0:00

When you you check out at

0:02

the pharmacy, see the journey

0:04

from from to medicine thanks to

0:06

our to property system or

0:08

IP for short. or IP short. IP

0:11

safeguards a new way to

0:13

prevent seizures or lower cholesterol or

0:15

IP supports competition from other

0:17

brands then lower -cost generics

0:19

which are 90 % of prescriptions

0:22

filled in the are 90% of prescriptions

0:24

filled in the US. Innovation, to IP. lower

0:26

Learn more at IP. .org slash

0:28

IP slash IP works. There

0:32

are some football feelings you can

0:34

only get with Bet get with MGM

0:36

right, not just the highs, just the highs,

0:38

the ohs, or the no or the the no,

0:40

that comes with being It's the feeling that

0:42

comes with being taken care of

0:45

every down of the football season.

0:47

with getting feeling that comes with getting

0:49

MGM or earning earning bonus whether you're So,

0:51

whether you're drawing up a same

0:53

your in your or or betting the

0:56

over on your favorite team, team. The

0:58

MGM app is the best place

1:00

to bet on football. football. You

1:02

get that feeling at feeling at Bet

1:04

MGM. The in Vegas, book, now

1:06

live across the DMV. the DMV. Bet

1:08

MGM and Game Sense GameSense remind you

1:10

to play responsibly, see See .com

1:13

for terms, for plus only,

1:15

DC only, subject to eligibility

1:17

requirements, to problem, call 1 -800 requirements,

1:19

gambling problem call 1-800

1:21

gambler. Do you You ever have a story

1:23

that you just can't get out of your head? of

1:25

your head? One you play the

1:27

details of of and over with your

1:30

friends. friends. Well, you've come to the

1:32

right place. I'm Claire. And

1:34

I'm And I'm And this is this

1:36

is Justice A weekly true weekly

1:38

true crime podcast where

1:40

we discuss tantalizing crimes with

1:42

more questions and answers. Thanks

1:45

for joining us. us. So

1:49

we hadn't planned on doing an

1:51

episode this early, but. early, but the beat.

1:54

beat stops for no one. Here Here

1:56

we go, a busy week. week. We

1:58

have We have Kobayashi. have

2:00

Brian Thompson. I mean, so much

2:02

has happened this week in the

2:04

true crime world. Well, I guess

2:06

Hannah Kobayashi is not so much

2:09

crime that we know. It is

2:11

something else. Well, I think everyone

2:13

is talking about this case. Let's

2:15

just dive right in to the

2:17

guided health care hit. Oof,

2:19

yeah, okay. Where should we start?

2:22

Tell me where you were Wednesday

2:24

morning, December 4th, 2024. I was

2:26

en route to New York City,

2:28

in fact. But on the train,

2:31

heading in, heard about it, breaking

2:33

news, and thought, oh my goodness,

2:35

I wonder what I'm in for,

2:37

because we pull right into Midtown.

2:40

And much to my surprise, the

2:42

city was very normal, which is,

2:44

you know, a credit to New

2:46

Yorkers. It's sort of like, yep,

2:49

we're just going to keep on

2:51

moving because that's what we do.

2:53

I also don't think a lot

2:56

of the details had been, you

2:58

know, put out there yet. It

3:00

was not even known if it

3:02

was targeted. It was suspected targeted.

3:05

I think later on the day

3:07

as more details were released and

3:09

that video surfaced, I believe, first

3:11

on Twitter. that it was just

3:14

so obvious that this was a

3:16

targeted hit, an assassin, laying in

3:18

wait, lying in wait. Well, let's

3:20

jump right in with the details.

3:23

So it's about 6.45 a.m. and

3:25

the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson

3:27

is outside of the Midtown Hotel,

3:29

the Hilton. And as he's walking

3:32

near the front doors, he's shot

3:34

three times by an assassin with

3:36

a gun and a silencer dressed

3:39

in black with a face covering

3:41

and his hood up. And the

3:43

shots are fired. The CEO goes

3:45

down. The gunman pursues him, checks

3:48

to make sure the job is

3:50

finished. And then there's a clean

3:52

getaway. A clean getaway. a city

3:54

bike, which, you know, Citibank is

3:57

the sponsor of these publicly available

3:59

bikes that you actually need a

4:01

card. You can't just take one.

4:03

You need to have registered. So

4:06

I think that's interesting. Yeah. And

4:08

then he apparently they traced him

4:10

right up to the entrance of

4:12

Central Park where he got away.

4:15

So I mean, that's what happened.

4:17

you know, on that on that

4:19

day. I think they've managed to

4:21

trace him since to his hostile

4:24

in Washington Heights. He was staying

4:26

there allegedly. So that's some new

4:28

information. But you know, the city

4:31

of New York is I mean,

4:33

NYPD is pretty great. I mean,

4:35

let's be honest, they're going to

4:37

catch this guy. But it was

4:40

impressive. I mean, there were witnesses.

4:42

He left them alone. He was

4:44

not at all bothered by other

4:46

people walking by. He didn't target

4:49

them. I mean, this was clearly

4:51

a straight mission to kill this

4:53

one individual. Yes, it looked like

4:55

a man on a mission for

4:58

sure. I think most people have

5:00

surmised that this is a paid

5:02

assassin, this is a someone who

5:04

does this professionally, unlikely though possible

5:07

that the person who fired the

5:09

trigger is the one with the

5:11

vendetta, the one seeking some type

5:13

of vengeance, but it would appear

5:16

that he was contracted in some

5:18

way. One of the things that

5:20

has stood out to me that

5:23

is very interesting is this report

5:25

that a cell phone was found

5:27

in a nearby alley. So just

5:29

everything that we do know about

5:32

this guy, which is limited, but

5:34

the professionalism, the cleanness, the complete

5:36

calculation, to me, my first thought,

5:38

was the cell phone some kind

5:41

of plant. It's some kind of

5:43

distraction. It's to send police. the

5:45

wrong trail. It's so sloppy. You

5:47

drop your cell phone. Did you

5:50

really have his cell phone in

5:52

his pocket that it could have

5:54

flown out while he was riding

5:56

a bike? You would think it

5:59

would be secured in the very

6:01

distinctive backpack that he was wearing

6:03

with many different pockets and zippers.

6:05

But the idea that this cell

6:08

phone just magically appears I would

6:10

not be surprised if it turns

6:12

out to be a total red

6:15

herring that it's either a burner

6:17

phone that comes back to no

6:19

one or, you know, if he's

6:21

really been planning this for a

6:24

long time, perhaps it's a cell

6:26

phone that he stole, that he

6:28

swiped, that was a pick pocket

6:30

situation. I know he went to

6:33

Starbucks the morning before the shooting,

6:35

you know, everyone's got to get

6:37

their caffeine, right? And Snax and

6:39

caffeine and a water bottle, which

6:42

was also allegedly dropped in that

6:44

same area. So in my mind,

6:46

I was thinking, did he swipe

6:48

someone's cell phone in Starbucks and

6:51

then drop it in the alley?

6:53

And then that person would have

6:55

been a really good suspect for

6:58

the police because they would have

7:00

been near the shooting. Their cell

7:02

phone tower data would have shown

7:04

them. being around there and a

7:07

lot of people don't realize that

7:09

cell phone tower data, you know,

7:11

it'll place you in a general

7:13

vicinity, but it doesn't. So at

7:16

the Starbucks could be close enough

7:18

for them to think, you know,

7:20

that could be the person doing

7:22

the shooting. So it could be

7:25

a really... clever way to distract

7:27

the police and have them going

7:29

down a rabbit trail that has

7:31

nothing to do with the actual

7:34

killing, or it's entirely possible that

7:36

this is his massively dumb criminal

7:38

mistake. And despite all the planning

7:40

and everything that he did, he

7:43

lost his cell phone and if

7:45

so we'll probably have him identified

7:47

by the time this episode airs

7:50

exactly to me it's it's too

7:52

convenient and I wouldn't be surprised

7:54

if he I don't know gave

7:56

the water bottle bottle never drank

7:59

it and then stole someone else's

8:01

water bottle in the Starbucks and

8:03

that's the one and so the

8:05

water bottle in the cell phone

8:08

don't even belong to the same

8:10

person and it's just police totally

8:12

confused. To me those two pieces

8:14

of evidence are so bulletproof if

8:17

it's the real suspect DNA and

8:19

their cell phone that I don't

8:21

think it's a coincidence that there's

8:23

a water bottle in a cell

8:26

phone found I think that this

8:28

shows what you know,

8:30

all the level of planning and

8:32

detail that went into it and

8:35

that it's going to be someone

8:37

else. If it turns out to

8:39

be him, then my goodness, he

8:41

really deserves to be caught as

8:44

quickly as possible. No matter what

8:46

your issues are with the health

8:48

care industry or anyone, you know,

8:50

a cold-blooded assassination carried out on

8:53

the streets with no trial, that

8:55

is not justice for anyone. Right,

8:57

I know. I tend to agree

8:59

with you on the on the

9:02

items found being intentional, intentionally dropped.

9:04

I think it buys time to

9:06

really get away because if you

9:09

have them, you know, searching down

9:11

these rabbit holes, as you said,

9:13

to try to match up DNA

9:15

or trace a cell phone purchase,

9:18

even if it's a burner, I

9:20

mean, that just takes time away

9:22

from tracking this guy down. Now,

9:24

speaking of bulletproof. It was revealed

9:27

today that there were inscriptions, words

9:29

written on the shell casings. So

9:31

I think believe it was deny,

9:33

defend, and I believe that is

9:36

part of a broader sort of

9:38

undeclared, unofficial United Healthcare slogan of

9:40

like, deny the claim, defend your...

9:43

self that you denied the claim

9:45

and there's one other word that

9:47

I'm that I'm forgetting at the

9:49

moment. Let me let me help

9:52

you out here so the words

9:54

that were engraved on the bullets

9:56

which is just wild. Deny, depose,

9:58

and defend. Okay. So those are

10:01

the three words of this book

10:03

title that came out in 2010

10:05

is called delay, deny, defend. Why

10:07

insurance companies don't pay claims and

10:10

what you can do about it.

10:12

Well, you certainly shouldn't go around

10:14

killing people, but yes, I'm sure

10:17

there are very good suggestions in

10:19

that book. That's so interesting. that's,

10:21

I mean, that someone, that he

10:23

took the time to write them

10:26

on the bullets, number one, and

10:28

doesn't that open up a potential

10:30

for fingerprints? I mean, you're holding

10:32

the, I mean, of course, you

10:35

could be wearing gloves, but he

10:37

wasn't wearing gloves, which I thought

10:39

was fascinating. Maybe this is, this

10:41

is an example of, of getting

10:44

sloppy, because he's wearing, it would

10:46

have taken much longer to identify

10:48

his race. We all know that

10:51

he's white based on his hands.

10:53

Right. Now there's been, you know,

10:55

better photos of his face. We

10:57

actually have a pretty good idea

11:00

of what he looks like now,

11:02

but the gloves would just be

11:04

so simple. And also, just all

11:06

the fingerprint DNA, touch DNA, why

11:09

wasn't he wearing gloves? That's, that's

11:11

strange. agree he was in that

11:13

Starbucks I hope they're dusting for

11:15

prince there I mean if he

11:18

wasn't wearing gloves the the face

11:20

mess thing is interesting so yesterday

11:22

in New York was absolutely freezing

11:25

and he would never have stood

11:27

out as a strange character or

11:29

anybody suspicious looking in what he

11:31

was wearing so I zoomed in

11:34

on that close-up that was released

11:36

and he's not in a balla

11:38

clava He's, you know, it's like,

11:40

it's part of his jacket. It's

11:43

sort of zipped up. It was

11:45

cold. I don't think anyone would

11:47

have thought twice about this guy

11:49

passing him on the street or

11:52

even him standing outside loitering at

11:54

the hotel. I don't believe anyone

11:56

in the hotel was like, oh,

11:59

what a suspicion. Right,

12:01

people in New York, they wear

12:03

black, they cover up when it's

12:05

cold, and they carry backpacks because

12:08

they're commuters. So he was not

12:10

at all an unusual person at

12:13

6.45 a.m. in the city. No,

12:15

but the lack of gloves is,

12:17

if it's that cold, guess what?

12:20

You're wearing gloves, aren't you? Yeah,

12:23

that is strange. And he is

12:25

taking a lot of precautions and

12:27

attempts to stay warm. So yeah,

12:30

that's that's strange. Okay, let's talk

12:32

about this backpack. Oh, sure. Oh,

12:34

wait, one, before we get to

12:36

the backpack, I just want to

12:39

say the other thing I find

12:41

very fascinating is the timing of

12:43

all this. So it was reported

12:45

that minutes before he was in

12:47

that Starbucks. So how did he

12:50

get that timing so down pat?

12:52

How did he know he would

12:54

be alone? How does he know

12:56

he's not walking with another co-worker

12:58

who might get in the... the

13:01

line of fire. I mean, there

13:03

are so many, I don't want

13:05

to call him coincidences because I

13:07

think this was certainly planned. What's

13:09

he lured out? Did he receive

13:12

a call? I mean, these are

13:14

things that I think will be

13:16

interesting to find out. It definitely

13:18

does not seem like a one-man

13:20

job. I would not be surprised

13:23

at all to find out that

13:25

they're looking at co-conspirators, that someone

13:27

in the hotel was watching the

13:29

CEO and knew when he was

13:31

exiting and gave the gunmen a

13:34

heads up. It definitely seems like

13:36

the timing was very close and

13:38

he had some type of knowledge,

13:40

a tip, to know what door

13:43

he's coming out, when he's coming

13:45

out. I mean, this- Big Hotel.

13:47

Yeah, there's lots of places he

13:49

could have been at that time.

13:51

And they were in town for

13:54

the investor meeting, but it's not

13:56

like it started at 7 AM.

13:58

So 645, this is an early

14:00

time to be leaving the hotel.

14:02

So that's definitely interesting. And I

14:05

agree. you that it's it's noteworthy

14:07

and it makes me think that

14:09

there are multiple people involved in

14:11

any kind of high level assassination

14:13

unless we want to talk JFK.

14:16

It's very rare to work individually.

14:18

There's usually, you know, I've only

14:20

ever worked one assassination case when

14:22

I was a producer at 48

14:24

hours. I worked on an attempted

14:27

assassination of a district judge in

14:29

Austin. Judge Julie Kasurik, and there

14:31

was one gunman, but there was

14:33

a getaway car driver. There were

14:36

people who were stalking her, were

14:38

planning it, had been lookouts. You

14:40

know, there was a web of

14:42

people who were involved, planned, and

14:44

executed. the shooting. And so that

14:47

is typically how it goes because

14:49

you can't have eyes everywhere. And

14:51

to get to the point where

14:53

you're successful, where you actually strike

14:55

your target, it's usually because you

14:58

have really good intelligence, which involves

15:00

more than one person. Exactly. And

15:02

speaking of the shooting, it was

15:04

then reported that the gun had

15:06

jammed after every shot. So he

15:09

knew how to quickly. fix that.

15:11

I mean this is a I

15:13

don't know much about professionally trained

15:15

assassins but I imagine this is

15:17

someone who has undergone significant training

15:20

to be able to clear those

15:22

jams and use the silence or

15:24

appropriately pretty quickly. It should be.

15:26

Yeah, as a military training, it

15:29

looked, you know, that's the kind

15:31

of firearms training that you get

15:33

in the military, whether it's the

15:35

US or abroad, you know, they're

15:37

taught how to clear jams. You're

15:40

literally in a war zone. You

15:42

have to be able to get

15:44

your shots off. And this isn't

15:46

likely to be a self-taught shooter,

15:48

in my opinion. I think it's

15:51

going to be someone with professional

15:53

training who was, um, using that

15:55

in a very unauthorized manner, but

15:57

I definitely think that this person,

15:59

the shooter, is going to come

16:02

back with with a background in

16:04

a pedigree in, you know, weapons

16:06

training, it just seems way too

16:08

slick. Wait, yeah. And the casual

16:10

nature, the cat, I mean, there

16:13

is no running, it's, you know,

16:15

just in plain view and keeping

16:17

calm and all of that must,

16:19

all that psychology must be taught

16:21

as well in that sort of

16:24

circumstance, right? Yeah, and that is

16:26

part of, you know, military, special

16:28

forces, counter intelligence training, it goes

16:30

into all of those things. So

16:33

I think that raises a lot

16:35

of, you know, potential sources to

16:37

check. Obviously, that's a lot of

16:39

people and that's a lot of

16:41

backgrounds that, but, you know, typically,

16:45

the US government's pretty good at

16:47

knowing their own. So I think

16:49

if it turns out, you know,

16:52

that these hunches are correct, then

16:54

I think they have, the police

16:56

have a lot to go on.

16:59

When you check out at the

17:01

pharmacy, you see the journey from

17:03

idea to medicine. Thanks to our

17:05

intellectual property system, or IP for

17:08

short. IP safeguards inventions, like a

17:10

new way to prevent seizures or

17:12

lower cholesterol, and IP supports competition

17:15

from other brands, then lower-cost generics,

17:17

which are 90% of prescriptions filled

17:19

in the US. Innovation, competition, lower

17:22

costs. Thanks to IP. Learn more

17:24

at pHRMA.org/IP works wonders. There

17:28

are some football feelings you can only

17:30

get with Bet MGM sports buck. That's

17:32

right. Not just the highs, the ohs,

17:35

or the no no nos. It's the

17:37

feeling that comes with being taken care

17:39

of every down of the football season.

17:41

The feeling that comes with getting MGM

17:44

rewards benefits or earning bonus bets. So

17:46

whether you're drawing up a same game

17:48

parlay in your playbook or betting the

17:51

over on your favorite team. The BetMGM

17:53

map is the best place to bet

17:55

on football. You only get that feeling

17:57

of BetMGM. sports book, in

18:00

Vegas. now live across the

18:02

Bed MGM and Game Sense, remind you

18:04

play remind you to

18:07

play responsibly. MGM.com for .com

18:09

for terms. only only,

18:11

only Subject to eligibility

18:13

requirements. requirements, gambling problem, call

18:16

1-800 gambler. All right, ready to talk

18:18

about the backpack now. about the backpack now?

18:20

Yes. So very distinct gray

18:22

backpack. So he's dressed all in

18:24

black, in black, which it's New it's

18:26

New York. dress in black because on

18:29

the subway, the you're doing everything,

18:31

you don't wanna get dirty. don't

18:33

Black is a flattering color

18:35

as well. color as well, very slimming, all

18:37

the things, right? the things, right? So

18:39

he's dressed in black. That's

18:41

not strange. That's not strange. has has

18:43

this. light gray backpack

18:45

with these brown these

18:47

brown accents very it

18:50

was very looking. This

18:52

is This is not like a student

18:54

backpack. This is not is not

18:56

typical travel backpack backpack.

18:59

Pretty quickly, people started commenting that

19:02

they recognized that backpack and

19:04

that it was made by that backpack

19:07

and And so that has

19:09

come out Peak Designs. And so

19:11

even seeing that out now. I'm even

19:14

that the of Peak and of

19:16

Peak NYPD the to

19:18

say Line to he

19:21

he recognize the backpack. So it is is

19:23

all but official that he

19:25

was carrying this kind of backpack.

19:27

Now Now, it up, up. it's

19:29

called the the everyday backpack. It is a

19:31

is a They're now, they put it on

19:33

sale. I think, they, they're now, they put

19:35

it on sale. I think they It's now

19:37

only $250 it's now only 250 trying to move

19:39

they're probably trying to move it. I

19:42

don't know that I'd want to be

19:44

associated or see wearing a backpack like

19:46

that. like that. No kidding, right? A good way

19:48

to to get flagged. So

19:50

it is it is a

19:52

camera backpack. So it's for

19:54

professional camera equipment Now, that's That's

19:57

interesting. because because it's just so

19:59

specific. How many people even

20:01

look at those types of, you

20:03

know, websites and sellers to buy

20:05

backpacks if they're not like also

20:07

professional photographers? So that's or a

20:09

hobbyist photographer. That's interesting. Yeah, you

20:11

have to know about the brand.

20:13

It's not going to come up

20:15

in a Google search of a

20:17

backpack. Yeah, yeah. And so, you

20:20

know, I know from working in

20:22

the media and carrying around my

20:24

equipment, you do need padded backpacks.

20:26

You need padded support. I usually,

20:28

I would get motorcycle backpacks actually

20:30

because they're really slim profile and

20:32

they fit really well on your

20:34

back and they have all this

20:36

padding, you know, in case you

20:38

fall up your motorcycle. But camera

20:40

backpacks are similar. in that they

20:42

require a lot of extra support,

20:45

you know, because you're not just

20:47

thrown in a book and some

20:49

pencils. You're putting this really expensive

20:51

equipment that you want to be

20:53

cushioned and protected. So that made

20:55

me think. you know what

20:57

all is he carrying in this backpack

20:59

that he was clearly the gun right

21:02

i mean yeah but i mean a

21:04

gun is so small this is a

21:06

large backpack and you know maybe the

21:08

structure itself is it's like a hard

21:11

structured backpack because it looks full it

21:13

looks like he is yeah like packed

21:15

to the gills with whatever he has

21:17

in there so you know who knows

21:20

maybe it's a disguise maybe it's you

21:22

know other weapons equipment in case you

21:24

know that gun failed yeah maybe there's

21:26

a backup plan I was even thinking

21:29

maybe it's somehow lined in case the

21:31

gun were to go off while it

21:33

was on his back that he had

21:35

put something, a bulletproof or a Kevlar

21:37

lining in there to protect himself or

21:40

in others, you know? Could be, could

21:42

be. It is a large, yeah, it's

21:44

a large backpack and yeah, people, you

21:46

jumped right on that. I feel like

21:49

that's one of those, we talk about

21:51

just dumb mistakes, to wear such a

21:53

distinctive backpack when you could have very

21:55

easily worn a plain black, you know,

21:58

backpack or like a jan. that they

22:00

make so many of them and they're

22:02

sold everywhere. So I bet you anything

22:04

they are doing a subpoena for all

22:06

the sales of this backpack in what

22:09

the last year probably I mean it

22:11

looks pretty new in the picture. Yeah

22:13

they'll have the creation date and and

22:15

all that. I mean it's so interesting

22:18

because again is it could it be

22:20

a way to buy time a red

22:22

herring? I don't know you know like

22:24

it's clearly the guy owns it but

22:27

maybe but who else? Who could have

22:29

bought it for him? Is it on

22:31

a stolen credit card? Was it delivered

22:33

to a PO bot? I mean, there

22:36

are so many ways you could get

22:38

around. It depends on how well planned

22:40

this was. Yeah, the backpack to me

22:42

feels like, um, a more reliable piece

22:44

of evidence because he's actually wearing it

22:47

versus this cell phone and this water

22:49

bottle that just allegedly appear out of

22:51

thin air. Right. So now they say

22:53

he took, they say it prior to

22:56

the hit, he took the subway from

22:58

the upper west side and then after

23:00

he's spotted at a hostel in Washington

23:02

Heights, Washington Heights is the upper west

23:05

side of Manhattan. So it seems like

23:07

his start point and end point were

23:09

similar. I think I'd love to know

23:11

more about what that host, I mean,

23:13

what that hostel is, how he checked

23:16

in, are there cameras, what was left

23:18

behind as their DNA. I mean, I'm

23:20

sure the police are all over this,

23:22

but I thought that was an interesting

23:25

thing to release so early on. Yes,

23:28

yeah, it is fascinating. This case

23:30

is fast moving and it's going,

23:32

you know, at the speed of

23:34

light, it reminded me of other

23:36

big man hunts where the police

23:38

are really using the public to

23:40

try to solve this case. And,

23:42

you know, it reminded me of

23:44

the Boston Marathon bombing. whenever they

23:46

had those two suspects and they

23:48

were trying to identify them and

23:50

they were blasting their photos out

23:52

everywhere and they were telling people

23:54

in Boston in Watertown to look

23:56

for I mean everyone was almost

23:58

like they were all as

24:01

police officers to. That's right. You

24:03

know? Yeah, and I believe they

24:05

were even found, I mean, spotted

24:07

in someone's the bed of a

24:09

pickup truck, right? And someone was

24:11

a boat actually. Yeah, it was

24:13

a boat. Yeah. I mean, so

24:15

yeah, people, it was like a

24:17

big bolo. So yeah, that's how

24:19

now the trouble is New Yorkers

24:21

are sort of, you know, a

24:23

blinders keep to themselves. head down

24:25

and keep trudging and I do

24:27

hope that everyone keeps their eyes

24:29

peeled. I think you know the

24:31

good news is I don't think

24:33

there's a public threat and I

24:35

think they've announced that pretty early

24:37

on as well and so You

24:40

know, I do hope I think

24:42

people will feel deputized as well,

24:44

but it's definitely a different vibe

24:46

because it's not an act of

24:48

terrorism. It's not innocent. You know,

24:50

he is innocent in terms of

24:52

he did not deserve to die,

24:54

but it's not. you know there's

24:56

an eight-year-old boy killed in the

24:58

Boston Marathon bombings you know there's

25:00

right there's just so much that

25:02

that went into that emotionally and

25:04

I think a lot of people

25:06

don't feel that way about this

25:08

crime although it is a cold-blooded

25:10

murder and you know I think

25:12

we as a as a nation

25:14

of laws, you know, we should

25:16

want to apprehend this person. We

25:18

don't want anyone taking the law

25:20

into their own hands and, you

25:22

know, carrying out executions. No, I

25:25

mean, especially streets in New York,

25:27

come on, 645 or not, it's

25:29

busy, you're in Midtown Manhattan, very

25:31

close to Times Square. I mean,

25:33

there's just so, there were so

25:35

many problems that could have been

25:37

in the line of fire at

25:39

the time, a guy delivering a

25:41

food delivery. I mean, there's just

25:43

so many things that could have

25:45

gone wrong. It's way too risky.

25:47

It's obviously entirely the wrong way

25:49

to handle things. I am seeing

25:51

some more information right now based

25:53

on what you were saying. You

25:55

talked about the hostile. Apparently he

25:57

stayed in a room with two

25:59

other men. That's what sources are

26:01

telling. media now. So the idea

26:03

that there are these other people

26:05

that can potentially identify him, this

26:07

is starting to look more and

26:10

more promising to be solved. I'm

26:12

also seeing that a candy wrapper

26:14

has been recovered from the crime

26:16

scene. Um, sweet too.

26:18

Well, they all start walking around wearing

26:20

bowler hats. Well, no, they're all in

26:22

it together, I guess. It's something. So,

26:25

um, yeah, it's, uh, it's definitely, there's

26:27

new information coming out and it sounds

26:29

like, well, initially, people thought, oh, this

26:31

will never be solved. It was, there's

26:34

nothing to go on. Suddenly, there's quite

26:36

a bit to go on. Do we

26:38

know if those other two men were

26:40

known to him or is the hostile

26:43

a group room situation? Yes, that's what

26:45

that's what hostels are. Yeah, so it's

26:47

actually a hotel, right? You stay in

26:50

your own private room and then a

26:52

hostel, it's shared spaces. So yeah, they

26:54

were, they were sharing spaces, most likely

26:56

did not know each other because that's

26:59

usually how it goes, unless, you know,

27:01

he's traveling in a group. But yeah,

27:03

it seems like. this is going to

27:05

be a source of information for what

27:08

he was doing, what his cover story

27:10

was, what he was doing in the

27:12

days, you know, an hours before the

27:14

shooting. So that could be interesting. I'm

27:17

sure he did not use his real

27:19

name or identification to check in, but

27:21

it's still something to go on. I

27:24

agree. I do think it's the odd,

27:26

it is odd to have a beginning

27:28

and end point the same. I think

27:30

that to me sounds very poorly planned,

27:33

but again, maybe there's a reason that

27:35

we'll learn. Yeah.

27:37

I don't know that there has

27:39

been an obvious, well, obvious motive

27:41

for this, although I saw a

27:44

report where his wife came forward

27:46

very quickly with a statement and

27:48

confirmed that he had been getting

27:50

threats, although she was not aware

27:52

of the specific threats, something about

27:55

coverage, I believe she said. So

27:57

that goes along with the bullets.

27:59

writings on the engravings or sketch,

28:01

whatever it is, on the bullet,

28:03

the words on the bullet. But

28:05

it also, I don't know. You

28:08

think it's most likely to do

28:10

with his job, but it also

28:12

could very well not be. That

28:14

could be a red herring. It

28:16

could be a personal connection. I

28:18

mean, the man was making, was

28:21

it $19 million a year? There's

28:23

a lot of people who would

28:25

kill for a lot less. So

28:27

we have no idea what potentially

28:29

the motive could be. There's certainly

28:32

no shortage of options. Considering he

28:34

worked for a health care company

28:36

and he was worth a great

28:38

deal of money. And United is

28:40

known to be the worst in

28:42

coverage, by the way. I know

28:45

it's one of the largest in

28:47

the United States, but I saw

28:49

some data come out where they

28:51

have denied more claims than any

28:53

other big insurance company. So they

28:55

have a lot. There are plenty

28:58

of lawsuits against them. Brian Thompson,

29:00

specifically, along with some other executives,

29:02

were also, I found this very

29:04

interesting, currently under indictment for insider

29:06

trading. So the greed aspect is

29:09

certainly prevalent here, although who knows

29:11

if it's the motive. Those

29:14

are excellent points. I definitely

29:16

agree that they have to

29:18

look at everything. And I

29:20

think maybe we can end

29:23

on the statement from Brian's

29:25

wife, Paulette. She said she

29:27

was shattered by the senseless

29:29

killing. Brian was an incredibly

29:31

loving, generous, talented man who

29:33

truly lived life to the

29:35

fullest and touched so many

29:37

lives. Most importantly, Brian was

29:40

an incredibly loving father to

29:42

our two sons and will

29:44

be greatly missed. R. I.

29:46

P. Well, the police have

29:48

set up a crime stoppers

29:50

reward for $10,000. The phone

29:52

number is one eight hundred

29:55

five seven seven tips. So

29:57

if you have any information,

29:59

please. forward. This is a

30:01

justice pending case in every

30:03

sense of the word and

30:05

it will likely be solved

30:07

with the public's help. Yeah,

30:09

everyone's deputized as you said.

30:13

If you are looking for

30:16

even more true crime content,

30:18

check out my upcoming book,

30:21

Killer Story, The Truth Behind

30:23

True Crime Television. A limited

30:25

number of copies are available

30:28

for preorder now, at killer

30:30

storybook.com. Justice Pending is produced

30:32

in Dallas, Texas for Rebel

30:35

Studios. Executive producers and hosts

30:37

are me, Claire Santa Monica

30:40

and Susan Passoni. Our

30:42

theme music is Bending Truth licensed

30:44

at premiumbeat.com. Thank you so much

30:47

for tuning into our first episode.

30:49

If you liked what you heard,

30:51

please rate and review and leave

30:54

us a comment. We'd love to

30:56

hear from you. When

31:00

you check out at the

31:02

pharmacy, you see the journey

31:04

from idea to medicine, thanks

31:06

to our intellectual property system,

31:08

or IP for short, IP

31:10

safeguards inventions, like a new

31:13

way to prevent seizures or

31:15

lower cholesterol, and IP supports

31:17

competition from other brands, then

31:19

lower-cost generics, which are 90%

31:21

of prescriptions filled in the

31:23

US. Innovation, competition, lower costs,

31:25

thanks to IP. Learn more

31:28

at pHRMA.org/IP works. There

31:31

are some football feelings you can only

31:33

get with Bet MGM sports book. That's

31:35

right. Not just the highs, the ohs,

31:38

or the no no nos. It's the

31:40

feeling that comes with being taken care

31:42

of every down of the football season.

31:44

The feeling that comes with getting MGM

31:46

rewards benefits or earning bonus bets. So

31:49

whether you're drawing up a same game

31:51

parlay in your playbook or betting the

31:53

over on your favorite team. The Bet

31:55

MGM app is the best place to

31:58

bet. on football. You only get that

32:00

feeling BetMGM. The sports book, Born

32:02

in Vegas now live across

32:04

across the and GameCents remind

32:06

you to play responsibly. See remind

32:09

you to play

32:11

responsibly. plus only .com for

32:13

terms. 21 to eligibility to

32:15

eligibility requirements. problem, call 1-800

32:17

gambler.