Luigi Mangione was “depressed” while living in Hawaii and his friends became worried when he stopped communicating with them after moving away in 2002.
Mangione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan on Dec. 4. The shocking killing led to a multi-day manhunt, which concluded when Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania and subsequently charged with murder by authorities in New York.
Before disconnecting from family and friends, Mangione resided in a Hawaii co-living space for a period before losing touch with friends he’d made there, according to Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for R.J. Martin, the founder of the co-living space and Mangione’s friend.
“[Mangione] had significant back pain, and I imagine it was tough for a young man to deal with, especially in a place like Hawaii, where physical activities such as swimming, diving, surfing, hiking, and climbing are so prevalent,” Ryan tells PEOPLE. “It seems this pain impeded but didn’t entirely prevent him from engaging in those activities.”
Ryan, who says he spoke to people who knew Mangione, says the pain significantly affected the now-26-year-old, even in relation to his ability to have romantic relationships.
“The pain made him depressed, which in turn influenced those relationships,” Ryan says.
Mangione left Hawaii in 2022, according to Ryan.
“Afterward, he lost touch with RJ and other members of the [co-living] community,” says Ryan. “People were worried about him, but not in a way that suggested something like this might happen — they were just concerned about a friend who had stopped communicating.”
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Following his apprehension at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. on Monday, Dec. 9, Mangione was charged with five criminal counts, including one for forgery and another for a weapons offense after police allege he was found with fake IDs and a gun.
Though Mangione has not been extradited and remains in custody in Pennsylvania, prosecutors in New York have charged him with murder in connection with the killing of Thompson.
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