'Nothing more, nothing less': Writings show wandering path across the globe for Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione recognized early that his ideals were different from many of his friends.

In a Reddit post earlier this year verified by USA TODAY, the 26-year-old accused in the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson wrote that he was fascinated in high school by the concept of being able to “survive in the wild using nothing more than a survival kit small enough to fit in an Altoids can.”

And in a Reddit group on hiking with a single backpack, he posted about how, when he was little, his friends drew pictures of large dream homes with pools and multi-car garages. But Mangione said he sketched a simple four-room home, writing in the post that “it was everything I needed. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Four identically-sized square rooms: a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen/dining room, and a bathroom/laundry room. A place to sleep, a place to be, a place to eat, and a place to.. uh.. excrete . . . They thought I was weird. I thought their mansions were full of lots of b-------."

The postings by Mangione, now held in a Pennsylvania jail on a murder charge, are under intense scrutiny not only by prosecutors but also droves of internet sleuths looking for every shard of information about him and why he is accused of gunning down a health insurance executive in Manhattan on Dec. 4, using a 3D-printed gun and silencer.

Were his childhood philosophies and a desire for simplicity the eventual motivation that led him to move far away from his large and wealthy family in the Baltimore area? Did something else propel him to go solo backpacking across Asia earlier this year, and fall out of touch with friends and family? What role did his back pain play in growing concerns he shared online about modern society and health care?

Learning more about his history could help determine a motive and provide a fuller story for the jury, but prosecutors don’t need to do so to make their case, said Hermann Walz, a former assistant district attorney and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “We may want to know the reason why, but we don't have to know the reason why to convict him of a crime."

But the public is far hungrier to know more about Mangione, who in just five days has become the subject of worldwide furor and scores of social media postings from people who say they are fed up with the U.S. health care system.

“It’s important that people not pretend to act like they don't know where this is coming from,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the leader of the progressive group of Democratic lawmakers known as "the Squad," said Friday in a video posted to social media.

“All of that pain that people have experienced is being concentrated on this event,” she added. “This is not to say an act of violence is justified but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them.”

Details of past months likely key to understanding the crime

The months leading up to Thompson's death are particularly important for investigators digging into the suspect’s background and piecing together how and why the crime occurred, said Anna G. Cominsky, a professor at the New York Law School and director of its criminal defense clinic. If certain key events occurred during that period, such as planning the shooting or obtaining the gun, she said it could help prosecutors provide a clear story to the jury.

“Even though they don't have to prove motive with these charges, common sense tells us that that's going to be helpful, right?” Cominsky said. “We want to understand the whole story."

Despite his early tendencies toward simplicity, Mangione grew up in an influential family, graduating in 2016 as the valedictorian from an exclusive, all-boys private school in Baltimore. Four years later he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science.

Mangione's very large family was anchored by patriarch Nicholas B. Mangione, who, with his sweetheart Mary, raised 10 children and became a self-made millionaire and real estate developer. More than 70 members of the family gathered in 2022 for a photo shared in a newsletter for the Greater Baltimore Medical Center where a unit was named for them and where Mangione and all 36 of his cousins were born.

Known for their philanthropy and support of local hospitals and schools and other charitable projects, the family also contributed more than $400,000 to political causes since 2000, including more than $130,000 over three election cycles to the campaigns of his cousin, Nino Mangione, a Maryland State Delegate. But Mangione appears to have left that behind.

He moved to Hawaii and shared a living, working space in a Honolulu high rise in early 2022 and worked as a data engineer for a California-based online auto retailing website. Social media posts reflect that he suffered a debilitating spinal injury from a surfing accident that left him in constant pain through 2022 and much of 2023. He explained in one post on Reddit that from childhood his back would ache if he stood too long, but it grew much worse after the injury.

In early July 2023, he posted he was scheduled to have surgery in two weeks to repair spondylolisthesis, a condition that occurs when spinal bones slip out of place.

“I got caught in this loop for a year, all the while putting my life on hold in my 20s and damaging my nerves while I waffled on the decision,” he wrote. He described the surgery as a spinal fusion, a procedure that includes metal screws or plates to stabilize the back and relieve pain.

On Aug. 3, 2023, Mangione posted he had experienced relief from his surgery two weeks earlier.

“Even after getting my back sliced open and my spine drilled into, I wasn't in much pain,” he wrote in one post. “Surgery was painful for the first couple days, but I was shocked that by day 7 I was on literally zero pain meds,” he said in another.”

What transpired over the past 18 months, until he was arrested Monday in an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald's, is slowly being pieced together. His former Honolulu landlord told the Honolulu Civil Beat that he had gone "radio silent." A trail of newly unearthed social media posts, missing persons reports and efforts from at least two friends to contact him provide glimpses of cross-country biking through Asia and a visit to Japan.

His former employer confirmed to USA TODAY that he left his job at the website in 2023.

The Civil Beat reported that he was criminally cited on Nov. 12, 2023 for trespassing in a “closed area” of Nu‘uanu Pali Lookout, a scenic viewpoint on O‘ahu. At the time, he told a state parks officer his address was in Towson, Maryland, according to the citation. That's where he grew up.

In social posts, Mangione voiced growing concern about the issues of modern society, especially the potential harm posed by the rampant use of smart phones and social media among young people.

An avid reader based on his posts on Goodreads, Mangione shared links and recommendations for books, and shared posts from popular writers such as Jonathan Haidt, Tim Urban and Jash Dholani. In January 2024, he posted a review of “The Unabomber Manifesto” on Goodreads, giving it four out of five stars and liking several quotes from the book.

He also shared a link to Urban’s book, “What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies.” Urban has described his book as “a new framework for thinking about our chaotic political environment."

Mangione posted that he believed Urban's book “will go down in history as the most important philosophical text of the early 21st century.”

Travels in Asia

In an April 2024 essay on social media, Mangione wrote he had been traveling in Asia for two months in February and March with a single mid-sized backpack. “For the last 2 months specifically, it’s held up great in Asia across various countries and climates, and throughout some cross-country motorcycling,” he wrote.

Earlier this week, Japanese professional poker player Obara Jun, posted that he’d shared a photo on X.com in February of a young American sharing a table with he and his friends at a restaurant in Tokyo. The photo shows a man who strongly appears to be Mangione smiling broadly and sitting next to Jun.

Jun posted that he was with friends at the restaurant when Mangione walked in, saying that he was on vacation from Hawaii. "He came in by himself, and we talked to him and treated him to a meal and drinks because we wanted him to enjoy Japan . . . I have no idea what kind of person he is."

Jun concluded his post by saying "I would also like to express my deepest condolences to Mr. Thompson of United Healthcare."

On April 18, while traveling, Mangione posted on X.com: “Modern Japanese urban environment is an evolutionary mismatch for the human animal,” he wrote. Among other suggestions, he advised encouraging “natural human interaction, sex, physical fitness and spirituality.”

British writer and blogger G. S. Bhogal, who writes on the Substack platform, posted this week that he corresponded with Mangione in the spring, sharing screenshots of the images, including one where Mangione wrote that he would be in Japan for the start of May.

In June, Mangione's last post on X.com shared a discussion on the impact of smart phones and social media on mental health and brain plasticity.

In July, a Google search shows a friend wrote that he hadn’t been heard from in months. “You made commitments to me for my wedding and if you can’t honor them I need to know so I can plan accordingly,” the friend wrote in a post that has been deleted.

In October, another user tried to check in with Mangione on X. An Internet search shows the now-deleted post said: “Hey are you ok? Nobody has heard from you in months, and apparently your family is looking for you.”In November, media reports indicate Mangione’s mother reported him missing to San Francisco Police. The department declined multiple requests to confirm that information to USA TODAY or provide any details.

Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole said finding out what changed with Mangione and when is critical information for investigators.

O’Toole said it’s understandable that a person in their mid-20s might pull away from family to gain some independence, "but cutting off contact with loved ones and traveling abroad alone after leaving his job and suffering health issues is a cause for concern."

“It's not a singular track. It has to be many influences coming together to affect one person,” she said, like depression or other mental health issues.

In his April 2024 essay, Mangione wrote that he’d always been “hyper-obsessed with efficiency, and I’ve never been very materialistic.” The traits are why he became an engineer, he wrote.

He described in intricate detail the thought and care he’d placed into finding items that would be the lightest and take up the least space, in his single backpack. At the end of the essay, he posed the question: “What next? Can it get any more minimal than living out of one bag?”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Luigi Mangione's path across the globe shows visits to Hawaii, Japan