Parents of ‘machete maniac’ UConn student Peter Manfredonia urge him to surrender after fugitive seen walking in Poconos
THE parents of a college student suspected of killing two elderly men have pleaded with him to turn himself into police, saying: “It’s time to surrender.”
Lawyer Michael Dolan, the attorney for Peter Manfredonia’s parents, urged the University of Connecticut student to turn himself into authorities at a press conference on Monday evening.
“It’s time to let the healing process begin. It’s time to surrender,” Dolan said.
“Peter, from your parents, ‘We love you. Please turn yourself in.'”
Dolan revealed that the 23-year-old UConn senior has “struggled with mental health issues” for several years and has sought the help of “a number of therapists.
“You are loved. Your parents, your sisters, your entire family loves you. Nobody wants any harm to come to you,” the attorney said.
Although Dolan didn’t answer any questions related to the case, he expressed condolences to the families of the elderly victims.
Authorities have been on the hunt for Manfredonia since Friday, when he was seen fleeing the scene of the vicious assault in .
State Trooper Anthony Petroski tweeted a blurry photo believed to be Manfredonia and warned the public: “If seen, DO NOT APPROACH, ARMED & DANGEROUS.”
Manfredonia, described as six-foot-three and white, is reportedly a 2015 graduate of Newtown High School and enrolled on UConn’s Management & Engineering for Manufacturing program.
KILLING SPREE
Authorities say he began his spree on Friday morning with an attack that left Ted DeMers, 62, dead and John Franco, 80, seriously injured.
He’s also wanted in connection with the death of Nicholas Eisele, 23, in Derby, a town northwest of New Haven, according to .
DeMers’ wife, Cynthia DeMers, told the that her husband and an elderly neighbor had offered Manfredonia a lift after seeing him walking along a road back to his motorbike.
“It could have been anybody who offered him a ride,” she said.
“It could have been any of my neighbors’ husbands. It just happened to be mine.”
Police said the wounds inflicted were consistent with the use of a sword or machete.
Speaking to , trooper Josue Dorelus confirmed that a weapon was used and cops believe it was “edged”, although they didn’t provide an exact description.
Early on Sunday, police were called to a property in Willington from which Manfredonia had allegedly stolen three shotguns, a pistol, and a truck.
The owner of the home had been held for a time against his will but was left unharmed.
The truck was discovered crash and abandoned near Osbornedale State Park at around 6:45am.
Manfredonia allegedly stopped by the house of Eisele, who investigators determined was a high school acquaintance, before killing him and abducting his girlfriend in their Volkswagen Jetta.
A tenant inside Eisele’s home on Roosevelt Avenue told cops he had heard arguing at around 5:30 am, WTIC reported.
The car was later found in , near the border of Pennsylvania, following a sighting at a truck stop in Knowlton Township.
Eisele’s girlfriend, who has not been named, was found unharmed on Sunday afternoon and identified Manfredonia as her kidnapper, according to the news station.
STILL AT LARGE
Manfredonia was last seen on foot on Sunday in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania carrying a large duffel bag believed to contain the stolen weapons and remains at large, according to the .
Newtown was the location of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School – Manfredonia has used social media to lament mass shootings in the US on multiple occasions, according to .
As recently as August, following shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, he said the perpetrators had wanted to spread “violence and hate” and that “love is the only answer to hate, not more hate”.
He added that the shootings were the product of an “environment that… enables individuals with a dangerously severe lack of sympathy/ remorse to freely acquire firearms”.
A University of Connecticut spokesperson said: “The university expresses its deepest, most heartfelt sympathies to the victims and their families in this horrible, incomprehensible tragedy.
The school added that Manfredonia was “not attending summer courses, and had not been living on the UConn campus either at the time of the incident in Willington or during recent semesters.”
