The killings that stunned small-town Pennsylvania
CNN)On July 5, a young Pennsylvania man disappeared. Three other men went missing two days later.
On July 14, two cousins were charged with homicide and several other crimes after the missing men's bodies were discovered buried in a deep grave on farmland in Bucks County.
In the space of those 10 days, the county would gain notoriety as the scene of grisly killings that stunned residents and investigators alike.
Based on four separate criminal complaints, several court hearings, public statements and other CNN reporting, here's what we know about how the killings transpired. A judge has entered not-guilty pleas on behalf of the defendants.
Day 1
Alleged killer Cosmo Dinardo holds a firearm in an undated photo posted on social media.
Jimi Patrick, a 19-year-old who lives with his grandparents in Newtown Township, leaves his home at 6 p.m. He recently completed his first year at Loyola University in Maryland.Township, leaves his home at 6 p.m. He recently completed his first year at Loyola University in Maryland.
He agrees to meet with Cosmo Dinardo, 20, to buy 4 pounds of marijuana for $8,000, according to a criminal complaint.
Dinardo graduated from Holy Ghost Preparatory School a year before Patrick, and was a student for a semester at Arcadia University. But he struggled with schizophrenia, said Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub. Dinardo had been involuntarily committed to a mental institution last July, according to Bensalem Police Department Director of Public Safety Fred Harran.
Dinardo had over 30 contacts with Bensalem Police since 2011, said Harran. He was arrested in February and charged with possession of a firearm, which was illegal because of his mental illness, a criminal complaint states. The charge was dismissed in May because of an issue with the mental health paperwork and mental health delegate testimony, Harran said.
On this evening, Dinardo picks up Patrick at his grandparents' home in Newtown and they drive to Dinardo's parents' sprawling farmland in Solebury Township, according to a criminal complaint.
He takes Patrick to a remote part of the property, where Patrick says he only has $800. Dinardo offers to sell Patrick a shotgun for that money, gives him the weapon, and then shoots and kills him with a .22-caliber rifle, Dinardo tells detectives after his arrest.
Dinardo drives the property's backhoe to that remote location and digs a hole about six feet deep, puts Patrick's body in the ground, and buries him, the complaint states.
Day 2
Richard Patrick reports his grandson missing to Newtown Township police, telling them that he last saw the college student leaving their home at 6 p.m. the day before.
Day 3
Sean Kratz allegedly joined his cousin Cosmo Dinardo in a plan to rob local men.
Acting on the missing-persons report, police ask the public for help locating Patrick. Patrick fails to show up for work at a restaurant-bar in nearby Doylestown.
Meanwhile, Dinardo sets up two other drug deals, according to a criminal complaint. He first agrees to meet with Dean Finocchiaro, a 19-year-old from Middletown Township, and sell him a quarter-pound of marijuana for about $700.
Before the meeting, Dinardo picks up his cousin Sean Kratz, according to a complaint.
Kratz, 20, has a long criminal history, with all his arrests and charges related to theft or burglary. In February, he was charged in Philadelphia County with burglary, conspiracy, criminal trespassing, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief, according court documents. He posted bail in March and is due in court for a preliminary hearing in August.
Out on bail, Kratz joins Dinardo. Together, they decide that rather than sell marijuana to Finocchiaro, they will rob him, and Dinardo gives his mother's Smith-and-Wesson .357 handgun to Kratz, Dinardo later tells police.
The cousins drive to Finocchiaro's home, pick him up and bring him back to the Dinardo's family property. Finocchiaro is last seen at about 6:30 p.m. getting into a vehicle, police later said, though they did not provide any details about the vehicle.
Finocchiaro is shot and killed in a barn, a complaint states. Kratz later tells police Dinardo shot Finocchiaro. However, Dinardo claims that Kratz shot him in the head and that Dinardo shot him afterward while he was lying facedown on the ground.
Dinardo wraps Finocchiaro's body in a blue tarp and then uses the backhoe to place him into a metal tank that Dinardo calls the "pig roaster," according to authorities.
Two men charged in Pennsylvania killings 02:19
Later the same day, Dinardo makes plans to sell marijuana to Thomas Meo, a 21-year-old from Plumstead Township, according to a criminal complaint. Meo is with his friend and co-worker Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg.
Dinardo meets with Meo and Sturgis, and they follow him in Meo's 1996 Nissan Maxima to Dinardo's family home. A mobile license plate reader spots Dinardo's vehicle, a Silver 2016 Ford pickup truck, in Solebury Township at 7:49 p.m. The plate reader also spots Meo's Nissan Maxima seconds later, according to the complaint.
After arriving at the house, Meo and Sturgis get into Dinardo's truck and drive to the family's farmland property, where Kratz remained. As Meo and Sturgis exit the truck, Dinardo shoots Meo in the back, Dinardo later tells police. Meo collapses to the ground, screaming.
Sturgis starts to run away and Dinardo shoots at him, striking and killing him. Dinardo, out of ammunition, gets in the backhoe and drives over Meo, crushing him to death, the complaint states.
Dinardo uses the backhoe to pick up Meo and Sturgis and put their bodies in the same metal tank where he earlier had placed Finocchiaro's body. He pours gasoline into the metal tank and lights it, a complaint states.
Dinardo and Kratz then leave the farm without burying the burned bodies of the three men. Back in Middletown Township, Bonie Finocchiaro contacts the Middletown Township Police Department to report her son missing, as he did not show up for work that evening.
Day 4
Meo and Sturgis fail to show up for work at their construction job. Worried, Melissa Fretanduno-Meo contacts the Plumstead Township Police Department and reports her son missing.
In the afternoon, Dinardo and Kratz return to the farm and use the backhoe to dig a 12.5-foot-deep hole -- about 1/2-mile away from Patrick's grave -- and bury the "pig roaster" containing the charred bodies of Finocchiaro, Meo and Sturgis, the complaint states.
Dinardo then gives Kratz two firearms: a revolver and an Intratec Tec 9, the complaint adds.
At about 5 p.m., Dinardo contacts an unidentified male friend in Bensalem. They meet up and Dinardo offers to sell him a 1996 Nissan Maxima for $500 -- Meo's vehicle, according to a complaint.
Day 5
A man sits at the end of driveway in Solebury, as the search continues for four missing young men feared to be the victims of foul play.
After Sturgis fails to return home and show up for work, his parents report him missing to Pennsylvania State Police.
Police locate Sturgis' vehicle in an area known as Peddler's Village in Bucks County at 2:10 a.m., less than two miles from where the men were killed, a complaint states.
Two hours later, investigators locate Meo's 1996 Nissam Maxima at Dinardo's family home in Solesbury Township. The keys and title to the vehicle, still in Meo's name, hang on the wall inside the garage of the property, a complaint states.
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