The five-day manhunt for a suspect in three campus murders ended with help of nothing more than a Reddit post, authorities say.
They found the body of Claudio Manuel Neves Valente late Thursday night in a New Hampshire storage unit.
Authorities say he was responsible for Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University’s engineering building in Providence, Rhode Island, in which two people were killed and nine others wounded.
The suspect then allegedly drove 50 miles to Brookline, Massachusetts, and shot dead Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno FG Loureiro – a former classmate – at his home on Monday night.
The FBI said a tipster named “John” – who posted a tip on the social-media platform called Reddit – was key in leading investigators to Neves Valente.
Authorities said “John” posted to Reddit that he recognized Neves Valente from a picture released by the FBI.
“John” urged cops to look at “a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental.”
Until then authorities had not linked a vehicle to the shootings.
The car was later found with a fake Maine license plate attached.
The tipster encountered Neves Valente in the bathroom of Brown’s engineering building hours before that attack, where “John” noted the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather,” according to the Associated Press.
“John” also encountered Neves Valente outside, close to the building, where he watched Neves Valente “suddenly” turn from the Nissan, AP reported.
A “game of cat and mouse” ensued in which the two would encounter each other and Neves Valente would run away, “John” told cops.
Images of the suspect Nissan were captured on numerous surveillance cameras near the Brown campus on various dates between December 1 and December 12, a police affidavit stated.
The car was photographed again on Monday close to Loureiro’s home with a false Maine license plate attached, police said.
The suspect was found dead in the storage unit from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
