UnitedHealthcare CEO killing latest: Suspect Luigi Mangione to fight extradition to New York
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(NEW YORK) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson plans to challenge his extradition from Pennsylvania to New York, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder in connection with last week’s high-profile fatal shooting.
The suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday and charged in Pennsylvania for allegedly possessing an untraceable “ghost” gun.”
“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, his attorney, Thomas Dickey, told reporters in Pennsylvania.
He also plans to plead not guilty to the charges filed against him in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Dickey said. A Pennsylvania judge ordered Mangione, 26, held without bail on Tuesday.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”
Dickey said he anticipates that Mangione would plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
The attorney said he has limited information about the facts of the New York murder case but he conceded Mangione is “accused of some serious matters.” He added that Mangione is “taking it as well as he can.”
Mangione’s defense was on Tuesday given 14 days to file a formal challenge to the extradition. The suspect was shackled at the waist and ankles during the hearing at Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
The judge ordered Mangione held without bail, returning him to the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he’s listed as inmate QQ7787.
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(ANNAPOLIS, Md.) — A federal judge paused the child sexual abuse case involving President-elect Donald Trump’s education secretary pick Linda McMahon, her husband Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
The Maryland lawsuit, filed in October by five John Does who worked as the ringside crew when they were teens, alleges WWE co-founders Linda and Vince McMahon turned a blind eye to years of sexual abuse of the underaged “ring boys” by an announcer and executives at the company. The McMahons have denied the claims.
The stay in the case is a major development for the businesswoman and former Small Business Administration head — Linda McMahon’s cabinet role is tasked with investigating sexual misconduct in education programs.
Linda McMahon has been meeting with senators who will determine whether she’ll be confirmed for the position in Trump’s second administration while her apparent lack of experience in schools is being debated.
U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar granted a stay in the case pending a ruling by the Supreme Court of Maryland in the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 (CVA). The CVA could repeal the statute of limitations in certain civil actions relating to child sexual abuse, according to Maryland House Bill 1. This includes sexual abuse and any other sexual conduct that is a crime.
Earlier this week, the defendants, WWE, it’s parent company TKO, and the McMahons, sought a stay in the case until the Maryland Supreme Court rules on CVA’s constitutionality. The defendants argued a motion to stay was key in the case involving alleged abuse from roughly forty years ago. A decision by the high court is expected Aug. 31, 2025.
The scathing lawsuit came just weeks before Linda McMahon’s nomination for education secretary. The decades-old sexual abuse allegations were slammed by her attorney, Laura Brevetti. In November, Brevetti told ABC News the FBI investigated the allegations at the time and found no grounds to further investigate the claims, calling the most recent lawsuit “baseless.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment. However, the allegations could impact McMahon’s confirmation for the cabinet position.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told ABC News if there’s evidence proving Linda McMahon concealed the alleged sexual abuse scandal then it would be a “pretty big concern.”
(NEW YORK) — Details about the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 were revealed for the first time Friday during the trial of the man accused of killing them.
Richard Allen is charged in the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The two friends were found dead a day after they went out for a walk on a hiking trail in February 2017.
Allen has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.
Police have never released how the eighth graders were killed. During opening statements Friday in the long-awaited trial in Carroll County, Indiana, the prosecutors provided the jurors with details about the murders.
“You’re going to see the crime scene,” prosecutor Nick McLeland said. “It was a gruesome scene. Libby was completely naked. Her throat was cut, blood all over. Abby’s throat was also cut.”
McLeland said the case is about three things: the “bridge guy,” an unspent bullet found at the crime scene and the brutal murders of Libby and Abby, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge.
According to McLeland, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat while they were crossing over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, so Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, he said.
McLeland said the man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls “down the hill.” The girls complied and then, the video on the cellphone stopped recording.
According to McLeland, Allen testified that he was on the trail that day. Investigators also found a gun in his house, and testing showed a bullet found at the crime scene cycled through that gun.
McLeland said Allen also confessed to committing the crime to his wife and mother voluntarily while in jail.
Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said in his opening statement that there is reasonable doubt in the case, arguing that the state’s investigation was botched from the beginning.
Baldwin questioned the timeline and cellphone evidence in the state’s case, holding up a phone to the jury and saying, “Forensic data on these phones don’t lie.”
Baldwin said the prosecution claims Abby and Libby were dead by 4 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were never moved until they were recovered the next day. He said the prosecution’s timeline puts Allen in a parking lot near the trial at 1:30 p.m. but his cellphone data shows he was gone by 2:15 p.m.
Addressing the unspent round found at the crime scene, Baldwin said law enforcement commonly used that type of bullet, but police never investigated if an officer was missing one. He also said the owner of the property where the girls were found owns a similar weapon but his gun was never tested.
The defense also argued Allen’s mental health was in decline while in prison, which led to him to confess to the crime.
The defense told jurors they believe the girls were killed somewhere else and their bodies were returned to the crime scene — that searchers saw no bodies or girl’s clothing in the creek on the night of Feb. 13, and witnesses near the crime scene also never heard any screams.
Baldwin also said hair found in Abby’s hand was a possible match to a female relative of Libby, and not Allen. The defense revealed the evidence for the first time during proceedings earlier in the week.
Ahead of opening statements, Judge Frances Gull ruled the composite sketches of a person of interest in the case released by the Indiana State Police early in the investigation will not be used during the trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent defense attorneys from referencing the sketches, arguing they were for generating leads in the case and were not used to identify Allen as a suspect in the case.
(NEW YORK) — A mother of four who has been missing for nearly six months has been found dead in a wooded area in Missouri, authorities confirmed.
Sheriff Dave Marshak of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced that the body of 33-year-old Emily Strite, who was first reported missing on April 20, was discovered in a wooded area approximately 45 miles southwest of St. Louis, Missouri, according to a statement from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office released on Tuesday.
“On September 28th, deputies responded to a wooded area near the 4100 block of Frissell Road in De Soto for a report of human skeletal remains found by the property owner,” authorities said. “Through comparison to medical and dental records, investigators with the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the remains are those of Emily Strite. She was reported missing in the De Soto area in April of this year.”
Detectives said in April that Strite was last seen on foot wearing jeans and a dark blue hoodie on the morning of April 12 in the De Soto area and “is believed to have been leaving the area of her own free will,” police said.
“At this time, Strite’s cause of death is undetermined, and investigators are working to learn how her body ended up where it was found,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The investigation into her disappearance and death remains ongoing and there are no reported suspects or persons of interest in the case.
“[Due] to the ongoing investigation, we ‘Emily’s Family’ are asking that nobody visits/disturbs the area mentioned of where Emily was recovered,” Strite’s mother posted on social media after authorities confirmed her body had been found. “Please respect our wishes and stay away from the area. We will share details when they are available.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at 636-797-5515.
