14 July, 2017
- Sources tell FOX 29 a second person of interest was police custody in connection with the case of four missing Bucks County men, just hours after 20-year-old Cosmo DiNardo confessed to the commission of and participation in four murders.
Cadaver dogs Wednesday night discovered four bodies in a 12-foot grave on farm property owned by DiNardo's family. "Make no doubt about it", Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at an overnight news conference.
The remains of only one, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, have been identified, though authorities said other remains were found in the hole as well.
Sturgis, 22, Thomas C. Meo, 21, and Dean A. Finocchiaro, 18, were last seen on Friday. The auto was found on the DiNardo family's property. Dinardo says he burned the bodies and was assisted by a 20 year old Northeast Philadelphia man, who is now behind bars, his name has not been released. Weintraub said it is believed all four men know each other, but investigators are working to confirm that information.
"We're not going to rest until we get through every inch of that property", Weintraub said, according to The Associated Press. Jimi Patrick, 19, was the first to disappear and attended the same high school as DiNardo.
The FBI has been using heavy equipment to dig a deep ditch on the farm property, and then sifting through each bucket of dirt by hand.
At least three of the men knew each other.
"They work in shifts due to the exhausting day-to-day conditions, the heat, the dust, the humidity, but they have to be ordered to stand down from their shifts so that they can be replaced", said Weintraub.
5 p.m.: "DiNardo called a friend, whom he later met in Bensalem Township and offered to sell him a "older model Nissan Maxima" for $500", according to the complaint.
DiNardo's parents, Antonio and Sandra DiNardo, own the farm in upper Bucks County, a bucolic area with rolling hillsides, new housing developments and historic sites.
The weapons charge, which was initially filed in February, accused DiNardo of having a shot gun despite not being allowed to own a firearm due to his history of mental illness, according to an affidavit obtained by NBC10.
DiNardo had been a person of interest over the disappearance of the four men throughout the case, with officials believing they had bought some time for their probe by charging him with the vehicle theft. Jimi Tar Patrick, 19, was last seen on Wednesday.
While at the time of writing, it is unknown whether DiNardo is suspected to be involved in the disappearance of the four men, he is now being held on $1 million bail.
