Lawyer: Man confesses to participation in murders of 4 missing men

PENNSYLVANIA -- (WPMT) -- A lawyer for Cosmo DiNardo, the 20-year-old man who was arrested Wednesday for attempting to sell a vehicle belonging to one of four missing men in eastern Pennsylvania, said his client has confessed to “his participation or commission in the murders of the four young men.”

Attorney Paul Lang told reporters the confession came after the district attorney promised not to seek the death penalty in the case. DiNardo told authorities where to find the bodies, Lang said.

The body of Dean Finocchiaro, 19, was found Wednesday in a 12.5-foot-deep grave on the property. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said other human remains were also found but were not identified.

Missing men

Finocchiaro and the three others went missing over several days last week within miles of each other.

The first to vanish was Jimi Patrick of Newtown Township. He was last seen at 6 p.m. on July 5 and was reported missing the next day after he had no contact with friends or family.

Police say the Loyola University Maryland student, 19, also didn't show up for work. He was a beer runner at a restaurant-bar in nearby Doylestown, CNN affiliate WPVI-TV reported.

“He was on the shyer side, but you would get a smile out of him, a little conversation,” bartender Jennifer Albrecht told WPVI.

Patrick graduated from Holy Ghost Preparatory School in 2016, where Dinardo was also a graduate in 2015, school spokesman Bill Doherty said.

Two days later after Patrick disappeared, Finocchiaro, Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg and Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township went missing.

Close friends Sturgis and Meo were last seen near the Doylestown area in Bucks County, CNN affiliate KYW-TV reported. Both young men did not go to work on Saturday, police said.

Meo's girlfriend told investigators that she had been texting with him on Friday until just before 7 p.m. After that, she had no contact with Meo, which was “out of the ordinary and not common,” court documents said.

The men's disappearances have shaken the community. About 100 residents and reporters gathered at a shopping mall a few miles from the property waiting for updates about them.

“We've been monitoring everything on Twitter. We wanted to be supportive and comforting for our community,” said Bucks County resident Wyatt McLeod.

An arrest

While the search intensified, Dinardo was arrested for the second time in a week after allegedly trying to sell Meo's 1996 Nissan Maxima the day after Meo was reported missing.

Data from a police license plate reader captured Dinardo's pickup and Meo's car driving in Solebury Township within seconds of each other at about 7:49 p.m. Friday, court documents said.

Meo's vehicle was found at a separate property owned by the Dinardo family, a day after authorities said Dinardo attempted to sell Meo's car to a friend for $500, according to a criminal affidavit.

The car was still registered to Meo and had not been legally exchanged. The keys and title to the vehicle were folded up and hanging on a wall inside a garage on the property, the affidavit said.

Meo is a diabetic, yet his life-saving diabetic kit was still in the vehicle, Weintraub said.