Questions persist in Manfredonia investigation

NEWTOWN — Before his name made national headlines as the prime suspect in a string of savage crimes, Peter Manfredonia’s regular appearances in the hometown newspaper were for the right reasons.

He was always on the honor roll or the high honor roll. His name could often be found in the sports pages as a captain on the Newtown High School track and field team, or as an offensive lineman for the 2013 conference champion football team. The fact that Manfredonia grew up in Sandy Hook six houses down the block from mass murderer Adam Lanza was never mentioned in newspapers, except when adults

worried in the press about the negative effects the 2012 slayings of 20 first-graders and six educators could have on his generation.

And before Manfredonia was arrested Wednesday in connection with two Memorial Day weekend homicides, the social media posts associated with the 23-year-old University of

Connecticut senior were recently about his support of the gun violence prevention work by homegrown nonprofits in Newtown.

The only posts that seem telling now are the social media images of red-flag handwriting allegedly on Manfredonia’s bedroom walls, purporting to depict the troubled inner dialogue of a young man at the breaking point.

While the messages were allegedly seen in Manfredonia’s former bedroom in an off-campus apartment, it has not been confirmed that he wrote them.

If those were his writings, “things were really building up,” observed Monsignor Robert Weiss, the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, who remembers Manfredonia coming through the parish’s religious education program.

“The extent of these crimes and the absolute evil of them is unbelievable to me,” Weiss said.

Manfredonia’s attorney concedes as much. “He’s been battling anxiety and depression for a couple of years,” said Michael Dolan, a Hamden attorney who has also been speaking to the media on behalf of Manfredonia’s parents. “This is completely out of character for him — he’s had no earlier involvement with police.”

Dolan is referring to a six-day manhunt through four states that ended with Manfredonia’s peaceful surrender to police in Maryland. Police said the victims include a 62-year-old Willington man who was hacked to death, and 23-year-old Derby resident Nicholas Eisele — a fellow 2015 Newtown High School graduate with Manfredonia — who was shot in the head.

The degree to which Manfredonia’s mental illness is a factor in his defense and the extent to which the trauma of the Sandy Hook massacre is part of the college student’s story remains to be seen, his attorney said.

Manfredonia is yet to be extradited to Connecticut or to be

Contributed photo Peter Manfredonia