Prosecutor to ‘start formulating’ plea offer to Manfredonia

MILFORD — A prosecutor told a judge Thursday she is beginning to work out a plea offer to a former University of Connecticut student accused of fleeing the state after two killings in 2020.

Peter Manfredonia appeared virtually before Milford Superior Court Judge Peter Brown via a remote hearing from Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, where he is being held in lieu of bonds totaling $12 million.

The 25-year-old faces charges of murder, felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, home invasion, first-degree robbery and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection with the killing of fellow Newtown High grad Nicholas Eisele in Derby and the kidnapping of Eisele’s girlfriend.

During Thursday’s hearing, State’s Attorney Margaret Kelley asked for the case to be continued to next month so she could meet with Eisele’s family to review pretrial discussions and “start formulating some type of an offer.”

The prosecutor said she will also discuss the case with Tolland Judicial District State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky, who is handling charges related to Manfredonia’s alleged May 22, 2020 samurai sword attack on two men in Willington and home invasion of a nearby house prior to the killing of Eisele.

One victim of the Willington attack, Ted Demers, was killed, and a second man, John Franco, was critically injured but survived, according to authorities.

Manfredonia is due to appear in Vernon Superior Court Friday on those charges.

“I imagine those will be the first substantive discussions that we’ll have up there,” Manfredonia’s lawyer, Michael Dolan, told the judge during Thursday’s hearing.

The judge continued the Derby case to another remote hearing scheduled for July 28, but said he will discuss the case with Kelley and Dolan behind closed doors July 15.

Manfredonia, dressed in a beige prison uniform, did not speak during Thursday’s five-minute hearing other than to confirm his date of birth with the judge.

He has been behind bars for more than two years since his May 27, 2020 capture at a Maryland truck stop after a manhunt that spanned six days and four states.

Following the alleged attack in Willington, Manfredonia allegedly broke into the home of a 73-yearold Willington man and held him captive for more than 24 hours before stealing guns, money and a pickup truck, authorities said.

He allegedly drove the truck to Derby and crashed it on Roosevelt Drive, where Eisele lived, before killing his fellow Newtown High School graduate and kidnapping Eisele’s girlfriend, who was later found unharmed at a New Jersey rest stop.

The Willington home invasion victim described a harrowing ordeal during which Manfredonia’s personality changed repeatedly, from friendly while talking fondly of motorcycles and his family to irritated and “stern and forceful” the morning of his departure, according to the arrest warrant.

Manfredonia didn’t offer any motive for the May 22 killing beyond not having slept for days, the home invasion victim said, according to an arrest warrant.

“He said he didn’t know why he did it and that he was remorseful for it,” the man is quoted as telling police in an 11-page arrest warrant.

“He was calm and apologetic, but couldn’t explain why he did that,” the man told police, the warrant stated.

In Vernon, Manfredonia has been charged with murder, criminal attempt to commit murder, first-degree assault, home invasion, first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, firstdegree robbery, first-degree larceny, two counts of firstdegree stealing a firearm and third-degree assault of an elderly person. Those charges are in connection with the Willington attacks and home invasion.