Source: Second person of interest in custody in Bucks County case
BUCKS COUNTY, PA (WTXF) - A second person of interest has been taken into custody in connection with the murder of the four Bucks County men, according to a source.
The person of interest was taken to Northeast Detectives Thursday night and held for Bucks County authorities to pick up and question. So far, no charges have been filed.
FOX 29’s Dave Scratwieser reports the currently unidentified second person of interest has a criminal record, including two drug arrests in Bensalem. Schratwieser also reports that person of interest was the victim of a shooting back in March.
Thursday, Cosmo DiNardo, 20, confessed to the commission of or participation in four murders and agreed to plead guilty to four murder counts, attorney Paul Lange said outside court, where DiNardo had met with investigators.
DiNardo also told investigators where the bodies are.
Sources tell FOX 29 the four Bucks County men were killed over marijuana and a gun, after he felt cheated or threatened during three drug transactions.
Cosmo DiNardo then burned their bodies at his family's farm in Solebury Township, a person with firsthand knowledge of his confession told the Associated Press.
"I'm sorry," a shackled DiNardo said as he left the courthouse.
The four men, all residents of Bucks County, disappeared last week. At least three knew each other. The remains of only one, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, have been identified, though authorities said other remains were found in the 12-foot-deep hole that was described by the District Attorney Matthew Weintraub as a ‘common grave.’
SOURCE: Man killed 4 Bucks County men over marijuana and gun
Mark Sturgis, 22, and Thomas Meo, 21, who worked together in construction, and Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, were also reported missing over the course of the last week.
DiNardo, the son of the farm property's owners, was being held on $5 million cash bail before his confession, accused of stealing and trying to sell a car belonging to Thomas Meo.
Police were back at the farm Thursday, digging away in the dust and the 90-degree-plus heat and using plywood to shore up the deep, tent-covered trench that they excavated at the spot where Weintraub said dogs smelled "these poor boys 12 1/2 feet below the ground."
DiNardo, whose parents own construction and concrete businesses in the Philadelphia area, has had a few brushes with the law over the past year.
He was arrested on Monday on an unrelated gun charge dating from February, accused of illegally possessing a shotgun and ammunition after being involuntarily committed to a mental institution.
TIMELINE: Search for missing boys, investigation in Bucks County
His father bailed him out, but he was jailed again later in the week on the stolen-car charges, and bail was set much higher, after a prosecutor said he was a danger to the community because he had been diagnosed as schizophrenic.
It was the discovery of Meo's car on a DiNardo family property a half-mile from the farm that led to Cosmo DiNardo's re-arrest.
The Bucks County DA will hold a press conference to update the case at 2 p.m. Friday. You can watch here, or on the FOX 29 Facebook Page.