Pennsylvania man who killed, buried four men gets life in prison

The Pennsylvania man who killed four young men and then buried their corpses on his parents’ rural property last July was sentenced to four life sentences on Wednesday.

Cosmo Dinardo, 21, admitted to luring four young men to the home in Bucks County with the promise of selling them marijuana. But once there, Dinardo shot and killed the young men, identified as Jimi Patrick, 19, Dean Finocchiaro, 19, Thomas Meo, 21, and Mark Sturgis, 22.

Dinardo later admitted to burning Finocchiaro, Meo and Sturgis, placing them in a metal tank and then burying them deep underground. Patrick’s body was buried in a separate, faraway part of the property.

The men were reported missing, and a police investigation connected them to Dinardo’s property in Bucks County. Construction equipment and cadaver dogs helped investigators locate three of the victims’ bodies.

Dinardo confessed to the killings and told police where he buried the fourth man’s body as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, in which they agreed not to pursue the death penalty.

On Wednesday, Dinardo pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder along with additional counts of robbery, abuse of a corpse, conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime and illegal firearms possession, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.

In court, Dinardo issued an apology to the families of the victims.

“Your Honor, I want the four families to know I am so sorry,” Dinardo said, according to the district attorney’s office. “If there was anything I could do to take back what occurred on those days, I would. I hope that they find some peace in knowing that I’m just genuinely — I can’t even come to terms with what occurred. I’m sorry. Sorry.”

Bucks County President Judge Jeffrey L. Finley derided that statement as “false and insincere,” and ordered the defendant immediately sent to state prison.

“I have no doubt in my mind that, should the day ever come that you were released again into the community and had the opportunity to kill again, you would do it,” Finley told Dinardo.

Dinardo’s cousin, Sean Kratz, 21, is also charged with three of the murders. Kratz had initially accepted a plea deal and was to be sentenced Wednesday, but changed his mind.

“We’re going to seek the death penalty against him — make no mistake about it,” said Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub.

He said it’s Kratz’s right to ask for a trial, but added that he was “incredibly disappointed” and “disheartened at the rejection because I just feel so badly for these (victims’) families. They were prepared today to have this saga in their life be over and now it’s not.”

CNN attempted to reach Kratz’s lawyer, but was not successful.