Inside Luigi Mangione's 'Missing Months' Before Allegedly Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — and The Chilling Moment He Decided He Felt 'Confident to Commit The Crime'

Luigi Mangione went mysteriously "missing" after he returned from a life-changing backpacking trek through Asia in early 2024, RadarOnline.com can confirm.

The accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at first lived it up in the bustling cities overseas, before suddenly dropping his party lifestyle and isolating himself from others.

Mangione backpacked across Asia in May 2024 to celebrate his 26th birthday. Seven months later, he would be arrested and charged with murder.

Family and friends have said Mangione "disappeared" shortly after he returned from his backpacking trip to Asia, which the New York Times called a "trip that now appears to have been pivotal for him."

According to the publication, the now 27-year-old messaged his friends about his "wild nights" at the start of the trip, including one anecdote in which he was allegedly assaulted by seven transgender "ladyboys," while he was in Thailand.

However, soon after, Mangione left his wild new friends and headed to the quiet village of Tekawa, Japan. In a voicemail to one of his new friends, Mangione called the area "beautiful."

"There’s like, these tiny, little villages here, just kind of, like, on the side of the cliffs," Mangione reported, before telling his friend, "I’m just going to Zen out and do some, do some Buddha."

In July, Mangione returned to the United States and moved to San Francisco. After his eye-opening trip, he stopped posting on his known X and Reddit accounts.

His final posts were summations about the negative impact of social media.

The Times reports he also stopped responding to messages from some family and friends, and his mother filed a missing person’s report with San Francisco police in November.

Mangione disconnected from social media, but was still writing in his journal about "injustices" in the world, before having a realization.

"I finally feel confident about what I will do," he wrote in an entry in August. "The details are finally coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified. I'm glad – in a way – that I've procrastinated, bc it allowed me to learn more about UHC."

He added: "The target is insurance. It checks every box."

In December 2024, Mangione was arrested and charged with killing Thompson, allegedly shooting the 50-year-old in the back outside of a Manhattan hotel.

While his motive remains in debate, investigators believe Mangione exhibited a deep-seated resentment towards what he called "parasitic" health insurance companies and a disdain for corporate greed.

Looking for clues in his past, it was discovered Mangione was a sympathizer of Ted Kaczynski, the anti-technology extremist dubbed the Unabomber after he killed three and injured 23 more during a 17-year targeted mail bombing campaign.