Monopoly money.

[yardwork]

At first I thought the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO might be designed to look like a vigilante killing to cover up another motive. A contract killing arranged by somebody close to the victim? I no longer think that.

I think the killer is telling us exactly what this is - an assassination carried out by a person (or probably group) of people who are sending a message.

I don't think this will be the end of it.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. It's bizarre

That law enforcement is no closer than they were a few days ago. There are 3 different hoodies the suspect is wearing. No one knows who this person is?

[yardwork]

2. Some really unusual details stand out.

First, why wear such a recognizable backpack to an assassination? There are a zillion black backpacks in the world. He's wearing one when he checked into the hostel. But the morning of the murder, he puts on a big, boxy, light grey backpack that stands out like a blinking light, making it easy to track him on surveillance videos every step of the way.

And then he abandons the famous grey backpack in Central Park, stuffed with Monopoly money.

[KarenS]

12. Plus, I read there was both monopoly money and a

Hilfiger jacket. I think the young man was making a statement. Time will tell, of course.

He left behind the recognizable things, probably left town in less distinctive attire.

[Demobrat]

3. We don't know what they're not telling us.

Maybe they’re closer than we think. But five days is plenty of time to make it to the Mexican border and cross over. Nothing easier than walking into Mexico and ditching the hoodie for some cargo shorts and flip flops.

[yardwork]

4. He was already much closer to the Canadian border.

We don't even know if he's American.

[Demobrat]

5. Yes, but don't they check cars and people coming into Canada?

Especially now, I would think they would have an eye out. I have been to Mexico many times. They don’t pay much attention to people walking or driving in, only out.

[yardwork]

6. The U.S. Canadian border is easy to walk or drive across.

Also, if you drive into Canada for the day, it's pretty easy to show your passport and be waved through at a checkpoint. Nobody is going to check the trunk.

But again, there are a lot of ways to get across the U.S. Canadian border that don't involve checkpoints.

Not saying I have any idea of this guy did that. No idea.

[Demobrat]

7. Maybe I've read too many books where

the bad guy runs for the Mexican border. The true crime buff in me is enthralled by this.

[yardwork]

10. Me too!

I'm right there with you.

[Xolodno]

21. Sorry, can't resist....

....he could cross over via the Tijuana border, then jump on a plane from the Tijuana International Airport to Cancun.

But yes, people can disappear in Canada as well if they know how.

[Demobrat]

22. He could walk across in TJ, bus to Mexico City,

and from there fly to anywhere in the world. Or just get lost there.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Yep

And you can walk across the rainbow bridge. Did it all the time when at NU to buy beer.

After the falls as you get into Lewiston - the crossing is narrow.

[Callie1979]

27. Yes, remember how everyone thought "Nothings happening!!" with the Iowa college murders

Last edited Sun Dec 8, 2024, 09:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Little did we know, they were hard on the trail of the killer.
And I'm tired of being told EVERYTHING after someone IS arrested in these cases. We dont need to KNOW how they found them!

[Demobrat]

32. When an acquaintance of mine was murdered

by her husband, it took a month to arrest him. We were all WTF? His story was ridiculous. She was shot in her own bed with her own gun, and he claimed an intruder tied him up and did it.

And she was trying to leave him.

We KNEW he did it. Well, so did LE. He is now doing 45 years. They just waited until the case was airtight.

[Callie1979]

33. Wow I know that had to have been frustrating.

[XanaDUer2]

9. M is an anti capitalist game from Depression

[yardwork]

11. Right. That's a clear message.

[XanaDUer2]

14. Yes i laughed as soon as i heard it

[Igel]

17. But it's only a message

if the history of the game is known. At least *that* particular variety of message.

If all you know is the current version of the game, then it's still a message but probably a different one. And the symbol ultimately has at least two meaningful prongs--what did the messenger intend and what did the target audience perceive? (And, in this case, the prongs really spread out because we're all part of individual sub-audiences. I'm not 100% I even know who the target audience is. UHC? Health insurance companies? Insurance companies? Large companies? Wealthy people? Uncaring people? Revolutionaries, to motivate them to rise up? Commoners, to encourage more muted resistance? Does he have a kind of vigilante complex, Zorro or such, avenging a specific person, family, group of people, all of society? Or was it a drinking bet?)

I'll be interested in seeing what the motivation was. Then again, it might be politically or socially inconvenient and if there is a manifesto lurking it might just be considered "privileged" during the course of an investigation where the records are sealed to prevent embarrassment to somebody or other.

Which I go with any given minute depends on my fluctuating level of cynicism.

[yardwork]

19. All good questions.

And the likelihood that the authorities will suppress information that might embarrass UHC or other billionaire entities is high. Or, maybe it's just good police work.

Like you, ideas run up and down my cynicism meter.

[Demobrat]

23. I don't think there will ever be a trial.

That would be much too embarrassing for the insurance companies. He will be killed if not on sight, definitely in prison.

[Mosby]

13. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy is a tankie.

And that he is hiding out in plain sight, why cross into Canada or Mexico when everyone is watching? Better to just lay low in Pittsburgh, KC or wherever.

I just hope he's not part of a group.

[yardwork]

15. Why a tankie?

I haven't seen any indication that he's allied with Putin, North Korea, or any other tankie hangout.

He might be an Anarchist. Capital A. For real antifa.

Did the Trumpers and oligarchs think that nobody would ever really fight back? Trump just said he'd pardon all the J6 rioters - including the ones who attacked and killed police. Trump said "they had no choice." How many other people are thinking they have choice? Anarchy is unleashed.

I doubt very much that he's acting all by himself. Or that they care anything at all what the rest of us think about them.

We've been told for decades that "thoughts and prayers" are all that is possible after little children are torn to pieces in atrocity after atrocity. The robotic "thoughts and prayers" intoned after Sandy Hook, Uvalde, on and on. And now suddenly we're supposed to be hysterically upset that an adult man was gunned down? C'mon, Establishment. You can't have it both ways.

Who knows what's next. Nothing good.

[Mosby]

16. A lot of tankies are homegrown.

For them communism is conceptual, they aren't Russians and have never been to Russia. It's strictly an ideology. They are far left extremists who often align with anarchists but are more violent.

Nothing but a workers’ revolution in several countries can defeat this war. The war is not a game, it is an appalling thing taking toll of millions of lives, and it is not to be ended easily.

Vladimir Lenin, 1929

[yardwork]

20. I think we're basically saying the same thing.

It's as close as anyone can get to the truth at this stage. Or maybe we're way off. Who knows.

[The Madcap]

26. No, he needed to hide out in the greatest criminal location of all...

Florida.

[Hugin]

18. There's little doubt in my mind that the killing was a performative act...

From beginning to end.

Taunting the media and the police.

Who embarrassed themselves even more by collectively announcing that the shooter couldn’t possibly be a pro because he didn’t fit the stereotype that they had seen in all of those gangland movies.

I am curious as to the sum of the Monopoly money found in the backpack. I am sure given all of the other “clues” the shooter left, this amount is symbolic of something.

I have backed off on thinking that Thompson was the intended target. It could have been he was the most convenient.

[The Madcap]

25. I agree about the money

What medical bill equaled the amount in the backpack? Of course, it would have been more dramatic after he shot the guy if he had thrown the open backpack with all the money at him...

Maybe I should have been directing those shows...

[The Madcap]

24. I wondered if this guy has rich / important relatives.

It's really hard to see how they have DNA evidence, photos, a backpack (distinctive), a jacket (not a cheapie) a motive (likely a retaliation for payment denial - wife? kid?), handwriting (on the casings), a timeline of locations, etc. The conspiracy theorist in me makes me wonder if they know who it is but that it would upset someone important if he were charged.

Or, the FBI and law enforcement aren't quite up to the standard we see on CSI...

[Mr.WeRP]

30. Unless a person has been arrested, or applied for clearance or served in the military or law enforcement

their fingerprints are not likely in any crime database. As far as DNA goes, I am less sure, but typically DNA is used to match location at a crime scene. If they catch a suspect, they will most certainly take a DNA sample to see if it matches anything they collected at the crime scene or route they know the person took.

The suspect is extremely intelligent and clearly planned this killing and escape in high detail which is why law enforcement hasn’t caught him yet.

There are millions of unsolved crimes in this country and many new ones every day. With each day that goes by, law enforcement is less and less likely to identify and/or catch him.

[The Madcap]

31. Good points, all.

He's highly likely to have fingerprints in a database somewhere, but not necessarily a crime database. I would think there would be warrant issue in trying to scrape those.

Looks like he may have gotten his revenge, and unless he slips up, he might get away with it. It's hard to keep a secret like that, though.

[Mr.WeRP]

28. Only time will tell

[yaesu]

29. I figure right after the sham election that this very thing would happen and may be just the beginning,

the opening shot of class warfare. Probably be sporadic at first but may gather momentum proportional to the fascist rollout. Pretty much like what the French resistance did during WWII.