NYPD divers seen searching Central Park lake as manhunt for CEO killer continues

Scuba divers with the New York Police Department were seen scouring a lake inside Central Park as the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continues.

Divers were searching for evidence inside the lake throughout Sunday morning. The lake is near where officials found a backpack linked to the suspect. Images and video show divers signaling to one another as the search continues.

Police had not announced the recovery of any evidence from the lake as of late Sunday morning.

Police say the suspect fled the scene of the shooting last week and biked to Central Park before taking a taxi to the Port Authority bus station. His arrival at the bus station has led police to conclude he is no longer in New York City.

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Police recovered a backpack linked to the suspect inside the park. It contained Monopoly money and a jacket.

Retired FBI agent Scott Duffey told Fox News Digital that the backpack will be taken to a lab in Queens for forensic testing, where it will undergo trace evidence processing.

"[It's] a process for hair, fibers [and] DNA," Duffey explained Saturday. "If he holds his hand against the strap and tightens the buckle like most of us do, that is where DNA most likely can be found. And zippers."

Two members of the NYPD SCUBA team in the lake in Central Park. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

The NYPD first announced that $10,000 was being offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest and conviction. The FBI said late Friday it was offering up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

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The manhunt has now spread into multiple states and entered its fifth day on Sunday. The New York City bus station the suspect used serves routes that could have taken him to New Jersey, north toward Boston or south toward Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Members of the NYPD SCUBA team searching the lake in Central Park on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

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Former Washington, D.C., homicide detective Ted Williams said the Monopoly money in the backpack is the "killer playing games with the authorities. All part of a cat and mouse game."

"This killer knew they would more likely than not find the backpack, and he is leaving breadcrumbs to let [the] authorities know that he is in control, not them," he said.