Former UConn Student Pleads Guilty to 2020 Murder

UPDATE Feb 9, 2023 9:20 AM CST

Former University of Connecticut student Peter Manfredonia has pleaded guilty to crimes including murder and home invasion in connection with a crime spree that killed two people in 2020. Authorities say the 26-year-old will be sentenced to 55 years in prison under a deal agreed to by families and surviving victims, the Connecticut Post reports. Manfredonia, who has been in custody since his May 2020 arrest, attacked two men with a samurai sword, killing 62-year-old Ted DeMers and seriously injuring the second man. Prosecutors say he later went to the home of high school friend Nicholas Eisele, 23, and fatally shot the man before kidnapping his girlfriend. Manfredonia is expected to plead guilty to the second killing next week, reports CBS News. He's due to be sentenced for the first attack on April 20.

May 28, 2020 12:11 AM CDT

A college student sought by police as a suspect in a crime spree including two slayings in Connecticut has been captured in Maryland, police said Wednesday night. Peter Manfredonia, 23, had been the subject of a six-day search involving several police agencies and the FBI. He was found in the area of a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland, the AP reports. He was not injured and no officers were hurt during the arrest, Connecticut State Police said. “The suspect will face justice and this will bring closure. This is what is important for the families of the victims,” said Trooper First Class Christine Jeltema, a spokeswoman for Connecticut State Police. Authorities have not offered a possible motive for the crimes.

Manfredonia was wanted in the machete killing of 62-year-old Ted DeMers and the wounding of another man in Willington, Connecticut, on Friday. The University of Connecticut senior then allegedly held another man hostage and stole his guns and truck before going on to fatally shoot his high school friend, Nicholas Eisele, 23, on Sunday. Manfredonia then allegedly forced Eisele’s girlfriend into her car and fled the state; she was found unharmed with her car in New Jersey. Investigators tracked Manfredonia to Pennsylvania, where police said he took an Uber to a Walmart not far from the New Jersey border. A man fitting his description was spotted Tuesday night near Scranton, Pennsylvania, and police later suspected Manfredonia to be in the Hagerstown area, where a ride-hailing service dropped off someone matching his description Wednesday.

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