The New York Police Department’s dive team gears up at the Central Park lake
Police appear to be preparing to conduct a water search in New York City’s Central Park as the search for evidence in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson continues. (Rashid Omar Abbasi, Fox New Digital)
NYPD divers search a lake in Central Park while hunting for the killer of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
Divers searched the lake for evidence throughout Sunday morning. Officers found a backpack linked to the suspect near the lake. Pictures and videos showed divers sending signals to each other as the search continued.
As of Sunday morning, police had not announced that any evidence had been recovered from the lake.
Police said the suspect fled the scene of the shooting last week, riding his bicycle to Central Park and then taking a taxi to the Port Authority bus station. When he arrived at the bus stop, police determined he was no longer in New York City.
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Police found a backpack linked to the suspect in the park. Inside were Monopoly money and a jacket.
Retired FBI agent Scott Duffy told Fox News Digital that the backpack will be taken to a lab in Queens for forensic testing, where it will be processed for trace evidence.
“[It’s] Hair and fiber processing [and] DNA,” Duffy explained Saturday. “If he had put his hand on the strap and tightened the buckle like most of us do, that’s where the DNA would have been most likely to be found. And the zipper.
Members of the New York City Police Department’s Dive Team exit a lake in Central Park in New York City on Sunday, December 8, 2024.
The New York Police Department first announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. The FBI said late Friday it was offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.
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The manhunt has now spread to multiple states and entered its fifth day on Sunday. The New York City bus station used by the suspect offered routes that could have taken him to New Jersey, north to Boston or south to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Members of the New York City Police Department’s Dive Team exit a lake in Central Park in New York City on Sunday, December 8, 2024. (Rashid Omar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
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Ted Williams, a former homicide detective in Washington, D.C., said the Monopoly money in the backpack was “a game the killer plays with the authorities. It’s all part of the cat-and-mouse game.”
“The killer knew they probably wouldn’t find the backpack, so he left bread crumbs for [the] The authorities knew he was in control, not them,” he said.
