Peter Manfredonia, a 23-year-old University of Connecticut senior linked to two homicides, a kidnapping and a home invasion, was arrested in Maryland after a 6-day manhunt that spanned across several states, the police have said.
Manfredonia was taken into custody by the Washington County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Marshals on Wednesday evening, May 27, in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was located at a Pilot truck stop off Interstate 81 just before 10 p.m. and was arrested without incident.
Stolen Santa Fe Found Near Sheetz Store
"No injuries to any law enforcement personnel or Manfredonia," Connecticut State Police tweeted, before adding that additional information would be released on Thursday, May 28. The authorities found the black Hyundai Santa Fe stolen by Manfredonia near a Sheetz store in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and security cameras captured someone matching the suspect's description inside the store, according to the Hagerstown Police Department.
Manfredonia was then picked up by an Uber driver from the Sheetz store and taken to Hagerstown. Law enforcement agencies then canvassed the area and found Manfredonia on foot, coming out of a wooded area behind a building near the truck stop. He is being processed in Maryland and will be extradited back to Connecticut.
Double Murder, Home Invasion and Kidnapping
As previously reported by International Business Times, Manfredonia's crime spree began on Friday, May 22, when he allegedly killed 62-year-old Theodore DeMers and assaulted another man in Wilington on Friday. According to DeMers' wife, Cynthia DeMers, the two men were attacked with an edged weapon after they offered to help Manfredonia who had said his motorcycle had broken down and run out of gas.
Theodore was pronounced dead at a local hospital while the other man suffered severe "sword or machete wounds," state police said. On Sunday, May 24 Manfredonia allegedly also held a homeowner against his will in Willington, stealing his vehicle and firearms, before driving to Derby. The homeowner was not harmed in the incident.
The car that the suspect had stolen was found abandoned near the Osbornedale State Park in Derby, Connecticut. Investigators later learned of a friend of Manfredonia who lived nearby. The man, identified as 23-year-old Nicholas J. Eisele, was found shot dead in his home.
Manfredonia then kidnapped Eisele's girlfriend and fled the area in his friend's Volkswagen, which was later found in New Jersey near the Pennsylvania border.
