--:-- Ryan Knudsen: Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudsen. It's Tuesday, December 10th.
--:-- [Discussion continues with a brief advertisement]
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: After a six-day manhunt, a man is in custody in connection with the murder of the United Healthcare CEO. Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, was arrested hundreds of miles away from the scene of the crime at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He's been charged with murder.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: The story is far from over. There's yet another layer to the story, which is the response from the public and the deep, deep anger at the health care system, at the health insurers in particular.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And so we've actually seen a case where you have a murdered executive who's a father of two, and yet you have all sorts of sympathy online for the killer, which is unusual.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: Coming up on the show, the murder of a health insurance CEO and what we know about the alleged killer.
--:-- [Advertisement for Mint Mobile]
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was a man named Brian Thompson. He was 50 years old, had two kids, and he'd been in the role for about three years. Last week, he was in New York for a big investor conference. Around 6.45 a.m. on Wednesday, he was walking outside the Hilton Midtown Hotel when a man in a dark jacket and a hood shot him in the back multiple times.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: So after Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was murdered, what clues did the police have to go off? I think that their clues were largely surveillance. And this is, you know, Midtown is one of the most surveilled places on the planet, apparently.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And it's utterly mysterious as to what has happened, why this has happened.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: And then, yesterday...
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: We begin with that breaking news out of Pennsylvania. After a six-day manhunt, a man is in custody in connection with the murder of the United Healthcare CEO.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, was arrested hundreds of miles away from the scene of the crime at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He's been charged with murder.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: But the story is far from over. There's yet another layer to the story, which is the response from the public and the deep, deep anger at the health care system, at the health insurers in particular.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: And so we've actually seen a case where you have a murdered executive who's a father of two, and yet you have all sorts of sympathy online for the killer, which is unusual.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudsen.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: I'm joined now by our colleague Joshua Chaffin, who's been covering the story.
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: So let's start with what we know about the alleged killer, Luigi Mangione. What can you tell us about him?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: Well, Luigi attended a very prestigious school, the Gilman School, an all-boys school where tuition runs up to $40,000 a year. He was the valedictorian, graduated in 2016.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about his background? What do we know about his family?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: He's from a very affluent, prominent family in Maryland. The family owns or developed a golf course and resort. It's a large Italian-American family. One of the members is a local representative.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about his personality? What makes you think he was idealistic?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: He had written some blog posts in high school talking about, you know, he became very interested in computer programming. You know, we can follow books that he read and so forth, you know, through college and after college.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about his interactions with the healthcare system? Did he have any experiences that might have motivated him to commit this crime?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: He had back surgery and then at some point this year he lost contact with some of his friends and family. There are messages on his social media from friends saying, you know, hey, are you okay? What's happened to you?
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about the public reaction to this crime? We've seen a lot of sympathy online for the killer. What do you make of that?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: It's unusual, but it's also a reflection of the deep anger that people have towards the health insurance industry. And I think that's what's really striking about this story.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about the health insurance industry's response to this crime? Have they said anything about it?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: So far, I think the industry is just looking from the outside, is that they themselves are sort of in a state of shock as to what happened and still kind of digesting this whole saga and what it's telling them, how people feel about them.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what questions do you still have about Mangione and this incident?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: We have a lot of questions. You know, there's a lot of sort of gumshoe, police work, basic stuff. You know, when did he get to New York City? How did he get here? What was he doing day in, day out while he was preparing?
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And what about the public reaction to this crime? Do you think it says anything about America right now?
--:-- Joshua Chaffin: It does feel like we're in a kind of time of anger and earthquakes and eruptions. And, you know, every institution suddenly seems kind of vulnerable or at risk from, you know, this kind of public rage and discontent.
--:-- Ryan Knudsen: And that's all for today. Tuesday, December 10th. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.
