UConn student wanted in second slaying
State police searching in Pennsylvania for UConn senior wanted in Willington, Derby killings
Police in Pennsylvania said Sunday morning they are searching for 23-year-old Peter Manfredonia, the UConn senior suspected in the killings of a 62-year-old man in Willington on Friday, a 23-year-old man in Derby, and the abduction of a woman from the Derby crime scene.
Police said Manfredonia, who was last seen in the area of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, may be armed with pistols and shotguns they say he stole during a home invasion in Willington.
After fleeing the homicide scene in Derby, police said Manfredonia abducted the dead man’s girlfriend and stole a 2016 black Volkswagen Jetta from their home.
Police found the Jetta and the girlfriend Sunday afternoon in
New Jersey near the Pennsylvania border. She was safe and police are questioning her. She was not identified.
Early Sunday, state police from the Tolland barracks were called to a home on
Turnpike Road in Willington where a man reported he had been held against his will by Manfredonia. The victim told troopers that Manfredonia broke into his home Friday night and held him against his will until leaving early Sunday. He stole food from the man, three shotguns and a pistol, and his truck. The victim was not injured and refused medical treatment.
A short time later, Derby Police located the Willington’s victim’s stolen truck crashed near Osbornedale State Park, prompting police to swarm the area in search of Manfredonia. Derby police found the abandoned vehicle at 6:45 a.m. Sunday, but said the exact time of the crash is not known.
Police said during their investigation of the park they learned that Manfredonia had an acquaintance who lived on Roosevelt Drive in Derby. When they went to the residence, they found a dead man. He was identified Sunday afternoon as Nicholas J. Eisele, 23.
Both Manfredonia and Eisele are originally from Newtown.
Manfredonia is a white man described as 6 feet 3, and 240 pounds. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Manfredonia is a suspect in the killing of 62-year-old Ted DeMers and the brutal assault of another man. Cynthia DeMers, the victim’s wife, said the two men had offered to help Manfredonia, who was walking on the road and needed a ride back to where he’d parked his motorcycle.
“It could have been anybody who offered him a ride,” she said. “It could have been any of my neighbors’ husbands. It just happened to be mine.”
Five minutes after she saw her husband drive away with the young man on the back of her husband’s four-wheeler, a neighbor drove up to the house, beeping a car horn and telling her there had been some kind of awful accident, DeMers said.
Troopers were dispatched to Mirtl Road in Willington Friday morning on reports of a serious assault. They found the victims and quickly began CPR, Trooper Josue Dorelus said. Both victims were taken to an area hospital, and
DeMers was later pronounced dead. State police described the attack as “brutal.” The man who survived suffered grievous wounds that were described as sword or machete wounds.
Police have not released the second man’s name, but Cynthia DeMers said he is an elderly neighbor.
Manfredonia was seen leaving the scene of the slaying and assault on Mirtl Road, police said. The suspect, originally of the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, was on a large, red motorcycle, wearing a multicolored helmet that is possibly red and white.
Manfredonia is a student at UConn’s joint School of Engineering/School of Business MEM (Management and Engineering for Management) program, university spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said. He is not attending summer courses, and had not been living on the campus, she said.
Manfredonia’s LinkedIn account says he worked as a financial operations analyst and currently as a marketing coordinator for a nonprofit organization, raising money for Special Olympics and state law enforcement.
Kathleen McWilliams can be reached at kmcwilliams@courant .com.
David Owens can be reached at dowens@courant.com.