The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
⏩ Manhunt for Manfredonia spanned 6 days, 4 states.
NEWTOWN — Scores of mourners are expected to grieve a 23-year-old Newtown High School graduate on Sunday who was slain during a violent holiday weekend string of crimes.
Family and friends will remember Nicholas Eisele as a caring and artisticminded young man, who was protective of his girlfriend and passionate about horticulture, during a 2 p.m. memorial service in the parking lot of St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown.
Wake arrangements were being worked out at noon Thursday, with the expectation that viewing could be limited to 10 people at a time in the funeral home to respect social distancing norms related to the coronavirus.
Arrangements were being finalized the same day as the prime suspect in Eisele’s death — 23-year-old fellow Newtown High School graduate Peter Manfredonia — waived extradition Thursday before a Maryland judge.
Manfredonia is being held without bond. He appeared in court via video (because of the coronavirus pandemic) in Washington District Court in Hagerstown, Md., Thursday afternoon on a fugitive from justice charge, and likely won’t be back in Connecticut for another week or two, according to officials.
Manfredonia, who grew up on the same street as Sandy Hook School shooter Adam Lanza, has been in the headlines since Memorial Day weekend, suspected in the deaths of Eisele in Derby on Sunday and a 62-year-old artisan furniture maker in Willington, among other crimes.
No motive has been suggested by police or by those close to the victim or the suspect. Police concluded a six-day manhunt through three states for the suspect Wednesday night.
Eisele’s supporters said it was easy to remember the good life he lived, calling him committed to the things he loved.
“He threw himself into everything he loved,” his twin brother Michael said on a crowd-funding page set up for the victim’s funeral expenses.