Before allegedly killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk, Luigi Mangione endured tremendous back pain that prevented him from being intimate with women, according to his landlord.
Mangione, 26, has been charged with several crimes, including murder related to the Thompson shooting. Raised in an affluent family from Baltimore, Mangione was valedictorian of Gilman prep school before attending the University of Pennsylvania.
However, Mangione's fate appeared to diverge while living in Hawaii. During a surf lesson, Mangione aggravated a back condition he had had since childhood known as spondylolisthesis, according to The Daily Beast.
He found himself bedridden for a week in excruciating pain. Even after he was able to get out of bed, Mangione continued to struggle with pain and discomfort.
Mangione was staying at a co-living, co-work space called Surfbreak. Surfbreak's founder, R. J. Martin told the New York Times that Mangione's spine was "kind of misaligned. He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve."
Martin also told the Times that Mangione "knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn't possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks."
Martin and Mangione first met in 2022 when Mangione interviewed to be among the first dozen people to rent out Surfbeak's first Honolulu living space for about $2,000 a month, the New York Post reported.
The suspected killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was seen smiling in a recently released surveillance photo was reportedly grinning because he was flirting with a female hostel worker, according to a report.
The suspect had apparently pulled down his mask long enough for the still to be taken because the front desk worker had asked to see his smile, police sources told ABC News.
The Daily Beast reported that reported that in July 2023, a Reddit user who matches Mangione's profile said he underwent spinal surgery that seemed to have eased some of the symptoms. The user also discussed other potential health issues including Lyme disease and "brain fog."
Mangione had five books involving chronic back pain on his reading list on his Goodreads account, the New York Post reported.
Mangione had increasingly been out of touch with his family and friends following back surgery in 2023, according to several news reports. Mangione's mother was apparently so concerned with his whereabouts that she filed a missing persons report with San Francisco police last month, The San Francisco Standard reported.
