--- title: "AI Completely Failed to Catch CEO Killer, With Cops Instead Relying on Random McDonald’s Employee" description: "Suspect UHC killer Luigi Mangione was caught not with AI facial recognition, but by a random person who recognized him in a McDonald's." date: "2024-12-10" modified: "2024-12-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-fail-uhc-killer-luigi-mangione" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "assassination" - "nypd" - "the digest" - "united healthcare" --- # AI Completely Failed to Catch CEO Killer, With Cops Instead Relying on Random McDonald’s Employee ![Suspect UHC killer Luigi Mangione was caught not with AI facial recognition, but by a random person who recognized him in a McDonald's.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Altoona-ing In Although cops used [all manner of technological means]() to try to apprehend the killer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson, it was a keen-eyed McDonald's worker — not facial recognition or other high-tech surveillance tools — who ultimately led to his arrest. As the [*New York Times* reports](), police were hesitant to attribute the dramatic end to their [five-day, multi-state manhunt]() for the killer to any one thing, after [deploying drones](), artificial intelligence, K-9 units, and even scuba divers to bring him in. After police in Pennsylvania arrested a suspect named Luigi Mangione, officials with the New York Police Department were nevertheless forced to admit that the now-notorious photo of the 26-year-old [smiling in his Manhattan hostel]() did him in after a [worker at a McDonald's restaurant]() in the tiny PA town of Altoona alerted police when a customer recognized him. As NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny told the *NYT*, "it would be the release of that photograph to the media" that led to Mangione's apprehension. Notably, that old-fashioned form of "facial recognition" netted far better results than anything the NYPD was able to drum up — and in post-9/11 New York City, [police surveillance capabilities are vast](). "For just over five days, our \[New York Police Department\] investigators combed through thousands of hours of video, followed up on hundreds of tips and processed every bit of forensic evidence — DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses and so much more — to tighten the net," New York Police Department commissioner Jessica Tisch told *CNN* earlier in the week. Officers also went door-to-door "interviewing potential witnesses and doing the good old-fashioned police work that our investigators are famous for," she continued — all, it seems, for naught. ## Detective Stories For all that [high-tech sleuthing](), police in a town known for its [bizarre take on pizza]() ended up arresting Mangione after he essentially fell into their laps. As experts who spoke to the *NYT* pointed out, however, the circumstances surrounding this case — and that photo — were unique. "That photo has been seen more times than in your average homicide," remarked Sean Patrick Griffin, a former Philadelphia police officer who now teaches criminal justice at South Carolina's Citadel military college. Mangione's [striking appearance]() — "not just dark, but prominent eyebrows," in Griffin's analysis — likely made him easier to spot, the report notes. In fact, as ex-CIA officer and author Robert Baer told the newspaper, he was surprised it took five days for police to capture the [well-heeled suspect](). "Once they had that guy’s picture, when he pulls his mask down, it was a given he would be arrested," Baer said. It's too soon to know why the NYPD was unable to apprehend Mangione when he was still within city limits, but we can say pretty definitively that whatever went into their secret sauce didn't work. **More on the UHC shooter:** [*The Arrested CEO Killing Suspect Might Have the Wildest Goodreads Account We’ve Ever Seen*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()