Luigi Mangione, the prime suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had an active presence on Reddit and often discussed his health issues under the assumed Reddit username u/Mister_Cactus.
The username was also traced to a computer code-sharing platform named GitHub. However, after his arrest, his Reddit account was suspended. It is a Reddit policy that the account of any person connected with a high-profile criminal investigation is deactivated, and Luigi Mangione’s account was also suspended, according to a spokesman for the social media platform who spoke to ABC News.
u/Mister_Cactus Reddit Account Allegedly Used By Luigi Mangione
Even though the account has been suspended, media outlet People’s Magazine was able to access the posts from archives. It was revealed that the posts were active from 2018 to February 2024, and many of the posts focused on spondylolisthesis, an ailment caused by the misalignment of the vertebrae of the spine, which starts pressing on the vertebrae below.
Luigi Mangione aka Mister_Cactus reddit archive:https://t.co/vsqbXoqj14https://t.co/lYJ0Gfn9Dd pic.twitter.com/fgVHBNVxfr
— raspy aspie ⏩ (@raspy_aspie) December 9, 2024
In a post from April 2023, Luigi Mangione stated that his condition had deteriorated, and in October, he mentioned that his chronic back pain had aggravated, saying that something was seriously wrong. He wrote:
“It can be easy to get caught up in the plethora of horror stories on the internet. When my spongy went bad on me last year (23M), it was completely devastating as a young athletic person.”
Yoni Ashar, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus and an expert in pain management, confirmed that spondylolisthesis patients endure excruciating back pain, which can disturb sleep patterns and also affect the mental health of the person.
An X-ray of Luigi Mangione had also gone viral, and it was confirmed to be an X-ray of the suspect’s back. Experts who analyzed the X-ray stated that he could be suffering from intense back pain characteristic of spondylolisthesis.
The Reddit account u/Mister_Cactus was created in 2016 and discussed several medical conditions, ranging from backaches to sleeplessness, irritable bowel syndrome, and Lyme disease. The account also discussed other topics, such as gaming and travelling.
