Double Homicide Suspect May Have Been At PA Sheetz: Police

CHAMBERSBURG, PA — The search continues for University of Connecticut student Peter Manfredonia, a suspect in a pair of homicides over Memorial Day weekend who was recently spotted in Pennsylvania.

A stolen Hyundai Santa Fe was recovered Wednesday near a Sheetz convenience store in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The SUV had been reported stolen from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, where the last officially confirmed sighting of Manfredonia had occurred, Trooper Anthony Petroski said.

Surveillance video showed a man resembling Manfredonia inside the store. He then summoned an Uber driver and set out for Hagerstown, Petroski said. Hagerstown is less than 25 miles from Chambersburg.

A police department in Duryea, Pennsylvania reported a possible sighting of Manfredonia late Tuesday night, though a search produced no results.

Around 11:15 p.m., a Duryea firefighter called police after seeing a man carrying a large backpack and hiding behind a dumpster behind the Germania Hose fire company. The fireman reported asking the man what he was doing, but the man fled toward a wooded area and railroad tracks. The description provided by the fireman was very similar to Manfredonia, according to Duryea police.

Detectives and Pennsylvania State Police troopers went to the scene and searched the wooded area and railroad tracks, aided by a state police helicopter. After several hours of searching the area, no one was found, Duryea police said.

Duryea is about nine miles south of Scranton and about 50 miles northwest of East Stroudsburg, where Manfredonia was last known to have exited a rideshare vehicle and walked onto railroad tracks behind a Walmart Sunday night, according to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Anthony Petroski.

Manfredonia, 23, is being sought in connection with the slayings of Theodore DeMers, 62, in Willington Friday and Nicholas Eisele, 23, in Derby Sunday. The Connecticut Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday DeMers was killed by "sharp force and chop injuries of the head with sharp force injuries of the torso and extremities," while Eisele's death was caused by "gunshot wounds to his head."

Following DeMers' death, Manfredonia was reported to have left the scene on a motorcycle, which was recovered in mid-afternoon Friday at the end of Old Town Rd. in Willington. Police say Manfredonia committed a home invasion in the Turnpike Rd. area of Willington early Sunday morning and stole multiple firearms along with the homeowner's vehicle, which was located in the area of Osborndale State Park in Derby.

In the aftermath of Eisele's shooting death, Manfredonia reportedly abducted the victim's girlfriend and stole a Volkswagen Jetta. Both the woman and car were found several hours later off Interstate 80 in New Jersey, near the Pennsylvania border, police said.

The last confirmed sighting of Manfredonia was Sunday.

With reporting by Tim Jensen, Patch staff