HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — 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.
He was found in the area of a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was not injured and no officers were hurt during the arrest, Connecticut State Police said.
Manfredonia was wanted in the machete killing of 62-year-old Ted DeMers and the wounding of another man in Willington, Connecticut, on Friday. Cyndi DeMers, the victim’s wife, has said Manfredonia was looking for a female acquaintance when he came walking down the road in front of their home wearing a motorcycle helmet and her husband offered him a ride.
The University of Connecticut senior then went to another man’s Willington home, held him captive, stole his guns and truck.
On Sunday, he left the captive’s home and drove about 70 miles to Derby, Connecticut, state police said.
In Derby, police found Manfredonia’s high school friend, Nicholas Eisele, 23, shot to death in his home on Sunday. Authorities believe Manfredonia then forced Eisele’s girlfriend into her car and fled the state. The girlfriend was found unharmed with her car at a rest stop near near Columbia, New Jersey.
A gun that police believe was used in the slaying of Eisele was recovered near where Manfredonia was taken into custody, said Trooper First Class Christine Jeltema, a spokeswoman for Connecticut State Police.
Authorities have not offered a possible motive for the crimes.
Investigators tracked Manfredonia to Pennsylvania, where police said he took an Uber to a Walmart in East Stroudsburg, not far from the New Jersey border.
A man fitting his description was spotted Tuesday night near Scranton, Pennsylvania, prompting another search there.
On Wednesday, a car that had been stolen in East Stroudsberg was found in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and security video showed that a man fitting Manfredonia’s description had been in a gas station there. A tip from an Uber driver led police to Hagerstown, Maryland, 25 miles south.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Manfredonia reportedly walked out of a wooded area behind a Pilot truck stop in Hagerstown and was taken into custody.
A lawyer for the suspect’s family, Michael Dolan, said they were relieved the search had ended peacefully.
Dolan said Manfredonia, a Newtown native, was an honors engineering student at UConn who had a history of depression and anxiety but had not shown signs of violence.
“This came as a total surprise to everybody based on Peter’s past,” he said. “He’s been a kind-hearted person who has no history of violence or any trouble with the law.”
