After Shock Turn in Case of Missing Men, Hint of Motive

After Thursday's shocking turn in the case of four missing Pennsylvania men—a confession—come more details from what Cosmo DiNardo allegedly admitted to doing. The admission came in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table, and DiNardo's lawyers did not provide motive or much in the way of details in making the announcement. Unnamed sources fill in some of the gaps: The AP refers to DiNardo as a drug dealer and talks to a source who says, "Every death was related to a purported drug transaction, and at the end of each one there's a killing." As the AP puts it, DiNardo allegedly felt "cheated or threatened" in the course of completing three drug sales, killed the men, and burned their bodies. A separate AP story quotes a source as saying DiNardo sold pot by the quarter-pound.

Both the AP and Philadelphia Inquirer's sources say a co-conspirator was involved in the deaths of at least three of the four men from Bucks and Montgomery Counties: Dean Finocchiaro, 19; Mark Sturgis, 22; Tom Meo, 21; and Jimi Taro Patrick, 19. The AP notes Patrick had been in the grade below DiNardo at a Catholic high school for boys. Thus far, only Finocchiaro's remains have been found in a 12-foot grave on the Solebury Township farm officials have been searching. More of DiNardo's backstory is emerging: He spent time in a mental health facility and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. A 2016 ATV accident left him with a head injury. He attended Arcadia University for one semester but sources say he has since been banned from the campus. District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub is slated to hold a 11am news conference. (More Cosmo DiNardo stories.)