CT STATE POLICE
Manfredonia
DERBY — State police Monday charged 23-year-old Peter Manfredonia with murder in connection to the May 24 fatal shooting of Nicholas Eisele, 23, in an apartment on Roosevelt Drive.
Manfredonia was also charged with kidnapping Eisele’s girlfriend, who was in the apartment when Eisele was shot in the head at about 6 a.m. May 24.
She was not injured after Manfredonia forced her to drive him to the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He let her go at a truck stop in Columbia, N.J.
The case drew national media attention as Manfredonia remained on the run for five days. He was taken into custody at a truck stop in Maryland.
The arrest warrant used to charge Manfredonia provides more information regarding what allegedly happened inside the apartment on Roosevelt Drive, and sheds more light on Manfredonia’s actions in the hours after Eisele was murdered.
The warrant, just like the previous warrant used to charge Manfredonia with murder in Willington, paints a picture of a man who exploded with violence, then employed ample criminal intellect. Example — he managed to secure Uber rides and avoid GPS tracking even though his face was being plastered on televisions nationwide.
Manfredonia’s alleged crimes began Friday, May 22, when he allegedly slashed two men with a sword, killing one, in Willington.
After hiding out in the woods, he then allegedly broke into a house and took a senior citizen hostage for about 24 hours. He stole guns, cash, and the man’s truck, which police said he drove from Willington to Hawthorne Avenue in Derby.
In Derby
Once in Derby, Manfredonia apparently planned to hide out within the 417 acres of Osbornedale State Park, but his truck became snagged on a rock as he tried to drive through a field.
He ditched the car and walked about a mile to the second-floor apartment at 404 Roosevelt Drive, where he knew Eisele from growing up in Newtown.
Surveillance footage from a local business has him in the driveway of the property at 5:52 a.m.
Eisele’s girlfriend told police she was sleeping Sunday morning but was woken by hearing Eisele’s voice in the living room saying “relax” and “calm down.” She told police she heard a scuffle, and the sound of someone bumping into their wooden TV stand.
She opened the bedroom door and asked if everything was OK.
“No, it’s Peter Manfredonia! Call 911!” Eisele said to her.
She went to pick up her cell in the bedroom, while the physical confrontation between Eisele and Manfredonia spilled into the bedroom.
“Victim 2 (the girlfriend) said it was like Manfredonia was trying to come after her and Nick was trying to stop him,” according to the warrant.
Manfredonia ripped the phone from her hand.
She ran into the living room and curled up into a ball near the front door. She then heard gunshots. She screamed. Manfredonia told her to shut up, according to the warrant.
She asked Manfredonia to call for help.
‘Manfredonia replied, ‘No, he’s dead, I shot him in the head,’” according to the warrant.
He then got her car keys and told her to start driving.
Manfredonia was only in the apartment for about 8 minutes, according to the warrant, which references surveillance video from a nearby business. The warrant does not state how Manfredonia got in.
They were on the road by 6 a.m., traveling west on Route 34 toward Newtown.
The warrant does not provide a reason as to why Manfredonia targeted 404 Roosevelt Drive.
The warrant does state that she had met Manfredonia about three months prior, when he came to their apartment to buy marijuana from Eisele.
The girlfriend also told police there was an estimated $5,000 to $7,000 in cash on a coffee table in the apartment when Manfredonia shot Eisele. Before leaving Derby, Manfredonia had her put about $2,000 in a duffle bag, according to the warrant.
Eisele’s body was discovered by his father, who had become concerned after hearing about Manfredonia’s alleged crimes in Willington and that police were searching Derby for him after finding the truck he stole.
He drove to Derby from Newtown because neither his son nor his son’s girlfriend were answering cell phone calls or text messages. He initially thought his son had been stabbed, because he spotted a knife near the body.
EMS and police received a 911 call from the father at about 11 a.m. Saturday, May 24, giving Manfredonia a five-hour head start in the car with his captive.
On The Run
According to the warrant, the woman tried to drive erratically, hoping to get pulled over. She considered driving into a tree, or into the headquarters of the Newtown Police Department on Route 25.
“Several times Manfredonia told victim #2 not to get pulled over because he didn’t want to kill her,” according to the warrant.
The woman told police that as they traveled across the border into New York and then south into New Jersey, Manfredonia talked about the homicide and home invasion in Willington.
“Victim #2 stated Manfredonia told her that the guy on the 4‑wheeler was not the intended target and that he said something that triggered him and he snapped,” according to the warrant, a reference to Theodore DeMers, a 62-year-old former Marine allegedly killed by Manfredonia. “Manfredonia said he was trying to escape and innocent people got in the way.”
“Manfredonia told her that he killed people, including Nick, because they said something that triggered him and he snapped, but did not elaborate.”
Car Service
Manfredonia had her pull into a truck stop off I‑80 in Columbia N.J. in a search of a public WiFi spot. Manfredonia began asking people to call him an Uber, eventually finding a man who was willing to call an Uber for him after Manfredonia offered him money.
An Uber car arrived, and Manfredonia allegedly gave his captive $200 “for gas money.”
When the Uber left, the woman told the man who secured the ride that Manfredonia had killed a person and then kidnapped her. He called 911.
State police interviewed Manfredonia for almost two hours after he was captured at a truck stop May 27 in Hagerstown, Maryland.
He refused to answer questions about what happened on Roosevelt Drive, but did provide details about how he ordered two Uber rides while police were hunting him.
It involved buying a prepaid iPhone from Walmart, along with a touch-screen laptop for email verification. He signed up with Straight Talk for phone service, then used cash to buy a prepaid debit card, which he linked as payment for his new Uber account. He ordered Ubers using public WiFi.
“Manfredonia never explained where he was heading or where he was trying to go,” the warrant concludes.
In addition to murder and kidnapping, Manfredonia is charged in Derby with carrying a pistol w/out a permit, home invasion, and first-degree robbery. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, July 21 in Superior Court in Milford.
