15 July, 2017
On Thursday, DiNardo's lawyer announced that his client had admitted to the killings and was cooperating with investigators. They shot and killed Finocchiaro and then placed him in a metal tank that he referred to as the pig roaster, Dinardo said, according to the criminal complaint.
DiNardo, shackled and clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, said: "I'm sorry", as he was escorted to a sheriff's van Thursday.
A missing persons case in Pennsylvania took a shocking turn on Friday afternoon when the Bucks County district attorney Matthew D. Weintraub charged 20-year-old cousins with killing four men, burning their bodies and burying them on a family farm in Solebury Township.
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 auto theft.
Cosmo Dinardo, 20, the son of the property owners, was arrested Wednesday and accused of stealing and attempting to sell the vehicle of one of the missing men after he disappeared. DiNardo, who's charged along with his cousin, said he shot another man in the back as he tried to run away.
An unidentified source, however, told the Associated Press that DiNardo said he killed the men at separate times after selling them marijuana and then burned their bodies at the family farm.
DiNardo was the first to be arrested Thursday and confessed after authorities agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Patrick's body was found in a six-foot grave elsewhere on the property. Viewers could watch investigators haul up buckets of dirt and sift it through handheld screens in what looked like an archaeological dig.
A county prosecutor said Friday that the bodies of Tom Meo, Dean Finocchiaro and Mark Sturgis were found buried 12 feet deep in one common grave in Solebury.
"I don't know what convinced him (to confess)".
"These boys can finally go home to their families", Weintraub said.
Investigators would still be looking for Patrick's body had they not made the agreement with DiNardo, Weintraub said. "We just don't know how many homicides", Weintraub said. The charge stems from accusations that DiNardo was caught with a shotgun and ammunition in February despite a prior mental health commitment. He also suffered a head injury after an ATV accident about a year ago. DiNardo told authorities that he and Patrick had arranged to meet on the farm for a marijuana drug deal, but once Patrick had arrived, DiNardo fatally shot him instead.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss details of the case.
DiNardo is charged with four homicide counts and 20 other crimes, including abuse of a corpse, conspiracy and robbery.
Two cousins facing homicide charges in the disappearances of four missing Pennsylvania men will be held without bail. The remains of at least one of the men, Finocchiaro, were located on a 68-acre property belonging to DiNardo's parents.
Kratz told a judge on Friday that he had no lawyer.
The charges relate to the killings of Jimi Patrick, Thomas Meo, Mark Sturgis and Dean Finocchiaro, who went missing within miles of each other in Bucks County.
AP reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed from Philadelphia.
