Deep dive into UnitedHealthcare CEO’s personal life will play key role in investigation: retired NYPD officer

Investigators in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are engaging in a “deep dive” into his personal life, including his family and friends, a retired NYPD officer told Fox News Digital Friday. 

“In this case, I think what the cops are really looking at, what the investigators are really looking at is the victim because the overwhelming majority of homicides are committed by someone the victim knows,” Ralph Cilento, a retired lieutenant commander of detectives at the NYPD and adjunct professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, explained.

“It’s a very high percentage, like near 90%, I think. So, other than the crime scene analysis, what goes on forensically, what recovered shell casings and live rounds and things like that [there are] in every homicide – not just this one – there is a deep dive into the victim.”

He said even if the victim didn’t know the suspect, they may have known each other “by proxy if someone sent an assailant to kill somebody.”

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“So, generally, the way you investigate homicides, among other ways, is you start with the victim and you make concentric circles out, and usually the perpetrator is in there somewhere. Not always, but usually,” he explained. 

Cilento also noted that the shooting happened the morning of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

Thompson was killed early Wednesday morning in front of the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan. 

“Now, it is before the tree lighting, but the way NYPD works is any detail that size starts the night before,” he said. “So, it’s a pretty brazen act, where we can assume that there are many more cops on the street.

“So, we don’t know if this guy walked past cops that have body cameras on. So, all of that footage has to be gone through. It is an enormous, painstaking and tedious assignment. This is a tremendous workload to gather all that video.”

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A split image of United Healthcare’s corporate headquarters and CEO Brian Thompson, who was murdered Wednesday.  (Getty Images I AP)

Cilento also noted there is a team of investigators at Thompson’s home near Minneapolis. 

“Remember, in order to get leads about the homicide, you necessarily need to investigate the victim,” he said. “And you go out and out and out in circles from there — his emails, communications with his wife, with his family members, communications with current employees and former employees. Was he being threatened in any way? Did he just deny a customer of the health care company coverage for something? All of these avenues need to be explored. They’re all being explored.” 

He added that while he’s not surprised the suspect was able to escape in the “short term, his days are numbered.” 

He said investigators are putting “far too many resources” into the investigation for him to not be caught soon. And it’s impossible to not leave an electronic footprint despite the suspect’s efforts to check in to his Manhattan hostel before the shooting with a fake ID and pay with cash. 

A screenshot from surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.  (NYPD Crime Stoppers )

Cilento called the suspect using a fake ID and paying with cash a mere “speed bump” in the investigation. 

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“They’re running down every lead,” Cilento said. “So, there’s a team in Minneapolis, there’s a team dedicated to just recovering video, which itself is a tedious and daunting task. And it’s not just recovering video. 

“Thousands, cumulatively, thousands of hours of video has to be gone through. And there’s detectives somewhere scouring video for a glimpse of this guy. There are other detectives scouring NYPD body cameras on the chance that he was unmasked and walked past a cop whose body camera was activated. And the only way to do that is by doing it. And that is a tedious and granular task that needs to be seen to. And I can assure you it’s being seen to.”