UNITED STATES—On the morning of Friday, May 22, Connecticut State Police received a call of a nearby assault in Willington. Police identified the suspect to be a college senior at UConn, whom had killed a 62 year-old man and assaulted the latter’s neighbor. The search for the individual has led to a tri-state manhunt with the FBI announcing their participation in the lookout for the suspect.
CT State Police disclosed to the public on Saturday morning the search for the 23 year old student in relation to the assault on Mirtl Rd. Willington. Theodore DeMers, the 62 year-old man, died of his injuries that same day. His wife, Cynthia DeMers, revealed to Hartford Courant her husband and their neighbor had offered the man a ride back to his motorcycle when shortly she was alerted of the incident by another nearby neighbor.
““He was a kind, gentle soul. He loved the outdoors. He spent a lot of time outside. His artwork came from the outdoors as well. He used to gather his own materials,” Cynthia DeMers described her husband.
Organizer Matt Emond from Willington has opened a GoFundMe site in order to support the DeMers family.
The suspect is known to have been responsible for another death in Derby, Conneticut, where he killed 23 year-old Nicholas J. Eisele, known to be a former acquaintance. Thereafter, he kidnapped Eisele’s girlfriend, whom was found in unharmed in Paterson New Jersey.
The search for Peter Manfredonia has now extended to both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The latter’s police department’s trooper Petroski, shared a surveillance video footage picture identifying the suspect walking along railroad tracks in East Stroudsburg, Monroe County. The FBI announced this morning that they now have joined forces with local authorities in the search for the suspect. Alerting the public that he is considered armed and dangerous.
On Tuesday morning, Michael Donan, Peter Manfredonia’s family’s attorney, spoke on behalf of his parents.
“Peter had struggled with mental health issues over the past several years. He sought the help of a number of therapists and had the support of his family.” He urged the suspect to turn himself in. “Nobody wants any harm to come to you. It is time for the healing process to begin,” Donan said. “It is time to surrender.”
When asked if the family had any idea where he might be headed, Donan refused to answer the question, saying that that he “deserves the chance to turn himself in.”
Manfredonia is an Honors UConn senior with a major in Finance and Engineering. He was an athlete participating in a variety of recreational sports from snowboarding, playing football to running triathlons. In September of 2019, he ran a triathlon where he raised a collective of 1845 dollars for charities including The Avielle Foundation and Sandy Hook Promise.
Anyone with information is asked to call Connecticut State Police at 860-896-3200 or the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324).
