According to sources, the mother of the suspect in the CEO’s murder case said that the person of interest to police could be her son

The family of the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO reported him missing last month, and his mother told police her son could be the person seen in surveillance photos a day before his arrest was seen, law enforcement sources told NBC News.

The family of Luigi Mangione, the man who police believe killed CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, reported him missing to San Francisco police on Nov. 18, about two weeks before the shooting Ambush on December 4th, according to a missing persons pamphlet.

Mangione’s mother said she last spoke to her son on July 1 and that he was working in San Francisco, the flier said.

Mangione, 26, was charged in New York with Thompson’s murder, which police said was targeted and may have been motivated by Thompson’s health insurance position.

The murder sparked a large-scale manhunt that included the widespread distribution of surveillance photos of a person of interest and a $60,000 reward.

After the killing, a San Francisco police officer believed the images of the person of interest bore similarities to the image of Mangione from the missing person report, several law enforcement officials said.

San Francisco police contacted the FBI about the possible identity of the man in this photo, the FBI said.

The San Francisco police tip came on Dec. 6 and police contacted Mangione’s mother two days later, on Sunday, two law enforcement sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. She told investigators that the man in the picture could be Mangione, they said.

The next day, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being recognized at a McDonald’s restaurant, officials said.

Mangione’s mother, relatives and his lawyer in Pennsylvania did not respond to multiple requests for comment Friday.

New York police said they found a gun that was ballistically linked to the murder, as well as a handwritten document related to the health insurance industry.

Shell casings found after the shooting bore the words “deny,” “delay” and “depose,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

After the murder, people vented their anger online and elsewhere at the health insurance industry and the health care system in the United States, including profiles of at least two other CEOs. There were also threats.

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, condemned what he called malice after the killing and defended his company’s actions.

In an editorial published Friday in The New York Times, Witty wrote that the U.S. health care system “doesn’t work as well as it should” but that his company is trying to improve it. UnitedHealth Group is the largest private health insurer in the country.

Mangione did not have insurance with UnitedHealthcare and neither did his parents, UnitedHealth Group said. Kenny said the company may have been targeted because of its size.

Mangione is incarcerated in Pennsylvania, where he faces gun and document forgery and other charges. He has so far resisted extradition to New York.

Mangione’s attorney said he will plead not guilty to all charges.

Mangione’s family said in a statement after his arrest that they only knew about the incident from what they had seen in the news media.

“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. “We are praying for Brian Thompson’s family and asking people to pray for Luigi,” the family said. “We are shocked by this news.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com