Cindy DeMers, whose husband was killed last Friday allegedly at the hands of 23-year-old Peter Manfredonia, said she is relieved the suspect has been captured.
DeMers spoke outside her Willington home on Thursday. She said she knows Manfredonia's arrest won't bring back her husband of 42 years, Ted, but that it does bring some closure.
"He will have his day," DeMers said. "I"m glad he's not able to hurt anybody else."
DeMers died from his injuries while he was being taken to the hospital.
DeMers' sister-in-law, Pat Jones, said Ted offered to help Manfredonia and drove the 23-year-old down to a motorcycle parked in a cul-de-sac at the end of the road, where the attack happened.
Cindy DeMers described it as a war zone.
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"I was there and I was with him when he passed, reassuring him he would be ok." DeMers said. "And I know he’s at peace and he’s ok."
She remembered her husband as a kind man who laughed a lot and always had a smile on his face.
"It was always a good day in Ted’s world," she said.
She said Ted took the suspect back to his motorcycle on the back of his ATV after she said Manfredonia mentioned the name of someone DeMers knew.
"But if you know so and so, and you’re having a problem with your bike, he would’ve opened his arms and said 'get on and let me see what I can do for you,'" she said.
She said he was always willing to help anyone.
"It cost him his life, unfortunately, but maybe he saved somebody else," she said.
DeMers said her husband wrote what she called a "just in case" note to her some time ago for her to read in the event that anything ever happened to him. She said the note told her she was the love of his life - something she said she's always known.
DeMers was reading the note when she learned Manfredonia had been captured on Wednesday night.
