State police to make announcement in case of UConn student charged with two murders

State police will be making an announcement this morning in the case of Peter Manfredonia, accused of killing two men and assaulting a third, and holding a fourth man hostage in Connecticut and kidnapping a woman who he brought to New Jersey in late May.

Manfredonia has been held without bond in the Washington County Detention Center in Maryland since he surrendered May 27 to police during an extensive manhunt in the state.

State police will discuss the list of charges expected to be filed against the 23-year-old University of Connecticut student who grew up in Newtown at a press conference at 7 a.m. at Troop C in Tolland.

Manfredonia, an accomplished football player and track athlete at Newtown High School where he graduated in 2015, is a senior at the UConn, where he is a finance and mechanical engineering student.

He was living off campus prior to the crime spree that started the morning of May 22 when he allegedly killed 62-year-old Theodore DeMers in Willington and seriously injured a second Willington resident who police said tried to intervene.

Two days later, a third Willington man reported being held captive by Manfredonia, who stole his guns, food, supplies and his truck during a home invasion, according to police.

A few hours after that, police recovered the stolen truck in Derby, setting off an extensive search that led authorities to a Roosevelt Drive home about a mile away. Police said video surveillance showed Manfredonia walking “directly” toward Nicholas Eisele’s home between 5 and 6 a.m. Sunday. Eisele also graduated Newtown High in 2015 and was described by police as an “acquaintance” of Manfredonia.

By the time police arrived, Manfredonia had allegedly shot Eisele in the head and fled and kidnapped Eisele’s girlfriend in her 2016 Volkswagen Jetta. The woman and the car were recovered later Sunday in New Jersey. Police said the woman was unharmed and returned to Connecticut where she was interviewed by investigators.

Investigators tracked his whereabouts to Pennsylvania and then Maryland where he gave up peacefully on May 27. A spokesperson for his family said that Manfredonia has mental health issues but has never been violent.

Manfredonia waived extradition to Connecticut in a Maryland court the day after his capture. He could also be facing federal charges in the kidnapping of Eisele’s girlfriend who police said Manfredonia brought across state lines.