CT STATE POLICE
At about 6:15 p.m. Sunday, state police released more recent photos of the suspect.
DERBY — Police said 23-year-old Peter Manfredonia’s crime spree started Friday morning in Willington, where the UConn student sliced two men with an “edge-type weapon,” possibly a machete or a sword.
Manfredonia was still on the run as of 8 a.m. 1 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Monday, and was last seen in Pennsylvania, according to a Tweet posted by a public information officer with the Pennsylvania state police.
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7 p.m. Valley Indy update: The suspect was urged to surrender, and a GoFundMe has been set up to help a family bury their son.
1 p.m. Valley Indy update:
At 12:47 p.m. Monday, state police in Pennsylvania released a new image of Manfredonia. It is embedded below.
PA STATE POLICE
Pennsylvania police said the photo is from yesterday (Sunday, May 24) and was taken in East Stroudsburg, PA, which is in Monroe County. Police there also provided a description, noting Manfredonia was last seen wearing dark-colored shorts, a white T‑shirt, and carry a large duffel bag. Follow the Pennsylvania state police public info officer here.
At 12:53 p.m., state police here in Connecticut used social media to dispel a rumor Manfredonia had been captured.
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Anyone with information on his whereabouts or with information about the cases are asked to call Connecticut State Police Troop C at 860 – 896-3200 or the FBI at 1 – 800-CALLFBI (225‑5324).
Original story follows:
One of the victims, 62-year-old Ted DeMers, died. Another man, described as a senior citizen, was badly injured. The Hartford Courant reported the men had stopped to help Manfredonia because they thought his motorcycle had broken down.
Click here for the story from the Courant.
Manfredonia then allegedly forced his way into a residence in the area of Turnpike Road in Willington early Sunday where he held a homeowner against his will, police said.
Manfredonia stole pistols and “long guns” from the residence, according to a description from state police.
The homeowner was not injured. Manfredonia also allegedly stole the homeowner’s vehicle.
At 6:45 a.m. Sunday, Derby police were sent to a “minor, one-car motor vehicle accident” at the intersection of Cullens Hill Road and Hawthorne Avenue. Police realized the vehicle was the vehicle stolen from Turnpike Road, 72 miles away in Willington.
At this point, police had no indication as to how long the vehicle had been at that spot in Derby.
Cullens Hill Road is a short, narrow, windy road that connects state Route 34/Roosevelt Drive to Hawthorne Avenue, a road that runs west to east through Derby parallel to Route 34.
The intersection of Hawthorne and Cullens is across from the 350 heavily-wooded acres of Osbornedale State Park, so the discovery of the vehicle kicked off a manhunt in Derby that employed drones, dogs, heavily-armed tactical police, detectives, and a helicopter.
On Monday at about 10 a.m., Derby police released a statement shedding new light on the vehicle and Manfredonia’s early-Sunday movements in the city:
“Evidence suggests that the truck became lodged on an elevated embankment at which time he abandoned it,” Derby police said.
“Local surveillance showed him walking directly towards the Roosevelt Drive homicide scene in the early (Sunday) morning hours (between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.). The Roosevelt Drive location is approximately 1 mile from the location of the abandoned truck.”
As news about Manfredonia’s possible presence in Derby and neighboring Seymour spread, police received various calls reporting he may have been seen in the area, though those tips may have been unfounded (and confirmed false by Derby police Monday).
Derby police and EMS received a call at about 11 a.m. of a stabbing on Roosevelt Drive.
Derby, state and Seymour police descended on a two-story apartment house at 404 Roosevelt Drive, two doors down from Calvert Safe & Lock on the shore of the Housatonic River.
Police searched the apartments and, on the second floor, found the body of 23-year-old Nicholas J. Eisele. State police described Eisele as an acquaintance of the suspect. Both were from the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, about 11 miles from Derby.
Photo by Eugene Driscoll
The residence at 404 Roosevelt Drive in Derby where a man was found dead Sunday.
A tenant who lives on the first floor of the apartment told police that he heard a commotion at about 6:30 a.m. coming from upstairs but didn’t think much of it because noise coming from upstairs wasn’t unusual.
A few hours later the tenant said he heard a man coming out of the apartment screaming that a man had been stabbed. The tenant said he believed that man to be Eisele’s father. Both men were interviewed by police, along with a laborer who was working on the property.
During the course of the investigation, police determined Manfredonia had left Derby Sunday morning after allegedly forcing Eisele’s girlfriend into her Volkswagon Jetta. Police did speak in detail about this aspect of the crime Sunday, but released updated information at about 10 a.m. Monday.
“On scene in Derby, the Connecticut State Police were able to determine there may have been another individual in the house on Roosevelt (Drive), state police said Monday in a prepared statement.
Later Sunday, police learned the Jetta’s E‑Z Pass had been ‘pinged’ in New York, according to a police radio transmission.
By 12 p.m. Sunday, police were both processing the Roosevelt Drive crime scene while attempting to track down the Jetta. In addition, police were trying to determine when precisely Manfredonia had been in Derby. The press was formally briefed on the grounds of the Derby High-Middle School campus at about 2 p.m.
The woman was found unharmed with the Jetta at a rest stop in New Jersey on the Pennsylvania border. Derby police Monday said the women was not injured “despite being taken from the residence against her will.”
State police announced the Jetta had been found at about 3:15 p.m. Sunday, then offered more information to the public Monday.
“Connecticut State Police were attempting to locate and drafting a Silver Alert when authorities from Patterson, N.J. notified the Connecticut State Police that the individual was located in their city. The individual was not injured and brought back to CT. The individual did positively identify the captor as Peter Manfredonia. We are purposely not releasing any information of the individual to protect the safety of any potential witnesses and the integrity of the investigation,” state police said Monday.
By Sunday afternoon, law enforcement agencies in several states were on the lookout for Manfredonia.
He was allegedly spotted in East Stroudsburg, Pa. Sunday afternoon. A Pennsylvania news station reported Manfredonia attempted to use an Uber, though the station acknowledged it had not confirmed the information.
As the story went national, various tidbits of unvetted information about the suspect came to light, ranging from scribblings allegedly made on walls to criminal charges allegedly pending against relatives. Whether the social media information is true will probably be determined as more information in the case comes to light.
Connecticut state police now use a website to disseminate information to the public.
