6:44 am, the suspect shot the 50-year-old Thompson -- who was arriving at the New York Hilton Midtown for an investors' meeting -- in the back and leg before leaving first by foot, then using an e-bike he rode through Central Park. Police think he entered the park by riding north up 6th Avenue, and then exited the park at West 77th Street -- minus the backpack he wore before and during the killing and as he rolled into the park.
Concluding the pack was likely somewhere in the park -- and within it, perhaps the murder weapon -- NYPD assigned more than 100 police officers to comb the 840-acre expanse. They hit paydirt, with the New York Post reporting that cops found the apparent backpack in a treed area south of the Carousel near Heckscher Playground near Central Park South.
So far, police haven't leaked anything about the contents of the backpack, which appears to be an Everyday Backpack sold by Peak Designs between 2016 and 2019. Marketed for use by photographers but also used by others, the latest version goes for about $250. Police have yet to find the killer's getaway bike, which he seems to have abandoned somewhere after he exited Central Park and before he made his way to a bus station.
On Friday, police provided their most detailed accounting yet of the suspect's moves around New York City since he arrived on a Greyhound bus 10 days before carrying out the killing -- along with what they've learned from questioning of witnesses, including people who stayed at the same hostel he did:
Friday, Nov 24: The Killer Arrives
Suspect arrives in New York City at 10:11 pm on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta and made six or seven stops along its journey. Police are unsure where he got on. He immediately takes a cab to the site of the assassination -- the New York Hilton Midtown -- and walks around the area for a half hour before heading to the HI New York City Hostel at Amsterdam Avenue and West 103rd Street, on the Upper West Side near Central Park.
Per earlier reports, the suspect was said to have checked out of the hostel on Friday, Nov. 29, only to return and check back in the very next day. However, police now say the check-out appears to have only happened via an administrative entry in the hostel's systems, and that the suspect actually stayed there for all the 10 days before the attack.
Wednesday, Dec 4: The Day of the Murder
5:30 am: Suspect leaves the hostel, likely via bike, and arrives at the Hilton 11 minutes later.
5:41 am: After wandering in the hotel's vicinity and strolling back and forth along West 54th, he goes to a Starbucks and purchases water and a Kind snack bar.
6:30 am: Suspect appears to be talking on a cell phone; police later recover a phone in a nearby alley
6:44 am: He fatally shoots UnitedHealthcare CEO Thompson -- who had walked from his lodging at the Marriott across the street -- in the back and leg. The suspect flees into an alley where he apparently stashed his bike.
6:48 am: He enters Central Park at 60th Street -- still wearing the backpack -- and rides onto Center Drive
6:56 am: Suspect exits the park close to West 77th Street -- now without the backpack
6:58 am: Suspect captured on security camera video biking at 86th Street and Columbus Ave.
7:00 am: Now on foot, he's walking on 86th Street. Next, he hails a cab close to West 85th and Columbus Avenue, and heads for the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which provides interstate service to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, DC.
7:30 am: Suspect has arrived at the bus station, with video capturing him entering but not leaving, leading police to think he may have left the city very shortly after his crime.
NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny also gave new insight into how the suspect conducted himself during the several nights he stayed a the hostel:
At the hostel, he stayed under fake identification, always using cash, avoiding conversation and hiding his face with his mask even during meals, the chief said. He never spoke with anyone and lowered his mask once to speak, smiling, to the hostel clerk when he first checked in, the chief said. -- New York Times
“From every indication we have from witnesses, from the Starbucks, from the hostel, he kept his mask on at all times except for the one instance where we have him photographed with the mask off,” said Kenny. Police didn't find any clues in the room he shared with strangers -- who tell police he never spoke to them.
As we detailed on Friday, CBS News reported that scrutiny of the video of the shooting has led police to believe the murder weapon is a B&T Station SIX-9, a highly unusual weapon which comes equipped with a sound-suppressor and retails for around $2,100. However, at Friday's briefing Kenny said police were considering if the killer may have used a veterinary pistol, which he said is often used in agricultural settings for quiet euthanasia of animals.
The killer used a sharpie to write "deny," "defend" and "depose" on shell casings recovered at the scene of the crime. Given the words' similarity to the title of Jay Feinman's book, "Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims And What You Can Do About It," there's reason to think the assassination may have been sparked by animus over UnitedHealthcare's business practices -- either from a customer or an employee.
That's not to say police are ruling out other possible motives. However, with detectives having interviewed Thompson's family and associates along with police agencies in his home state of Minnesota, Kenny told reporters, “Nothing in our investigation at this time so far indicates that it had anything to do with his personal life."
