Dec. 6 (UPI) — Police believe the man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson may have taken a bus to New York City from Atlanta.
According to law enforcement, the suspected killer traveled on a Greyhound bus that started its route in Atlanta in November. But police are not certain if the man boarded the bus there.
Police think the gunman arrived at New York City’s Port Authority bus terminal on Nov. 24. He checked into an Upper West Side hostel where police obtained a smiling photograph of the suspect without his mask.
A flirtation with female employee appeared to be why the man removed his mask.
As the manhunt continued Friday, investigators believe a water bottle and phone could yield important information.
A water bottle believed to be bought by the suspect and a phone were found in an alley used by the man to leave the scene of the murder in Midtown Manhattan.
Forensic tests are being run on those items as well as on a candy bar wrapper the suspect left behind.
According to a senior New York City law enforcement official cited by NBC News, the gunman bought a water bottle along with two protein bars and was seen on a video discarding them.
They could yield critical evidence, including possible DNA and/or fingerprints.
According to police, the gunman was spotted by surveillance cameras at roughly 5 a.m. near the Frederick Douglass Houses, a city complex on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
According to a timeline published by CBS News, the man was seen on video leaving a Midtown subway station at 6:15 a.m. EST.
He was next seen at a Starbucks at 6:17 a.m. near the hotel Thompson was headed to when he was shot and killed.
The New York Times obtained video showing the man talking on a cellphone at about 6:30 a.m. as he walked toward the hotel, getting near the hotel at 6:39 a.m.
As Thompson walked from his hotel across the street to the Hilton Midtown at 6:44 a.m. Two minutes later Thompson had been shot twice as the suspect approached from behind.
The gunman ran into an alley between West 54th and 5th Streets and rode a bike into Central Park, where he was last seen on Center Drive at 6:48 a.m.
According to video obtained by CBS News, the suspect left the park just before 7 a.m., headed onto West 85th Street.
Investigators believe evidence points to the gunman having a personal vendetta against Thompson or against UnitedHealthcare.
