Manfredonia Pleads Guilty In 2020 Willington Slaying, Home Invasion

VERNON, CT — A former UConn student accused of killing a Willington man, seriously wounding another and holding a third hostage during a home invasion in a May 2020 spree pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of murder, first-degree assault and home invasion.

Peter Manfredonia, 26, entered his plea in Rockville Superior Court. He faces a total effective prison term of 55 years when he is sentenced on April 20, according to Matthew C. Gedansky, Tolland State’s Attorney.

According to a police report, on the morning of May 22, 2020, Theodore DeMers, 62, was killed with "an edged weapon" in front of his home on Mirtl Road in Willington after encountering Manfredonia and giving him a ride on an all-terrain vehicle. A neighbor, John Franco, 80, was seriously wounded in the attack, but recovered.

A motorcycle used by Manfredonia was later found abandoned at the end of a dead end road in Willington. At some point that weekend, a homeowner in the Turnpike Road area reported a man fitting Manfredonia's description had broken into his house and held him against his will. On the morning of May 24, the invader stole the man's truck and some firearms, according to police.

Several hours later, Nicholas Eisele, 23, a classmate of Manfredonia at Newtown High School, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in his Derby home. Eisele's girlfriend told authorities she was taken from the house by Manfredonia, who left in a Volkswagen Jetta. The car and woman were later found at a rest area off Interstate 80 in northern New Jersey, near the Pennsylvania border, police said.

Pennsylvania State Police reported Manfredonia was dropped off by a rideshare service at the Walmart in East Stroudsburg. Various sightings of him were reported in southern Pennsylvania, and after six days on the run, he was captured after taking an Uber to Hagerstown, Maryland, about 10 miles south of the Pennsylvania border, and emerging from a wooded area near a travel center, according to authorities.

According to judicial records, Manfredonia still faces charges of murder, murder during commission of a felony, first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, home invasion, first-degree kidnapping with a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection with the Derby case. He is scheduled to appear in Milford Superior Court on those charges Feb. 16.