There's a Conspiracy Theory About Luigi Mangione That Involves the Number 286

When UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione was apprehended and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, the internet went wild with, of all things, support for the suspect. Then, the denial came, with theories about why Mangione couldn't possibly be guilty. And now, there is a conspiracy theory about Luigi Mangione and the number 286.

According to a user on TikTok, the number has a lot to do with the crime that Mangione was accused of, and his actual social media pages before they were taken down. Mangione remains in jail and has not received a trial date for the crimes he is accused of. But that doesn't mean people are finished talking about what they believe is and isn't true about the Thompson case.

According to a TikTok user by the name of Patty Eminger, the number 286 is linked to Mangione too many times to ignore. From the suspect's number of posts on X (formerly Twitter) to that bag of Monopoly money found near the crime scene, to the numbers associated with a specific insurance claim, Eminger thinks he figured out something big in relation to what Mangione was accused of.

"The theory about the Monopoly money in the bag and the theory about the number 286 connect. And I found out what he was trying to tell us," Eminger shared in a TikTok video. "His Twitter header was a random Pokemon, a photo of his back surgery that went terrible, and maybe a photo of his athletic life that the healthcare system took away from him. Now pay attention to how many times the numbers 286 appear. Pokemon have numbers and Breloom is Pokemon number 286... How many posts does [Mangione] have on his Twitter? 286."

But it goes deeper than that. According to the TikTok creator, who also hosts a podcast called Pop Culture Universitea, the McDonald's where Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Penn. was 286 miles from where the crime took place in New York City. And Mangione also allegedly left the state on Highway 286, according to Eminger.

"But why 286?" He said in his video on the 286 theory and Mangione. "Because he wants to bring attention to insurance denial code 286, which basically talks about when an insurance claim is denied by a healthcare group and it never appealed in time, so the patient suffers. Even Proverb 2:86 says 'better a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.' National Insurance Day is even the twenty-eighth day of June."

Eminger also found that the number 286 is directly linked to the Monopoly board game. He said in his TikTok that there are 286 blocks on one game board, though it's unclear which version he referred to, and that on one side of the board, a player moves from New York to Pennsylvania, and then to jail. Eminger also noted that, at the time he made his video, Mangione's cousin Nino Mangione followed 286 people on X.

"Will he be his get out of jail free card?" Eminger asked in his video.

Following Thompson's murder on a sidewalk in New York City, several clues remained nearby the scene. One of them was a backpack with Monopoly money, alleged to have belonged to the killer. Another piece of evidence was three bullet casings, that each had carved into them the words deny, defend, and depose. Now, according to this theory, another clue is in the form of the number 286 spread far and wide. The theory points to Mangione being the culprit in the murder too.

However, Mangione has not been found guilty of murder as of December 2024. And although some have praised him on social media under the belief that he did shoot and kill Thompson, Mangione initially pleaded not guilty. His trial date has not yet been set or made public.