Cosmo DiNardo Case: Victims, Guilty Plea, and Lawsuits

The Cosmo DiNardo case refers to the July 2017 murders of four young men on the DiNardo family’s farm in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. DiNardo, then 20, lured each victim to the property with the promise of a marijuana sale, shot them, and buried or burned the bodies. He confessed, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, and on May 16, 2018 was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.¹ His cousin Sean Kratz, who took part in three of the killings, was convicted at trial and is also serving life.²

The Four Victims

All four were young men from the Bucks County area who had arranged drug purchases from DiNardo. Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township, had been a classmate of DiNardo’s at Holy Ghost Preparatory School and contacted him about buying marijuana. Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township, reached out to buy a quarter-pound. Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township, arranged a separate deal. Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg in Montgomery County, was Meo’s friend and coworker; he simply came along, and DiNardo had not expected him.³

How the Killings Happened

The murders took place on two days. On July 5, 2017, DiNardo acted alone. He lured Patrick to the 90-acre farm on the pretense of trading an $8,000 marijuana purchase for a shotgun. While Patrick was distracted, DiNardo shot him in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun, used a backhoe to dig a hole, and buried him roughly ten feet from where he fell. He burned the cash Patrick had brought.³

Two days later, DiNardo and Kratz lured Finocchiaro to the farm under the guise of a marijuana sale, intending to rob him. Inside a barn, Kratz fired the first shot, and DiNardo shot the dying Finocchiaro again. Shortly afterward, Meo arrived with Sturgis. DiNardo shot Meo in the back with a silver revolver, paralyzing him. When Sturgis tried to run, DiNardo shot him too. He then ran over the injured Meo with the backhoe, killing him. The bodies of Finocchiaro, Meo, and Sturgis were loaded into a metal pig roaster, doused with gasoline, and set on fire.³

The next day, DiNardo and Kratz worked to destroy evidence. They dumped the victims’ identification in a sewer, washed the truck used in the crimes, and DiNardo returned to the farm to bury the charred remains in a deep hole.³

The Gun Charge That Was Dismissed Before the Killings

DiNardo should not have had a firearm in July 2017. He had been treated for bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia beginning in November 2016, and had been institutionalized at least three times between 2016 and 2017, which under Pennsylvania law barred him from possessing a gun.⁴

In February 2017, Bensalem police pulled DiNardo over and found him carrying a Savage Arms 20-gauge shotgun and ammunition. He was charged with a felony and released on $25,000 unsecured bail.⁴ At a preliminary hearing on May 30, 2017, the charge was dismissed because police had subpoenaed DiNardo’s involuntary commitment records from the wrong agencies. They asked Lenape Valley Crisis Services and Doylestown Hospital rather than Bucks County Mental Health/Developmental Programs, the only entity authorized under Section 302 of Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act to release those sealed records. The paperwork produced at the hearing lacked the required doctor’s signature, and DiNardo’s defense attorney had the case thrown out.⁵

The District Attorney’s office authorized police to refile the charge on June 21. The arresting officer was on vacation and then on overnight shifts, and the refiling was delayed. The charge was not refiled until July 10, three days after the last three murders.⁵

The Search of the Farm and the Confession

The investigation began as separate missing-person reports. Middletown Township police officer Megan Freer interviewed the family and friends of one of the missing men and used cell phone data to trace his last known location to the DiNardo property, which helped tie the four disappearances together.⁶

On July 10, DiNardo was arrested on the refiled gun charge. He posted $1 million bail, paying 10 percent in cash, and was released on July 11. He was arrested again on July 12 on charges of stealing Meo’s car, with bail then set at $5 million.⁷

Investigators searched the farm in 90-degree heat over the course of a week, with the Bucks County Detectives, Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, and local agencies involved. District Attorney Matthew Weintraub called it an “archaeological dig.” Cadaver dogs detected remains 12 feet below the surface, and Finocchiaro, Meo, and Sturgis were recovered from a common grave inside a metal tank.⁸⁹

On July 13, DiNardo’s attorney announced he had confessed to all four murders. The confession was part of an agreement with Weintraub: prosecutors took the death penalty off the table in return for DiNardo disclosing where Patrick was buried and providing information that led to charges against Kratz. Patrick’s body was later found at least a quarter-mile from the others, on what the district attorney’s office described as a “small mountain” on the property. Weintraub defended the deal: “We’d still be looking for Jimi Patrick had we not made this agreement.”⁸

DiNardo’s Guilty Plea and Sentence

Both DiNardo and Kratz were charged with criminal homicide on July 14, 2017 and denied bail.¹⁰ On May 16, 2018, DiNardo appeared before Bucks County President Judge Jeffrey L. Finley and pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder along with robbery, abuse of corpse, conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, and illegal firearms possession. He received four consecutive life sentences without parole. From the bench, Finley told him: “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.”¹

Sean Kratz’s Trial

Kratz rejected a plea offer that would have carried a 59-year sentence and went to trial. During plea negotiations he had given a videotaped confession, which was ruled admissible after he backed out and was used against him.¹¹

After a three-day trial, a jury convicted him on November 15, 2019 of first-degree and second-degree murder in the killing of Finocchiaro, voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Sturgis and Meo, and counts of robbery, abuse of corpse, conspiracy, and weapons possession. Prosecutors had argued Kratz took part “for fun.”¹²¹³

The jury was set to return to weigh the death penalty, but on November 18, 2019 prosecutors announced they were dropping that pursuit after consultations with the victims’ families. Judge Finley sentenced Kratz that day to life without parole plus a consecutive 18 to 36 years.² Kratz later sought a new trial on the ground that his attorney, Craig Penglase, had been ineffective in explaining the rejected plea. Finley denied the motion.¹¹

Civil Lawsuits by and Against the DiNardo Family

The families of all four victims sued DiNardo’s parents, Sandra and Antonio DiNardo, for wrongful death. The complaints alleged the parents negligently gave their son access to firearms, ATVs, and construction equipment despite his documented mental illness and involuntary commitments, with one complaint calling the farm a “playland for illegal acts.” The suits were resolved through a confidential settlement in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court in May 2023, involving all four families. Terms were not disclosed.¹⁴¹⁵

Sandra DiNardo also filed a medical malpractice suit on her son’s behalf against his psychiatrist, Dr. Christian Kohler of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The complaint alleged Kohler was grossly negligent, had previously described DiNardo’s bipolar disorder as being in “full remission,” and abruptly discontinued his anti-psychotic medications on July 6, 2017, the day before the triple murder, despite knowing DiNardo had a history of violence when unmedicated. The suit sought compensation for DiNardo’s emotional distress, the psychological impact of knowing he had murdered four people, and indemnification for his legal defense costs and payments to victims’ estates. His legal team called the psychiatrist the “active participant” in the murders and argued DiNardo was not the “true party at fault.”⁴¹⁶

A trial court allowed some claims to proceed but barred indemnification claims. The Superior Court reversed the partial allowance and dismissed the entire case, calling the complaint an “exercise in semantics.” On November 22, 2023, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal in DiNardo v. Kohler, holding that Pennsylvania’s “no felony conviction recovery” rule barred all of the claims. A person convicted of serious crimes, the court reasoned, cannot shift the consequences of that conduct onto healthcare providers through a malpractice suit; allowing recovery could undermine trust between patients and psychiatrists, discourage practitioners from treating certain patients, and drive excessive institutionalization out of liability fears.¹⁷

Where DiNardo Is Now

DiNardo is serving his four consecutive life sentences at SCI-Phoenix in Pennsylvania. He was previously held at SCI-Huntingdon from January 2020 to July 2021.¹⁸ He is not eligible for parole.

1
Crimewatch. DiNardo Pleads in Solebury Slayings, Sentenced to Life in Prison
2
Crimewatch. Second Solebury Killer Sentenced to Life Plus 18 to 36 Years
3
NBC Philadelphia. In Their Own Words: Bucks County Killers’ Confession Tapes
4
Philadelphia Magazine. Cosmo DiNardo
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Bucks County Courier Times. Commitment Paperwork at Center of Cosmo DiNardo Gun Case
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Immaculata University Magazine. Public Servant Cracked Case Leads to National Recognition
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ABC News. Suspect in Murders of Pennsylvania Men Had 40 Prior Encounters With Police
8
Crimewatch. Two Men Charged With Homicide in Four Solebury Slayings
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ABC7 NY. Inmate Confesses to Killing 4 PA Men, Says Where Bodies Are
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ABC7 NY. Timeline: Murder of 4 Men in Bucks County, PA
11
Audacy. Man Serving Life in Bucks County Killings Denied New Trial
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NBC Philadelphia. Sean Kratz Guilty Verdict for 2017 Bucks County Farm Killing Spree
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PhillyVoice. Sean Kratz Guilty of First-Degree, Second-Degree Murder in Bucks County Killings
14
Phillyburbs. Cosmo DiNardo Family Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled
15
Lehigh Valley Live. Families of 4 Killed in Bucks County Settle Suit Against Killer, His Parents
16
Psychiatry Online. DiNardo v. Kohler
17
Pennsylvania Courts. Sandra DiNardo v. Christian Kohler, M.D., et al.
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Corrections1. Inside SCI Huntingdon