A former University of Connecticut student has pleaded guilty to several charges Wednesday after allegedly killing two people and kidnapping a woman in 2020.
Court officials said 26-year-old Peter Manfredonia pleaded guilty to a murder charge and will be sentenced on April 20. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and home invasion charges as a part of the plea deal.
Manfredonia's attorney said he will be sentenced to 55 years in prison, saying the deal has been agreed upon by all parties.
Officials said he was charged with murdering his childhood friend in Derby, Nicholas Eisele, as well as kidnapping Eisele's girlfriend and forcing her to drive him to New Jersey.
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Manfredonia, who is also accused of killing 62-year-old Ted DeMers in Willington on May 22. 2020, ended up at Eisele's Derby apartment on May 24 where he shot and killed Eisele, according to an arrest affidavit. Eisele and Manfredonia grew up together in Newtown.
Eisele's girlfriend told police she woke up and heard Eisele saying "relax" and "calm down" loudly from the living room. When she asked if everything was OK, Eisele said Manfredonia was in the apartment and she should call 911, according to the warrant.
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As the girlfriend grabbed her cellphone to dial 911, she told police Manfredonia and Eisele came through the bedroom door and Manfredonia grabbed the cellphone from her hand. She said she ran into the living room and then heard shots. She screamed, and Manfredonia told her to "shut up," the warrant states.
Manfredonia took approximately $5,000 to $7,000 that was in the apartment and kidnapped Eisele's girlfriend, according to the warrant.
He made her drive on back roads through Newtown, and they eventually ended up in Columbia, New Jersey, where they pulled into a truck stop. Manfredonia asked some people there to help him secure an Uber to Pennsylvania. Once he did that, he left Eisele's girlfriend in her car, and she told someone at the truck stop that she had been kidnapped and that Manfredonia had killed someone in Connecticut, the warrant stated.
Manfredonia was captured in Hagerstown, Maryland, after a multi-state manhunt five days after the initial attack.
He was returned to Connecticut on June 12, 2020 and has been in police custody ever since. He is expected to appear in court on Feb. 16.
