Killing Cousins: Cosmo DiNardo [left], and Sean Kratz killed and buried four men between them  last week, in Pennsylvania

Two 20-year-old men have been charged with murder, conspiracy and abuse of corpse by attempting to burn the bodies in a ‘pig roaster’ in connection with the murders of four men.
Cosmo DiNardo confessed to murdering the four missing men and burning their bodies on his family’s Bucks County, Pennsylvania farm. His cousin Sean Kratz, who has a long history as a thief,  was charged with three of the murders.
They were arraigned on Friday and are being held in separate prisons with no bail.
District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said in a press conference DiNardo confessed to putting the bodies in a metal tank converted into a cooker he called a ‘pig roaster’. He took a deal to reveal where the bodies were buried to avoid the death penalty.
He offered to sell Jimi Taro Patrick a shotgun and four pounds of marijuana for $8,000, but when he went to pick him up on July 5, he only had $800. DiNardo shot him with his mother’s gun and buried his body ‘far away’ from the other three in a six-foot grave.
The other three were killed on July 7 by Kratz and DiNardo jointly. Dean Finocchiaro was shot by both after DiNardo agreed to sell him a quarter pound of pot for $700. He conspired with Kratz to rob Finocchiaro on the way to pick him up.
Kratz shot Finocchiaro then DiNardo fired at his body after he had died.

Then his body was wrapped in a blue tarp from a corn crib and he was thrown into the pig roaster.
Later that night, DiNardo made a deal to sell marijuana to Tom Meo and Mark Sturgis and the three met behind a church to head to DiNardo’s property together. Again, the cousins plotted to rob them.
DiNardo shot Meo first and he screamed, then Sturgis started running away and DiNardo shot him until he ran out of ammunition. He then drove over Meo, who may have still been alive, with the backhoe.
Kratz told police his cousin ‘basically crushed’ Meo with the backhoe.
Then, DiNardo used the backhoe to move their bodies. The cousins put the corpses in the pig roaster with Finocchiaro, poured in gasoline and set it on fire.
They dug a 12.5 foot grave with the same backhoe the next day and placed the bodies and the container inside.
Weintraub said DiNardo confessed to dousing the bodies inside the pig roaster with gasoline. But the DA said his attempt was unsuccessful. He said at the press conference: ‘There was an attempt to burn the bodies.. but I don’t believe that was successful.’
DiNardo said he did so because he felt threatened or cheated when he tried to sell them marijuana, a source close to the investigation has said. He also told police where to find the rest of the bodies.

 

Thursday night police arrested a Sean Kratz following Dinardo’s confession. For the full citation click here:   Sean Kratz’s journey from dishwasher, to thief, to murder

Cosmo DiNardo’s father, Antonio DiNardo,  leaving the Bucks County government building on Thursday in Doylestown, Pa

On Thursday, a source said DiNardo’s motive behind the slayings was that he felt threatened or cheated by the men who came to him wanting to buy marijuana.
The insider also said a co-conspirator was involved in three of the killings.
Later on Thursday evening, police took Kratz into custody in northeast Philadelphia.
Pictures posted online show a number of police cars outside a home just moments after he was arrested at around 11pm.
One of confessed killer Cosmo DiNardo’s powerhouse attorneys was part of the team representing Bill Cosby at his sexual assault trial last month which was declared a mistrial following a hung jury.
Fortunato N Perri Jr,  told the media on Thursday, that he was defending DiNardo who has confessed to killing four young men who went missing last week.
Earlier he had released a statement on behalf of DiNardo’s parents which said : ‘As parents, Mr and Mrs DiNardo sympathize with the parents and families of the missing young men and they are cooperating in every way possible with the investigation being conducted by law enforcement.’

In 2016, he was banned from Arcadia University, in Glenside, Pennsylvania for complaints filed against him regarding ‘verbal interactions with members of the university community.’
He attended the college for the fall semester of 2015 before dropping out and tried to re-enroll in 2016.
DiNardo it would appear has a long standing history of brushes with the law. According to an ABC News report, the real estate heir has had as many as 30 interactions with police since 2011.
According to CBS News, his parents received a letter saying if he showed up to the campus again he would be trespassing.
Police sources said DiNardo was known to sell as much as a quarter pound of pot for several thousand dollars.
He would also include handguns in these transactions.
‘Every death was related to a purported drug transaction, and at the end of each one there’s a killing,’ the source said.

The killer told other Snapchat users that he wasn’t concerned about the whereabouts of his friend Finocchiaro just days after he vanished

High powered defense team for DiNardo.  Paul Lang [left], and Michael Parlow, walking out of the Bucks County Courthouse on Thursday

The Associated Press reported that the four men were killed after three separate transactions.
Before Friday, authorities have only identified one body, and they are still working to identify other remains found in the same grave.
The identified remains belong to 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro. His body was found in a 12-foot-deep grave on the farm. The remains were found by sniffer dogs.
It was the discovery of Meo’s car on the property that first led police to believe DiNardo was connected to the then-disappearances.
Patrick went to college in Maryland. He and DiNardo had attended the same Catholic high school for boys.
In the wake of his confession to the ‘four murders’, prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the table, according to DiNardo’s lawyer, Paul Lang.
DiNardo and his parents met with authorities at a courthouse for several hours Thursday.
As DiNardo was led away in handcuffs, he said, ‘I’m sorry.’

Investigators deploy backhoes digging for the bodies after DiNardo led them to the burial spots as part of his plea deal

Most of those contacts did not lead to arrests.
Before he was arrested this week, his most recent run-in with law enforcement was in May 2017, when he received a citation for not having proper boater’s education paperwork and other equipment.
Speaking to ABC News locals in Bensalem Township said that there was something ‘off’ with DiNardo. Some were of the opinion that an ATV accident which took place about seven months ago changed him.
“I’ll tell you that he was normal up until last year. He was in a quad accident and hit his head and was stranded for a day or so with a brain bleed. He had frontal lobe damage,” one of his friends said.

Earlier on Thursday, Lang indicated his client was ready to plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, and that he felt a ‘deep remorse’ for what he has done.
The developments Thursday night came as information regarding the confessed killer’s social habits.
Snapchat users involved in a group chat with him shared two photos of him posing menacingly with a revolver. DiNardo’s identity in the photos was confirmed by Philly.com.
The newspaper also reported DiNardo told other Snapchat users that he wasn’t concerned about the whereabouts of his friend Finocchiaro just days after he vanished.

‘Cosmo isn’t your buddy Dean missing,’ one acquaintance asked DiNardo in a group message last weekend. ‘Aren’t you worried about buddydead [sic] dean.’
‘I mean I know the kid but yeah I feel bad for his parents. He’s a pill-popping junky who had 2 duis … He prob just jumped parole Or probation.’
The disappearance of the four young men sparked panic and desperate searches in the Philadelphia area in recent days, after the first victim vanished on Wednesday.
Locals were clearly upset by the disappearances and subsequent revelations regarding the violent ends all four have met.