A former University of Connecticut college student has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for killing two people in a violent spree that sparked a six-day manhunt.
Peter Manfredonia, 26, was sentenced Wednesday for shooting Nicholas Eisele, 26, a former high school classmate, and kidnapping his girlfriend Shannon Spies in May 2020.
Manfredonia reportedly wrote disturbing messages on his apartment walls about “chopping” as Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza.
The former college student led authorities on a manhunt across four states — Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut — before he was arrested. He pleaded guilty to the crimes in February.
Two days before the shooting, the mad student had killed another man, Theodore ‘Ted’ Demers, 62, and seriously injured an 80-year-old man, losing several fingers and part of an ear in a samurai sword attack..
Spies gave strong testimony, and told the courtroom that The plea bargain “does nothing” except “shut the door on this case”, and said she hopes her testimony will “haunt” Manfredonia “for the rest of his life”.
Peter Manfredonia, 26, is pictured at Superior Court in Rockville, Connecticut on Feb. 8. Manfredonia, who admitted using a sword in a fatal attack in eastern Connecticut, was sentenced to 55 years in prison on Wednesday for killing and kidnapping a former classmate. A woman driven to a multi-state hunt
Shannon Space, 25, girlfriend of victim Nicholas Ezell, 23, who was shot and killed by Manfredonia, gives powerful testimony during Peter Manfredonia’s sentencing hearing at Milford High Court on Wednesday. She hoped to state her influence would “haunt” Manfredonia for the rest of his life
Damage cannot be undone. “None of this brings Nick back or makes me feel good again,” Spies said.
I will not be the person I was before. I will never feel safe, even in a room surrounded only by people I know. I will always look at the world differently.
Ezell’s mother, Michelle Krawski, and father, John Ezell, wore T-shirts with a picture of their late son inside a heart with the words, “As long as I breathe, you will remember.” Justice for Nick.
Krasovsky had a letter that she tried to read but was overcome with emotion and asked someone else to read it for her.
‘It takes all the strength and I’ll muster up to get up, put my feet on the ground and fight to find the courage to face another day, take a Mack truck worth of grief on my shoulder, the sadness that runs through every part of me,’ she said, Harford Courant mentioned.
And now I can only carry him in my heart. Only his father, brother and sisters could hold them in their hearts as well.
She added: “Fathers shouldn’t bury their children. It’s not the natural order of things.
Nicholas’ distraught father John Ezell told the court, “I honestly can’t remember what it felt like not to worry or worry or what life was like before grief.”
“I will never recover from these wounds,” the media quoted him as saying in part.
It is not yet clear what caused the violent attacks.
Manfredonia’s attorney, Michael Dolan, said his client’s mental health problems contributed to the outburst, but were no excuse.
For most of the hearings, Manfredonia was dressed in a dark brown prison uniform with his hands tied and looking straight ahead, showing little emotion.
In the courtroom, Manifredonia apologizes to the spies and Ezel’s family. He told Ezel’s family, “No words can atone for what I have done.”
My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. … Nick was a fine young man towards whom I felt no malice or malice. My actions were meaningless. Please know that you have my deepest apologies.
Michele Krasovsky, mother of Nicholas Eisele, at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing for Peter Manfredonia at Milford High Court in Milford
John Eisell, father of Nicholas Eisell, speaks during the sentencing hearing for Peter Manfredonia at Milford High Court. The family wore T-shirts with a picture of their late son and the words: “As long as I breathe, you will be remembered. Justice for Nick.”
Nicholas Eisele (pictured) and Manfredonia were schoolmates growing up in Newtown, Connecticut, the town where 20 children and six teachers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
Manfredonia killed Ted Demers, 62, (pictured) in Wellington, Connecticut two days before he set out to kill his former high school classmate, Nicholas Eisele.
Eisele and Manfredonia were schoolmates growing up in Newtown, Connecticut, the town where 20 children and six teachers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
Ezel’s sister, Jessica, survived the school shooting.
“As a survivor of the Sandy Hook school shooting, I was forced to relive the trauma and pain of 12/14 as Peter used the same source of violence to end my brother’s life,” Jessica Ezell said at the sentencing hearing.
Peter of Manfredonia is a monster who must be punished for what he has done. My brother is gone and will be forever. There is no way for me and my family to recover from this.
More than 40 relatives and friends of Nicholas Eisele filled the courtroom, along with his mother and a number of other people who testified. Many wept while comforted by others.
After killing Ezel, Manfredonia forces the spies into her car and flee the state. She was not physically harmed, and was released when they reached Columbia, New Jersey.
Manfredonia was finally caught by the authorities near a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland.
On May 22, 2020, two days before Ezel was shot, Manfredonia killed Ted Demers, 62, and fatally injured an 80-year-old man and Demers’ neighbor.
Prior to the gruesome murder, both men tried to help Manfredonia and offered to drive him to his motorcycle, which was parked on a dirt road near their home in Wellington, Connecticut.
It is not clear what prompted Manfredonia to attack the men, but someone Manfredonia had been involved with and had recently stopped seeing in the area.
Manfredonia’s lawyer, Michael Dolan (pictured), said his client’s mental health problems contributed to the outbreak of violence but were no excuse
Undated photo of Manifredonia
After the killing spree, police said Manfredonia broke into another man’s home in Wellington and held him hostage for 24 hours before taking off with his truck and firearms.
The man later told police that Manfredonia had told him “he just flipped”.
Ansonia/Milford State’s Attorney Margaret Kelly called Ezel’s murder and kidnapping of spies a horrific and “senseless tragedy” that deeply damaged the lives of others.
Judge Peter Brown said a 55-year prison sentence would do nothing to ease the pain the spies and the Ezells had suffered.
The Spies’ Testimony marked the first time she had spoken publicly about the ordeal.
Although she doesn’t say much about the hours she spent with Manfredonia as his captive, she says he tried to hug her at one point while apologizing for killing Izel.
“The version of me who slept with my boyfriend — my best friend and sweetest man I’ve ever met — came to life on May 23rd when my parents picked me up from State Police Headquarters in New Jersey on May 24th. And saw.
“I have lost everything,” said the spies. I lost my best friend and partner. There is no telling how wonderful our future will ever be and the knowledge of that happiness has ever been robbed.
“I am robbed of knowing peace again, of feeling safe anywhere, even in my own home.”
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