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Defense attorneys for accused killer Luigi Mangione said Thursday that New York police and prosecutors relied on a "false and highly prejudicial" statement they attributed to Mangione’s mother, even though investigators have not produced any record of her making it.
The disputed remark, repeated by police officials in a news conference last year, claimed that Mangione’s mother, Kathleen Mangione, told detectives she "could see him doing something like this." The defense said no such statement appears in any discovery and that she said the opposite.
"That’s an absolutely false statement. That was never said," defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo told reporters outside Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday after a weeks-long suppression hearing wrapped up.
"There is no such statement. It was never made. In fact, what Mrs. Mangione said was that she could never see her son being a risk to himself or others."
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for a suppression hearing, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (Curtis Means for Daily Mail via Pool)
Luigi Mangione attends an evidentiary hearing in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, at the Manhattan Supreme Court in New York, Dec. 18, 2025. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via Pool)
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Friedman Agnifilo said the defense has combed through all discovery turned over by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and NYPD, and even subpoenaed records from the San Francisco Police Department. None contain any record of the remark police touted early in the investigation.
Despite that, Friedman Agnifilo said, neither the NYPD nor the Manhattan DA’s office corrected the claim, even though it has circulated for more than a year.
"That’s a prejudicial statement that has been repeated many, many times," she said, accusing investigators of shaping public perception with information that was incorrect.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for a suppression hearing on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (Curtis Means for Daily Mail via Pool)
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny previously said that Kathleen Mangione reported her son missing to San Francisco police on Nov. 18, 2024. The detective working that case called his NYPD counterparts and said the person he was looking for "bears a resemblance" to the picture of the suspected killer seen checking into a Manhattan hostel before Thompson's murder.
Investigators then reached out to Mangione's mother on Dec. 7, 2024.
"They had a conversation where she didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing," Kenny told reporters. "So that information was going to be passed along to the detectives the next morning, but fortunately we apprehended him before we could act on that."
Kenny's remarks were widely reported by major news outlets, including Fox News Digital, and they were cited in a book published this month about the case. Fox News Digital has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for an evidence suppression hearing on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (Curtis Means for Daily Mail via Pool)
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The defense’s claim came as Mangione’s suppression hearing, which examined whether a handgun, silencer, magazine and a red notebook should be allowed in his criminal trial, ended after three weeks of testimony.
Judge Gregory Carro said he’ll take several months to review written legal filings and expects to rule on May 18 whether the evidence will be admissible in the upcoming state murder trial.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for a suppression hearing as both sides prepared to wrap up arguments on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (Curtis Means for Daily Mail via Pool)
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Mangione is also facing separate federal charges in the Southern District of New York, where prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty. A federal hearing is scheduled for early January.
Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
