MILFORD — Peter Manfredonia, the Sandy Hook man who pleaded guilty on February 6 to murder and other charges related to a 2020 attack in northeastern Connecticut has, as anticipated, pleaded guilty to a second murder and other charges.

According to the Associated Press, Manfredonia on Thursday, Febraury 16, plead guilty in Milford Superior Court to shooting a former Newtown High School classmate to death, kidnapping the victim’s girlfriend, and stealing a car. Those actions were done two days after he had killed one man and wounded another with a sword. The pair of attacks was followed by a six-day search in several states that ended with Manfredonia being captured in Maryland.

As part of a plea deal, Manfredonia has agreed to accept a 55-year prison sentence for his crimes when he is sentenced in April.

As reported last week in The Newtown Bee, on May 22, 2020, Manfredonia was reportedly looking for a young woman he knew when he began his eastern Connecticut rampage.

Cyndi DeMers, who had been married to Ted DeMers for 42 years, said in an interview that Manfredonia was looking for a female acquaintance when he walked down the road in front of the Willington home wearing a motorcycle helmet. When asked why he was walking down the rural road, Manfredonia reportedly said his motorcycle had broken down. Ted DeMers was killed with a machete after giving Manfredonia a ride back to his bike.

Another neighbor, John Franco, 80, went to the aid of Ted DeMers and was also attacked and suffered serious hand injuries.

A subsequent home invasion situation involved an individual who initially told police he woke “abruptly” at 5:15 am on May 23, 2020 to find a male in his bedroom, holding him at gunpoint.

The witness described the next 24 hours, during which time Manfredonia reportedly moved the witness into his basement, used duct tape to bind him to a chair, and allowed him to watch television. After a news report showed a photo of Manfredonia and described the events of the previous day, Manfrednia reportedly admitted to who he was.

After a suggestion to turn himself in, Manfredonia “made it clear that wasn’t an option,” the victim stated. “He told me he was going to have two good weeks and then he figured it would end in either a shootout, the death penalty, or life in prison.”

A Ford F-150 registered to the home invasion victim was eventually taken by Manfredonia and was involved in a minor accident. It was abandoned in Derby the following morning, after which the second murder and kidnapping occurred.

According to the arrest warrant in that case, on May 24, 2020, Manfredonia appeared in the apartment of Nick Eisele, 23, and Eisele’s girlfriend. According the arrest warrant, Manfredonia killed Eisele and took approximately $2,000 from the couple’s apartment, kidnapped the woman, and forced her to drive her Volkswagen Jetta while he sat in the rear passenger seat holding the gun he had just used to kill Eisele.

The victim told detectives that she “was driving erratically in an attempt to get stopped by police,” according to the affidavit. Several times, Manfredonia told her not to get pulled over because he "didn’t want to kill her,’” according to the affidavit. At the time, the victim said she did not believe Manfredonia had a specific destination in mind when they began traveling, according to the document.

They eventually made their way to a TA truck stop in Columbia, N.J., where Manfredonia asked the help of a male stranger to arrange for an Uber to pick him up. By that time Manfredonia and the victim had stopped long enough for Manfredonia to change his clothes and move into the front passenger seat of the kidnap victim's Jetta where he continued to display the gun.

Once Manfredonia got into the Uber and left that location, she told the unnamed male “that Manfredonia had killed someone in Connecticut and kidnapped her,” the warrant states. A stolen Hyundai Santa Fe police believe Manfredonia took sometime later was recovered in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he was suspected to have stayed for at least 24 hours before taking another Uber to Hagerstown, Md., according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Hagerstown Police Department said an Uber driver dropped Manfredonia, 23, off there on May 26 where a record of someone matching his description was seen on surveillance footage at a Sheetz convenience store in that community.

Manfredonia was arrested the next day outside a Pilot Travel Center in Hagerstown, near the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. When he was confronted by officers, Manfredonia surrendered, was arrested without incident, and was transferred back to Connecticut to face charges.

Associated Press content is used in this report.