US suspect's parents hope for peaceful end to search

A lawyer for the family of a fugitive US college student said on Wednesday his parents were begging the 23-year-old suspect in two Connecticut slayings to bring a peaceful end to the search that has now stretched to Maryland.

Since the first homicide on Friday, investigators have followed the trail of Peter Manfredonia through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where police on Wednesday said someone matching his description took a ride-hailing service to the Hagerstown, Maryland, area.

An attorney for Manfredonia's family, Michael Dolan, told The Associated Press they are worried for the well-being of the University of Connecticut senior.

"That's why they're extending this message. You know, they're there for you. They're going to support you through this with their resources, with their love and support," said Dolan, who declined to say whether Manfredonia has been in contact with his family.

"They are begging him to put a peaceful end to this," he added.

Manfredonia is wanted by Connecticut State Police in the machete killing of 62-year-old Ted DeMers and the wounding of another man in Willington on Friday.

Officials say Manfredonia then went to another man's home, held him hostage, stole his guns and truck, and drove about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest to Derby, Connecticut on Sunday to the home of his high school classmate, Nicholas Eisele.

There, Manfredonia shot Eisele to death and forced his girlfriend into her car and the two fled the state. The girlfriend was found unharmed with her car at a rest stop on Interstate 80 in Columbia, New Jersey.

Manfredonia then took an Uber to a Walmart in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, not far from the New Jersey border, Pennsylvania State Police said, where he was seen walking in a wooded area on some railroad tracks.