US Insurance CEO Murder Suspect a K-pop Fan?… Playlist Includes Blackpink and NewJeans

K-pop Album Included in Personal Playlist
Move to 'Heroize' Health Insurance CEO After Murder

The 'album playlist' of Luigi Manzoni (26), the suspect accused of murdering the CEO of the largest health insurance company in the United States, United Healthcare, has been revealed, causing a stir among local netizens. It appears that he regularly listened to K-pop girl group albums, and he is believed to have been a fan of groups such as BLACKPINK and NewJeans.

On the 10th (local time), social media platforms in the U.S. such as X and Instagram focused attention on the leaked playlist of Manzoni. Earlier, when the identity of Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO shooting suspect Manzoni, was disclosed by local police, his online activities also drew attention.

Spotify playlist of Luigi Manzoni, suspect in the murder of US health insurance CEO. Screenshot of X (formerly Twitter)

Before committing the crime, Manzoni is presumed to have been a very active young man on the internet. He left over 200 book reviews on the largest U.S. book review site, Goodreads, and also posted on social media. Additionally, his favorite playlists remain intact on the music streaming platform Spotify.

One playlist was titled 'Kpop<3' (an emoji mimicking a kissing shape), containing numerous songs from domestic girl groups including BLACKPINK. All of BLACKPINK's representative songs such as "Kill This Love," "Pink Venom," and "How You Like That" were included in the list. Moreover, songs from relatively new groups like NewJeans and IVE were also featured.

A comment Manzoni left on his SNS last May. Captured from an online community.

Manzoni once expressed his affection for the group on his social media account by stating, "NewJeans will never die," and some netizens claimed that there was evidence he attended pop star Taylor Swift's tour.

Manzoni, who grew up in a wealthy family, is known as a typical "American elite" who graduated from a private high school and went on to a prestigious university. Captured from a local online community

Meanwhile, Manzoni, who killed CEO Thompson, was arrested by police the previous day at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He is under investigation for shooting and killing the CEO of a major corporation with a silenced handgun, but some local voices are defending him, which is expected to deepen the controversy.

In particular, online, citizens who are resentful of the excessive profit-seeking behavior of American health insurance companies are portraying Manzoni as a 'hero.' Local netizens are already digging into all of Manzoni's online traces. These include book reviews supporting Theodore Kaczynski, an American environmental terrorist, photos of him shirtless, and even a three-page handwritten 'manifesto' that he reportedly wrote at the time of his arrest.

The New York Times (NYT) cited an internal police report stating that the manifesto included the phrase "Parasites are cheap." Joseph Kenny, head of the New York Police Department's investigation bureau, also speculated on Manzoni's motive during a local media briefing, saying he appeared to harbor hostility toward "Corporate America." The term "Corporate America" is used as a metaphor for the capitalist economic order in the United States.