Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 23-year-old UCONN engineering major murder rampage

Episode Date: May 29, 2020

Theodore DeMers, 62, dies of sharp force and chop injuries of the head, torso, and extremities after helping a young man claiming to have motorcycle problems. From there, the suspect goes on a crime spree. He steals a car, invades a home, kills another man, and kidnaps a woman. Six days later, the crime spree ends.With Nancy Grace today: Ashley Willcott - Judge and trial attorney, Anchor on Court TV, www.ashleywillcott.com  Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills Cloyd Steiger - 36 years with Seattle Police Department, 22-year Homicide Detective & Author of "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer: Gary Gene Grant"  Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet" Levi Page - Investigative Reporter, CrimeOnline Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. At a time when we are all pulling together to fight coronavirus, COVID-19, I have something for you. An all-free e-chapter on coronavirus crimes and how to fight them. Don't be a coronavirus crime victim. From door-to-door sales of fake cures and tests, vaccines. That's not real. To robocalls that are trying to scam you. To fake ads.

To phishing you online. To fake cures that are being sold on the internet and on infomercials right now. You've got to arm yourself against these crimes. Please download our free e-chapter, Coronavirus Crimes, Don't Be a Victim. Go to crimeonline.com. You'll see it there. Hit the link and download it for free. Arm yourself against criminals and scam artists, cons that will not only take advantage of you, but take advantage of you, your parents, your grandparents, and people you love at a time when we are all fighting the virus. I hope you go to CrimeOnline.com and download this. It's been highly researched and presented for you for free.

Goodbye, friend. Keep the faith. How does a football star, an honors student, a double major in business and engineering turn out to be the most wanted man known all across the country, not for his football plays on the field or his straight A's, but for murder. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Let's kick it off with our friend John Limley, Crime Online. Friday, May 22nd, Memorial Day weekend is about to begin. But just before 9 a.m., a neighbor notices a man standing at the end of Ted Demers' driveway. Suspicious, the neighbor sends the 62-year-old self-employed

woodworker a text. It's a message that he would never receive. Around 9.01 a.m., Connecticut State Police are called to a reported disturbance on Myrtle Road in Willington. When troopers arrive at 9.08, they find Ted Demers dead and another man hurt. Demers' wife of 42 years, Cynthia, tells the Hartford Courant that her husband offers to help a young man who's walking. The man says his motorcycle is down the road, and Demers offers him a ride back. About five minutes later, a neighbor alerts Cynthia Demers, and she finds her husband lying on the ground with obvious injuries. The coroner's report notes Demers' cause of death,

sharp force and chop injuries of head with sharp force injuries of torso and extremities. A 62-year-old woodworker is found hacked dead. Chop injuries to the head, sharp force injuries to the torso and the extremities. Theodore Demers is dead. Joining me, an all-star panel. Of course, we're talking about 23-year-old UConn student Peter Manfredonia. With me, Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, Anchor Court TV. You can find her at ashleywilcott.com.

Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst. Joining me out of Beverly Hills at drbethanymarshall.com, Cloyd Steiger, 36 years, Seattle PD, 22, homicide and author of Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer, Gary Jean Grant, cloydsteiger.com. Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, death investigator, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Levi, take a listen to what our friends at WFSB3, Conn State Police Presser, says.

Friday, May 22nd, at 9.01 a.m., state police troops in Tolland were dispatched via 911 of a report of a disturbance on Myrtle Road in the town of Willington. At 9.08 a.m., troopers arrived and located two injured men on the roadway. 62-year-old Theodore Demers was pronounced deceased while being transported to the hospital. The second victim was transported to an area hospital and is currently in stable condition. Detectives responded to the crime scene and began investigating and speaking to witnesses. You're hearing our friends at WFSB3, Conn State Police. So we learned that it wasn't just Theodore Demers that was hacked with a sword or a machete. An 86-year-old neighbor comes to help Demers. To Levi Page, Demers, of course, dead,

but the 86-year-old neighbor ends up in critical condition near death in the hospital. What happened? You're right, Nancy. It's 9 a.m. May 22nd, and Connecticut State Police responded to a disturbance. It's on Myrtle Road in Wilmington, Connecticut. And Theodore Demers, he's 62 years old. He was found dead. And another man was taken to the hospital after they were taken hostage and hacked with a machete. Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Taken hostage and hacked with a machete. It's my understanding that Theodore Demers, Ted Demers' wife, says Demers was being a good Samaritan. That a guy walked up needing a ride to his motorcycle or a ride in general wearing a motorcycle helmet. And, you know, Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, I will never forget the first time I heard somebody going on a rampage. They walked into, it was either a Rich's or a Macy's to get return credits and they were wearing a motorcycle helmet inside the store. Now we all know about mask laws up until COVID anyway, where that was a violation of an ordinance in itself. But this guy walks up with a motorcycle helmet on, saying he needs trouble, and Demers offers to help. That was his big crime, Ashley. Yeah, it was a good Samaritan, right? And which of us honestly wouldn't? You may think, oh, he was on his motorcycle he has a somatol and he needs help

and most people are trusting nancy maybe not me because of what i do for a living but many people are so they thought innocently let's help this guy and look what happened to him you know i just i just hate it so i understand levi page that demers gives the perp a ride and somehow everything goes sideways and he ends up getting hacked dead with what a machete he was hacked with a machete Nancy and you're right the attacker was walking down the street he had his helmet on he said his motorcycle had broken down he said I know some of your neighbors that made theodore demers trust him and he gave him a ride to the motorcycle wait wait he said i know x which was a young female neighbor of ted demers and his wife now what can you tell me about the young female that this guy claims he knows?

So apparently he had been acting very strange towards this female. You mean stalking? That showed up to her home. Let's just call it what it is. Stalking. Yeah, he showed up to her home. Levi Page. I invited many times. Just so you know, in your dating future, don't go to a woman's house when she says, don't come to my house. That's called stalking.

Not that I think you would do that, Levi, of course. But he didn't just know her. This young woman was considering taking out a TRO, temporary restraining order, against Peter Manfredonia. Correct? You are correct, Nancy. And so there he is you know to you dr bethany marshall people have asked why is manfredonia in the neighborhood did he single out ted demers to hack him dead with a machete he was there with a machete hidden in his rucksack backpack walking toward the woman's house. That's where he was going. People say, why? Well, nothing good when a guy's walking to your house with a machete.

That's not good. Nancy, and have you seen his picture? He's actually a very nice looking young man. I don't think so. A student. Oh, I do. He just looks fresh faced. He looks innocent. Well yet I agree with that he

was preoccupied with this woman and he was stalking her and what I'm wondering is what is the the relationship between the neighbor he hacked to death and the stalking victim. Did he imagine that the neighbor had some special or kind relationship with the victim or had befriended the victim or was standing in the way of love, getting in the way between him and the victim? How did he turn all of the rage towards the woman he was stalking against this innocent neighbor who was trying to help him? That's what I would like to understand. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a UConn student who somehow goes from being a double major in business and engineering, a football star.

I was just making notes about where he was a Nighthawk. He was a Nighthawk football star. And I actually managed to pull up some video of him out on the field. And he's an honor student, goes to UConn, makes great grades. And I've got to agree with Dr. Bethany Marshall on this. He looks fresh-faced. I can't look at him and see him as attractive the way Bethany apparently can because I know too much. But he does look young and fresh-faced.

How did all that go right down the crapper? That's a technical, legal phrase, Jackie. But now he's wanted all across the country. I want to go to Justice Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. It's my understanding, so Demers gives him a ride, and I think that somewhere along the ride, Demers figures out who he is. He says, hey, you know, what are you doing in our neighborhood? Where are you headed?

What's going on? Where are you headed? What's going on? Where are you from? And he knows the neighbor girl is considering a TRO. And he puts two and two together, and he ends up dead. Tell me this. I don't normally think of somebody carrying a machete in their backpack. What would those injuries look like to the medical examiner? Not a stab wound but but like

what yeah these are referred to generally in overall terms we refer to these as sharp force injuries specifically hacking style injuries okay joe scott i i don't like interrupting contrary to what many people think but i already know it would be hacking injuries. Okay. And I'm the JD. Okay. You're the death investigator. Tell me something I don't know. Well, you know, if we, if we think about the way an ax hits a piece of wood, for instance, this is going to be rather brutal. Think about the construction. We're talking about an instrument. It's called a machete. It has a spine and it's a single edge. So it has the spine that's kind of weighted on the top side and then the blade is lower. This is made specifically for

chopping. That's our key word here, Nancy. And it covers a lot of surface space. These things are generally about 24 inches in length. You can fit it into a backpack, but more than likely, the handle's literally going to be hanging out. when you take this thing out and you put it before a victim and you show it to them it would send a chill up your spine i can only imagine this poor man he has to be within arm's distance of this fellow striking distance if you will most of the time in these machete attacks that i've seen you're going to have multiple strikes all over the body. And Nancy, it doesn't just chop through, say, for instance, the vessels themselves, the blood vessels in the body where you're going to bleed a lot. It also has the ability, because it's got this weighted backside or spine, to crush bone as well. So it's a very painful

event that the victim is going through, and there will be multiple of these. Just trying to take in because you kind of got my attention when you said it's more akin to an axe attack. And you keep talking about the weighted spine. And with the additional weight in a machete, it's not like a knife in that it can actually break your bones. I hadn't thought of it like that. I mean, Floyd Steiger, 36 years, Seattle PD, 22 homicide. You ever seen a machete attack? You know, I probably have. I haven't seen a murder by one. I've had plenty of axe murders or hatchet murders, but that's a brutal attack, like Joe Scott was saying, and a lot of blood, a lot of injuries.

Yeah, you're right, Claude. You don't see a machete murder every day. And when I hear that, Dr. Bethany Marshall, it's a shock. Not that every other murder is not shocking and upsetting, but you just don't see machete murders every day. I mean, Jack, have you ever? No. Okay. None of us.

And I've prosecuted for so many years and covered so many cases. That's not your typical murder, as if any murder is typical. But what do you make of a mindset where somebody sticks a machete in their rucksack and goes on their way? I mean, what is that? When I read this story, this is a little tangential, but I grew up in Africa, Central West Africa. My parents were missionaries. And so machetes were commonly used there to, you know, hack your way through the forest. Or when there were tribal wars, people would hack each other up with machetes. Machete was a tool of war in that part of the world. So when I read this article and I saw that here in the United States, somebody tried to hack or did hack somebody up with a machete, my thought was, it's so when we have access to guns and knives and all kinds of instruments to maim and harm, this young man uses a machete.

And it makes me wonder, you know, he was in some kind of a mindset, maybe in a psychotic episode. Don't start, Bethany. I mean, every time there's a murder, you start talking about their mental illness. We don't know that. I know it's been bandied about that he had depression, that he had anxiety. I mean, does anybody not have depression and anxiety? I get depressed every time I read a murder case and I'm anxious all the time because I think the kids, the children are going to get kidnapped. My point is, I know that's a trite approach to serious depression and serious anxiety. But I'm coming from the point of depression and anxiety do not equal insanity under the law. Well, what I was thinking, not so much that depression or anxiety would cause them to kill somebody because obviously people who are depressed do not have the energy to even get themselves out of bed. So and people who are anxious are always afraid of getting into trouble. So people with depression and anxiety are generally the last people on the face of the planet who are going to be homicidal. I think what I was.

That's a really good point. I think what I was pointing to is why the choice. I had not thought of that. Okay. Yeah. I had thought of that, but you're right. The choice of the weapon. That's what I was pointing to is that this guy who is seemingly so high functioning that he's a double major becomes so low functioning that he rummages around someone's tool shed and gets a machete. That's what I'm wondering. The difference between his intellect, the fact that he's a student, and he grabs something that takes such a huge amount of force in order to murder another person. And what that says to me is that he did not just set out to kill, he set out to destroy, to maim, and to disfigure, which is often what we see with stalkers, that they want to destroy the beauty and the attractiveness of the victim. Maybe he

wanted to chop her head or her face or her hands so that she would no longer be attractive in society. And then this poor neighbor somehow got caught up in this and got in the way. And of course, there's something, there's a whole another mindset to a knife or a blade attack, which this is more akin to an axe attack, as Joseph Scott Morgan has pointed out, because you're not standing at a distance firing like you're playing a video machine. You are up close and personal. The blood spatters on you.

You feel the bone crunch. You're wielding the machete. It's a whole nother animal. But he didn't stop there. Take a listen to our friends at WFSB3, Connecticut State Police. On Sunday, May 24th, at 6.43 a.m., Derby Police Department received a call reporting of an abandoned vehicle that appeared to have been involved in a motor vehicle accident. At 6.58 a.m., Troops C and Tolland received a call from Derby Police Department reporting that the abandoned vehicle was registered in the town of Willington, which was close to the initial homicide on Friday, May 22nd. Troopers responded to the vehicle owner's address to conduct a well-being check.

Upon arrival, they learned the suspect had committed a home invasion Sunday morning and stole multiple firearms with the homeowner's vehicle, which was located in the area of Osbournedale State Park in Derby. At 7.34 a.m., multiple agencies responded to the Osbournedale Park area and began an extensive search for the suspect. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We're talking about a 23-year-old honors student out of UConn, double major, business and engineering, football star with the Nighthawks in high school, coincidentally living in the same neighborhood as Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza. We're talking about Peter Manfredonia, who then goes on the run. Now, what we're hearing right there, Levi Page, is that he leaves Willington, Connecticut area, where the first incident took place, where Demers is murdered with machete. The neighbor ends up, 86-year-old guy.

That's a whole otherher mindset right there, attacking the elderly. I mean, when I look at my mom struggling, she's about to turn 89, struggling to walk, struggling to sit up. The thought of hurting her and she's so fragile. What mindset is it that you attack an 86-year-old man with a machete? He's in serious condition right now. But then Manfredonia moves on. He moves on from the Demers attack to Derby, Connecticut, nearby. And we find out, Levi Page, that there seems to be a home invasion

where the car, three long guns, a pistol, and food are taken. Tell me about that. Yes. So, Nancy, he went to Derby, Connecticut, which was about 60 miles away from the first attacks. And that is where he invaded a home, stole guns, ammunition, and food. You know, I just thought of something, Ashley Wilcott. Nobody's considered this. We don't hear very much about that second home invasion because we go from the female object of desire and her not having a TRO, demurred death.

Then we skip to the next violent crime victims. But that home invasion right there, Ashley, how did he know? Did he know these people? Because he knows, does he know he can go in there and find guns? It seems like a very calculated home invasion, Ashley. You know, it does on one hand to me because of the gun piece. But on the other hand, Nancy, for him to start all of this with a machete, which is, I would argue, an instrument of opportunity, right? Most of us don't go out and know where to get a machete.

I then think I'm not convinced he was that deliberate. I think he did anything and everything he wanted to do and he wanted to go in this home invasion and they happen to have guns. I can't, that's more of what I think has happened. Well, as a matter of fact, his crime spree, this honor student heads on, take a listen to WFSB 3. Various assets were deployed to include additional patrol troopers, aviation support, multiple canine teams, our drone unit, tactical teams, negotiators, and detectives. At 8.53 a.m., a reverse 911 call was sent out to alert residents of the situation. At 9.51, state police notified the public via statewide social media that the suspect may be in Derby and believed to be armed with multiple firearms. At 11.04 a.m., Derby police received a 911 call requesting a well-being check for an individual on Roosevelt Drive. Upon checking the home, Nicholas Isley was found deceased. A 2016 black Volkswagen Jetta

was taken from that Roosevelt Drive residence, and it was also discovered an individual was abducted from the residence. That's our friend Christine Giltema speaking with WFSB 3. Now we have the second homicide victim. You've got one 86-year-old in the hospital whose life is hanging by a thread, and now a young female has been abducted, Isley's girlfriend. Take a listen now to John Limley, Crime Online. A young female has been abducted, Isley's girlfriend. Take a listen now to John Limley, Crime Online.

Around 5.30 a.m. on Sunday, May 24th, the day before Memorial Day, Nick Isley's downstairs neighbors are awakened by loud noises. Their ceiling shakes as if someone has been slammed on the floor. Then there's a loud bang, the sound of a girl screaming, and two people arguing. It all lasts about five or six minutes, then stops. The downstairs neighbors say they consider calling police, but decide it was just an argument and go back to sleep. But someone else had heard the commotion and calls 911. When Connecticut State Police arrived at the couple's apartment, they found Nick dead. But Shannon, Isley's live-in

girlfriend, was nowhere to be found. We understand that Derby is less than 20 miles away from Willington, Connecticut. What can you tell me, out to you, Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, about Isley? Yeah, so he was an acquaintance of this attacker in high school. They had been friendly. And he went in there and shot him to death and then kidnapped his girlfriend. You know, that's interesting. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, how people, I was just studying an article about it last night,

what happens to you in grammar school and high school seemingly shapes the rest of your life. This is a guy, Manfredonia, knew from high school. Manfredonia is now in college. He's 23. He should be about to graduate in that double major at UConn. Why is he seeking out someone murdering them that he knew in high school? Well, I'm wondering if the stalking victim is at the center of this entire story. And if Manfredonia imagined that this high school friend'd become preoccupied with and he was stalking and whom ostensibly he wanted to maim. And he had a weapon that was so crude and so primitive that he really wanted to do damage to her. But he swerves away from her house and then goes on to Derby to somebody seemingly unrelated. And what I would want to know is in the perpetrator's mind,

did he believe that this 23-year-old young man somehow was in a relationship with the stalking victim? Did he believe that they were connected to each other, almost like a love triangle in his own mind? To Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, Anchor Court TV at AshleyWilcott.com. Ashley, is he seeking out people that he thinks have wronged him? For instance, when Demers is murdered back in Willington, he's on his way.

The only person he knows in that neighborhood is the girl, the woman who he's fixated upon. He's got an obsession with her. Then he travels 20 miles away to a high school acquaintance and murders him and kidnaps his girlfriend. I mean, you're on the bench all the time. What does this smack off to you? I agree with Dr. Bethany Marshall. I think exactly that he had his eye on the prize, so to speak, from his perspective, which was he had some beef with these people from his life. And he did what he had to do to get to those people. And he didn't care what he did along the way to get physically where he needed to get in the first neighborhood.

And then he just moved on and ended up shooting and killing a 23-year-old high school friend in kidnapping his girlfriend. I absolutely believe if I were on the bench, that would be the argument of motive by the prosecutor. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In a manhunt that spans four states, you already know of one elderly gentleman hacked dead, another high school friend shot dead, and a woman now missing, the girlfriend of the high school acquaintance. Take a listen to our friends over at Inside Edition, Les Trent. The murder spree began at the start of the Memorial Day weekend when Manfredonia allegedly butchered 62-year-old Ted Demers with a machete. Demers was a good Samaritan who was offering him a ride. That cost him his life, unfortunately.

I spoke to Ted Demers' widow and daughter-in-law, Cindy and Molly Demers. He always knew how to pull somebody out of, you know, a difficult spot by making them laugh and making them happy. He was a huge presence. He really was. He was a huge presence. The next slaying victim was 23-year-old Nick Eisel, a friend of Manfredonia's. Police say this was the second stop in that brutal crime spree. Nick Eisel was upstairs with his girlfriend.

Police say that he was brutally murdered, his girlfriend kidnapped. This neighbor lives downstairs. Guys, by this time, of course, pleas are going out by the family to turn yourself in. Apparently, this guy had never been in trouble before. Take a listen now to our friends at WFSB3, a police presser, where they are begging for Manfredonia to turn himself in. My message is to Peter directly. Peter, we've talked to your family. We've talked to your friends and your roommates. All of them have said the same thing, that this behavior is out of the ordinary for you.

We know this is not who you are. Peter, I want you to know that we are continuing our investigation. The one thing we are missing right now is you. We want you to be able to tell your story. We are here to listen to you. Your parents, your friends, all of us back here in Connecticut want a peaceful end to this.

Your family has hired an attorney on your behalf and your rights will be safeguarded. We are waiting to hear from you. We want to hear from you. Please call 911. Let us know where you are. We want to resolve this in a safe way. Please call us. We are waiting here to listen to you. You know, I'm listening to what they are saying to Dr. Bethany Marshall. What do you make of the plea for him to, Manfredoni, to end things peacefully? I mean, is that even possible?

I don't think it's possible at all. I think he's on a killing rampage at this point. Nancy, when I was listening to this, I was thinking about a patient in my Beverly Hills office in her 50s, lovely, professional, poised, calm, cool, collected. And whenever there's a school shooting, she says to me calmly, you know, I was bullied when I was in high school. Sometimes I wish I could go kill the people who bullied me. And it always seems to come from out of the blue. But what we know from risk assessment for violence is that this might be similar to a school shooting or a workplace shooting, where what you see is that

the person feels they're what we call injustice collectors. They feel wronged by society. They feel that there's a power imbalance between them and other people. They imagine themselves to have been bullied, and they have an ax to grind, and they want to straighten everybody out who they perceive to have slighted or injured them along the way. And I think that's the nexus of all these victims, either a girl who refuses to date him, maybe a friend in high school who, I don't know, got a position on the football team that he didn't get. People who he thinks were favored or got more than he did from the school teachers. But in this case, it turns homicidal. And back to your comment about the family pleading for him to turn himself in peaceably.

He's not going to. This is like a murder-suicide. He's going to go down trying to kill everybody around him who thinks has wronged him. That's going to be his M.O. The hunt is on for Manfredonia. His M.O. is very difficult to discern because while his attacks seemingly are at random, people he doesn't know, there are also targets he does know. He didn't know Ted Demers. He didn't know Isley's girlfriend, yet they were tangential, collateral damage, tangential to the targets he was focusing on. And then a firefighter steps in. Take a listen to WFSB. Elliot Polikoff. Police in Duryea, Pennsylvania then said a firefighter spotted a man with a large backpack on Tuesday night. When the firefighter asked the man,

who fit the description of Manfredonia, what he was doing, the man fled toward nearby railroad tracks. Then earlier today, another photo of Manfredonia, this time at a Sheetz convenience store in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Police also reporting today that they had recovered a stolen black Hyundai Santa Fe that Manfredonia was believed to have been driving. Police also released surveillance video saying that Manfredonia had taken an Uber to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he remained at large until just over an hour ago. Connecticut State Police have announced that more information on Manfredonia's capture will be provided tomorrow. Hagerstown Police reported that Manfredonia was taken into

custody by the U.S. Marshals and Washington County Sheriff's Office. There are also reports of a foot chase having taken place. But how did it go down? Here's John Limley, Crime Online. University of Connecticut student Peter Manfredonia is accused of killing two people and kidnapping another. The 23-year-old leads police on a six-day manhunt stretching from Connecticut to Maryland. Police describe Manfredonia as being about six foot four inches tall and wearing red sneakers. On the night of Wednesday, May 27th, while being briefed on Manfredonia's description, an investigator points to a man of that height nearby, and the detective delivering the briefing notices his red sneakers. The side view profile of him also matches photos of Manfredonia. The man, wanted by cops across the country, is a mere 20 feet away. The

team immediately goes to Manfredonia with guns drawn. They tell him to get on the ground. Manfredonia cooperates. He also willingly walks law enforcement about 200 yards away from the arrest site to a black bag with a weapon inside. A motive for the attacks is still unknown. The more we dig into Manfredonia's background, the more questions there are. What we are learning right now is that Manfredonia was captured and is seemingly, quote, tired and confused, tired and scared. Manfredoni arrested at gunpoint near a Maryland truck stop. He is now a suspect in two homicides and multiple other crimes. But listen to what we learn about Manfredoni's thinking. Take a listen to our friends at Inside Edition. Please surrender. It's a heartfelt plea for a University of Connecticut senior to turn

himself in before it's too late. 23 year old Peter Manfredonia is on the run today, the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Photos obtained by Inside Edition reportedly show ominous scribblings on the wall of his former dorm room. We saw what happened when Adam snapped. Now they see what happens when I snap. That's believed to refer to Adam Lanza, the disturbed young man who slaughtered 26 people in the Sandy Hook Massacre in 2012. Inside Edition obtained video of Manfredonia in his car taken four years ago. Now his family's lawyer is speaking out. Peter, your parents, your sisters, your grandmother, your aunt, they love you.

They want a safe conclusion to this. Okay, we definitely need a shrink, too. Dr. Bethany Marshall, inside his dorm room are found scribblings on the wall stating, look what happened when Adam Lanza snapped. See what will happen when I snap. Jump in. This is beginning to form a pattern in my mind. And one of the things we know about workplace shootings, school shootings, mass murder is usually the homicide is contemplated for some time before the perpetrator actually goes out and kills. We know that almost always they write about the crime, either online, in a diary, they start emailing and texting people. The fact that he did

it on his dorm room wall means he could have been in some kind of a manic state. I don't mean that that's an excuse for homicide, but he was a little disorganized in his attempts, meaning a machete, walking down a road, riding on a dorm room wall, and then days getting confused afterwards. And I am wondering if they're saying he was depressed, was he put on some kind of a medication that also flipped him into a manic state? That's not uncommon for people who are depressed to be put on an antidepressant and then that unleashes an underlying bipolar condition. But again, that wouldn't make him homicidal. It just means that this fits the MO of what we know about so many different shootings. Right now, evaluations being done to determine his state of mind, his mental capacity,

as the victim's families mourn. We wait as justice unfolds. Peter Manfredonia, behind bars. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.