Tonight on Connecticut's news station,
temperatures soar across the state,
but it tumbles.
Coming records shattering warmth today.
Now we are timing out some rain.
What does that mean?
As we head into the weekend,
your forecast coming up and pleading
guilty to murder charges the sentence
a former UConn student is facing,
plus blindsided by closure. Why?
Why didn't you communicate with
us and bring us in the loop?
It's not just Stone Academy.
Students shocked by locked
doors and aid to Turkey,
we saw 10 and 12 story apartments that
had just collapsed into piles of rubble,
the efforts underway right here
in Connecticut to help earthquake
victims almost a world away.
Now at 6, this is Fox 61,
Connecticut's news station.
Good
evening and thanks for joining
us for the Fox 61 news.
At 6, I'm Jen Bernstein.
And I'm Ben Goldman.
Temperatures skyrocketing today,
getting up into the mid 60s
across the state, but here we go.
Some rain is in the forecast
for tonight as we take a
look at the radar right now.
Chief meteorologist Rachel Frank joining us
now with a look at the timing of this rain.
Rachel, it will still be warm tomorrow,
but not as warm heading into the
weekend once we get that rain.
Out of here, we have a few waves on
the way tonight into the day tomorrow.
These temperatures incredibly impressive
60s even near 70 degrees and Bridgeport
ended up shattering the Daily Record
high temperature and even setting
a record for the month of February.
Records go back to 1948 and this is the
warmest day since we've been keeping records.
68 degrees in Bridgeport and we're
still in the 50s out there right now,
despite the fact that we are
dealing with a little bit of rain.
It is mostly light out there
and you're looking at a break in
the action over to the West.
And I think once we get through
the next hour or so we will end up
drying things out for a little while.
But there's more rain where that
came from as we head into your
Friday temperatures tonight,
staying mild,
dropping back briefly into the upper
40s to around 50 degrees and then
heading through the day tomorrow
we'll see highs once again jumping
way above average mid to upper 50s.
Some towns might get close to 60.
You don't need a winter jacket,
but you do want an umbrella.
It will be.
Warm but wet to start off the day.
Few lingering showers into the afternoon.
Then we dry things out and turn cooler.
As we head towards this time tomorrow night,
we'll talk about what that means
for the weekend coming up.
All right, Rachel, thank you.
Now to our continuing coverage of
the sudden closure of Stone Academy.
Fox 61 has now learned that not
only is the school's closure being
eyed by state education officials,
but also by the state's top attorney, Fox 61.
Matt.
Karen live in East Hartford to
explain why the Attorney general
is getting involved.
Matt.
Yeah, that's right. And we
want to welcome you here to
the locked doors of Stone Academy
Attorney General William Tong telling
me today he's making his mission
to find out what went on inside.
He couldn't get into the legal
specifics of his strategy,
but suffice it to say he's planning on
holding top school officials accountable for
what he calls potential cheating and fraud.
Classes at Stone Academy ended Wednesday.
The website disappeared Thursday.
What remains is anger.
We have been just as
blindsided as the students.
We're demanding answers.
They haven't been able to get any,
at least from the school's top leaders,
like CEO Joseph Bierbaum,
whose Twitter profile says his
goal is a positive societal impact
on lower income communities.
We visited his $2,000,000 estate.
A woman approached the door but didn't open
it. Karen with Fox 61 News.
We're looking for Joseph.
Is he around? We have some questions
about the closing of Stone Academy.
Does he wanna talk with us about the
future of those kids? Education.
Is there a reason why he
hasn't said anything publicly
now in the crosshairs of the
state's top attorney to go after
the people who ran Stone Academy?
I can tell you right now
that we're ready to go.
The school is accused of
hiring unqualified instructors
and falsifying records,
among other things.
But are they just violations, or might
the investigation take a criminal turn?
It could. It depends on what we find.
Stone Academy now joins a long
list of for profit institutions.
That have closed on the heels
of questionable behavior.
We've been working very closely with
Department of Education at the federal
level and the State Department of
Education and the Office of Higher
Education to take action against
a number of for profit schools,
colleges and universities,
and we have seen predatory behavior,
no doubt about it.
An attorney General Tong told me that
he is encouraging any students out
there who may have any information
about the operational practices of
Stone Academy to contact his office
for any potential investigation.
We're live here in East Hartford.
Matt. Karen, Fox 61 News,
Connecticut's news station.
Thank you, Matt. Well, new tonight,
the former UConn student accused of
killing two people, assaulting a man,
and kidnapping a woman pleaded guilty today.
26 year old Peter.
And Fredonia LED police on that multi
state chase nearly three years ago.
Fox 61's New Haven County Bureau
reporter Julia LeBlanc was in the
courtroom today as emotions ran high.
How do you clean circa?
Guilty or not guilty?
26 year old Peter Manfredonia
facing a judge for the second
time in two weeks last week in
a Rockville superior courtroom,
he pleaded guilty to murder,
assault and home invasion charges.
Today in Milford.
He fessed up to another murder
charge and kidnapping in the first
degree with a firearm when asked
if Manfredonia is remorseful,
his attorney says.
Nearly three years ago on May 22nd,
prosecutors say.
Manfredonia killed 62 year old
Theodore Demers in Willington,
Connecticut.
He also assaulted another man
and kept him hostage for 24
hours before stealing his truck,
cash and two guns.
Then he drove to Roosevelt Dr.
in Derby where he killed his
childhood friend Nick Isley.
Reached in an argument and
scuffled with Nicholas,
who yelled to Shannon to please call 911.
It was Peter Manfredonia.
When Shannon begged the
defendant to call for help,
he replied, no, he's dead.
I shot him in the head.
Manfredonia then kidnapped
Isley's girlfriend, Shannon,
forcing her to drive him to
New Jersey while he held
his gun and threatened her.
A Good Samaritan eventually
helped her back to Connecticut,
and Manfredonia was captured
in Maryland on the 27th,
the victim in the courtroom on Thursday.
It's a very difficult circumstance.
She's a very brave young lady, very brave.
Isley's family was also there
trying to keep it together.
They refused to comment on their
way out. As for Manfredonia,
Peter and I explored various
defenses and. This was Peter's
choice on how to resolve the case.
Michael Dolan says mental health plays
a big role here and his client was
struggling at the time of the incident.
I like to think. But for this pandemic
he would have got it would have gotten
the treatment that was necessary and
this all could have been avoided.
Now we're told that this plea deal here
comes with a 55 year sentence which
will run concurrently to the charges
related to last week's plea deal as well,
and he is expected to be back here.
At the Milford Courthouse for
his sentencing on April 19th.
We are told that Manfredonia does
plan to speak at that sentencing.
We're in Milford. Julia LeBlanc,
Fox 61 Connecticut news station.
All right Julia, thank you very much.
Well, we have new details in
the case of three people found
dead in their home in Brooklyn,
the medical examiner ruling the cause of
death for the child and the mother homicides.
Well, officials confirming 33 year old
Laurie Pizarro and her three-year old son
Emmanuel Pizarro were shot and killed.
The third.
Adult has not been identified.
State police adding that
they're still investigating
the Old Saybrook police officer
accused of using his job to
stalk a woman has been fired.
During a police Commission hearing,
there was unanimous vote
to terminate Josh Zarbo.
He allegedly used the police
database to learn information about
a woman he saw in a parking lot
and then followed her on Instagram.
Zarbo is due back in court next week.
New tonight, we are learning
new information about Alex
Jones's financial situation in
his federal bankruptcy filing.
Jones. Reveals that he owes $1.5
billion to Sandy Hook families.
The filing shows that he paid his attorney,
defense attorney Norm Pattis,
$160,000 and in 2021 reported a
gross income of more than $600,000.
The filing also says that Jones
is holding firearms for certain
January 6 participants.
Well, new tonight in New Britain.
Man now in custody after police say he
stole a car and was then involved in a hit
and run in Meridian early this morning.
Multiple agencies including.
State police helped to find this man,
but as Fox 61 Carmen Chao tells us,
it had neighbors on Edge
when he was on the loose.
She joins us live outside Meridian
Police Department this evening.
Carmen, what can you tell us?
But I'm Jen. This was one of those
incidents where multiple agencies
teamed up to help capture that suspect,
and with the help of police technology,
neighbors were kept safe and an arrest
was made in a matter of minutes.
Around 8:00 AM a Meriden police officer
noticed a car that was badly damaged
driving by East main and gravel streets.
State police then notified Meriden
police there was an erratic driver on 691
eastbound who hit multiple guardrails.
That driver identified as 24 year
old Wally Little of New Britain.
15 minutes later police found the car
little was driving on Liberty Street,
but he ran away, abandoning the car,
neighbors in the area reacting
to the heavy police.
Presence at the time when I first saw
them there were three officers and a dog,
and I asked what was going on,
and later in the morning
the pursuit continued and.
More officers showed up.
Witnesses told police
little possibly had a gun.
That is when a reverse 911 call
was issued notifying all nearby
residents to be on the lookout and
some schools were placed on lockdown.
What happens is it goes out to it a
certain geographic area with well,
depending on where we're investigating or
where there could potentially be danger.
It was then learned the car was
stolen from New Britain with
the use of canines and drones.
Little was eventually spotted.
We did eventually locate the suspect.
He was at a home on Sunbright Ave.
or a Sunset Ave. rather.
He had unlawfully entered
into a detached garage to the
rear of one of the houses.
Troopers determined he
may have been impaired,
so they arrested him on that.
Once little was taken into custody was
learned he was wearing an ankle bracelet.
When you have someone with a
criminal history continuing to
repeat their habits, they need to be
held accountable for their actions.
Little is now charged with reckless
operation of a motor vehicle,
third degree burglary.
And several other charges.
Little is being held on a $100,000 bond
and police say there is no longer a
threat to the Community I'm live in.
Meriden, Carmen Chao Fox, 61,
Connecticut's news station.
Alright Carmen, thank you very much.
Well, a man is facing charges after
a fight in West Haven led to an
innocent bystander being shot.
Police say Thomas Crocker was involved
in a fight at a bar on Campbell Ave.
He allegedly went and got a handgun
out of his car and shot a 24 year
old woman who was walking along
the sidewalk in front of the bar.
Crocker ran from the scene.
The victim was taken to the hospital
with non life threatening injuries.
Police say they also found fentanyl
packed for sale in Crocker's car.
Well a family in mourning tonight after
their son died following a house fire.
That fire happened Tuesday night
on Diamond Hill Rd. In Redding.
The family was home at the
time and was able to get out,
but their son Brian Carlson was
injured and taken to the hospital.
Brian did die this afternoon.
He was a 6th grade student
at John Reed Middle School.
In a statement,
the school Superintendent said quote
as we grieve the loss of one of our.
Students, we will find strength
in our ability to show compassion
as fellow Community members,
colleagues and friends,
the school is bringing in a crisis
intervention team to step in and
provide support in the coming days.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.