Cousins Charged With Pennsylvania Murders

Cosmo DiNardo says 4 missing men were killed during drug deals
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 14, 2017 3:37 PM CDT
Cousins Charged With Pennsylvania Murders
Sean Kratz   (Bucks County District Attorney's Office via AP)

Cosmo DiNardo and his cousin, Sean Kratz, were charged Friday with multiple counts of homicide, abuse of a corpse, and conspiracy in connection with the deaths of the men who disappeared earlier this month in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. According to NBC News, the district attorney says "we may never know" why DiNardo and Kratz—both 20—allegedly killed the four men, though all four deaths appear tied to drug deals. DiNardo, who confessed to the murders Thursday in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, says he was going to sell Jimi Patrick, 19, four pounds of marijuana for $8,000 on July 5. He says Patrick only had $800 so he offered to sell him a shotgun instead; then he shot him.

DiNardo says he and Kratz agreed to rob Dean Finocchiaro, 19, during a similar drug deal July 7. He says Kratz shot Finocchiaro during the robbery. (WPVI reports the major difference between statements by DiNardo and Kratz is that Kratz claims DiNardo shot Finocchiaro and he never shot anyone.) DiNardo told police he shot the other two victims—Thomas Meo, 21, and Mark Sturgis, 22—during a second drug-deal-turned-robbery July 7. With help from DiNardo, police found the four bodies on property belonging to DiNardo's family. Authorities say DiNardo had attempted to burn three of the bodies in a metal container he called "the pig roaster." Prosecutors say DiNardo has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. Kratz has been implicated in multiple burglaries in the past. (More murder stories.)

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