Peter Manfredonia sentenced for murder, kidnapping that sparked manhunt

The Connecticut man who killed two people and kidnapped two others before leading police on a multistate manhunt after he “snapped” on his college campus was sentenced Wednesday to 55 years in prison.

Peter Manfredonia, 26, pleaded guilty in February to fatally shooting high school classmate Nicholas Eisele, 23, and kidnapping Eisele’s girlfriend during the 2020 spree.

Manfredonia offered his apology to Eisele’s family and friends — who wore T-shirts emblazoned with his photo inside a heart with words reading “As long as I breathe you’ll be remembered. Justice for Nick” — as well as his kidnapping victim Shannon Spies.

“There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible,” he said.

“What I did was inexcusably horrendous and I will regret it every day for the rest of my life.”

Manfredonia, who also admitted to killing one elderly man and seriously wounding another with a Samurai sword, will be sentenced for additional murder and assault charges Thursday.

The then-University of Connecticut senior used the weapon to kill Ted DeMers, 62, and seriously wounded an 80-year-old neighbor — who lost part of his ear and several fingers — after the two offered to drive him to his motorcycle that was parked down a dirt road in Willington, Connecticut on May 22, 2020.

It’s not clear why Manfredonia attacked the men, but a former acquaintance of his who had recently stopped seeing him lived in the area.

Manfredonia then burst into another man’s house in Willington and held the 73-year-old hostage for 24 hours before fleeing with his victim’ truck and firearms. The man later told police that Manfredonia told him “he just flipped.”

He showed up at Eisele’s home in Derby, Connecticut two days later and shot his old friend to death before forcing Spies into her car.

Police initiated an intense search that spanned six days and several states.

Manfredonia let Spies free in New Jersey, ripped through Philadephia, and was tracked down by cops several days later in Maryland.

In the months before the violence, Manfredonia scrawled bizarre messages on the walls of his off-campus apartment referencing the Sandy Hook massacre.

“We saw what happened when Adam snapped,” the message said in a suspected reference to Lanza, who gunned down 26 innocent people — including 20 first-graders.

“Now they see what happens when I snap.”

With Post Wires