Bucks County DA Matt Weintraub speaks at a press briefing last week.
The proverbial rumor mill was working overtime on Tuesday in this corner of Bucks County, churning out new theories to explain why four young men lost their lives at a farm in Solebury Township.
The intense curiosity and speculation are understandable. To many, the bare facts of the case just don’t add up. Four boys killed in pot deals gone bad? And robbed by a rich kid?
In the absence of immediate answers, a variety of explanations have sprung up, many involving a cover-up, conspiracy, and/or prior crime. But chances are that if your uncle in Doylestown or co-worker in New Hope have heard The Big Rumor, so have law enforcement officials.
In fact, no stone is being left unturned in the ongoing investigation, say officials.
“This is a case of intense public interest,” observed a spokesperson for Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub. “There’s always going to be theories and ideas about what may or may not have happened. If there are allegations or issues not yet investigated, they will be.”
A colleague described Weintraub as “determined, dogged, and thorough,” and said his main motivation at this point is uncovering the truth.
“If we receive additional information or allegations of additional crimes or potential defendants, those leads will be investigated,” said the spokeperson for the DA’s office.
“Cosmo’s admission wasn’t closure,” said one person with knowledge of the investigation. “The rumors are bull____. There are no clear answers yet.”
Back in Solebury, police are working around the clock to keep up “standard patrols” while continuing to assist in the investigation. Members of the Solebury Township Police Department have cancelled vacations and are working 16 to 18-hour shifts, but community support has kept morale high, according to a police spokesperson.
“Doing a thorough job takes time,” explained New Hope Police Chief Mike Cummings, who said that his department has not been needed thus far for back up in the investigation. “It will all come out. Matt will do his job, he’s a professional, he cares about the families.”
Although not directly involved, Cummings said he’s questioned about the tragedy of the four young men wherever he goes.
“‘What’s going on, do you know anything about it’ I get asked,” said Cummings. “It’s such an intense topic. Nobody understands what happened. They just want to know ‘why.’ This is something unheard of.”
“Let’s do our job, let’s do it right, let’s do it professionally,” he added. “Let’s be patient.”
Solebury police on Tuesday continued assisting the investigation at the farm where the remains of Tom Meo, Mark Sturgis, Jimi Taro Patrick and Dean Finocchiaro were located last week. Cosmo DiNardo, of Bensalem, and Sean Kratz, of Northeast Philadelphia, are being held without bail in connection with the killings.
Solebury Police Chief Dominick Bellizzie will thank the public and local businesses at Tuesday night’s 7 p.m. meeting of the Solebury Township Board of Supervisors for their support during the grueling murder investigation at a local farm. He will also take questions from the public, although fresh revelations into the ongoing investigation are not expected. Bellizzie’s message will be one of gratitude and reassurance, according to a spokesperson.
On this and other threads Pink has accused Weintraub, the law enforcement teams, and support staff of incompetence. She’s also labeled the murderers as “victims” and “our children”. Never a word about the 4 real victims, their grieving families, or some of our own children who are struggling with this. Weintraub and our other public servants solved a serial murder in 4 days with competence and sensitivity. I’m proud to be a Bucks Cty taxpayer. Once again Pink has proven herself to be an insensitive twit.
Asian Pete, Believe me I am horrified and deeply saddened about the disgusting murders of those 4 young men at the hands of a deeply mentally ill young man and his soulless cousin. I would not want anyone to have to experience any of that heartbreak. I am in awe of the labor it took to find those young men in that stifling heat.
I am allowed to express my opinion about the imperfections that occur on our community which has a lot of work to improve upon. The lack of mental health resources in Bucks is stunning and negligent. The number of hunters in our backyards allows for the sound of gunshots to be uneventful by the police. The ineptness of our officials in understanding the basics of handling procedures regarding the mentally ill takes my breath away. All of this could have been avoided in a perfect world, but that doesn’t exist. I would never complain about paying taxes in our county because they are so freakin low. Ya get what you pay for. Paying taxes doesn’t make you a stand out citizen by the way.
Please stay on top of this story! Bucks is such a sh*t show when it comes to mental health services. The cops and judge didn’t know how to process CD’s mental health report and gun charge! Seems like the 3 Stooges are in charge here. The license plate reader and dogs are the smarts behind this case so far. Yes, an expensive and intrusive computer program and well trained dogs came through. Not to mention an unethical use of the death penalty to get the info, we should all be concerned.
So much happens behind the scenes, we should make no assumptions about anything. As far as mental health services? I’m pretty sure Cosmo needed more than counseling and a hug.
It an earlier report online it said the boys were witnesses to dinardo’s friend who beat up a student at temple last month. The boys told the police who beat the kid up. Dinardo appare tly owed that guy a lot of money and told dinardo if he gets rid of the witnesses, the boys, his debt will be paid off. Yet i can no longer find this story online and no one mentions the temple incident. Very strange…
This is kind of embarrassing for the local Police and the FBI, so far the dogs are the heroes, they found the body of missing young man!
The only embarrassing thing I’ve read is your comment; it honestly doesn’t deserve a reply other than to say how insulting and ignorant your words are. Very sad. I, like so many I’ve spoken to, am extremely proud of all those involved in the search and recovery of these boys, I can’t even begin to imagine what a toll this took on them all. In reading the letter from Jimi Patrick’s grandparents, it was clear they too felt the same, and are forever grateful. Even in tragedy, they felt the sense of community and assistance which we all witnessed during that terrible week.
So, Peter, you think you know all about police work/investigations? You really think it was just a dog? Sometimes the most frightening thing is just how incredibly stupid some people are around here. I am a police officer’s daughter and you are an a$$.
There’s more to this, and in the end there will be more bodies and more people involved. Dumb and dumber didn’t do this by themselves. My opinion only
He is a monster. They should take the whole deal about the death penalty off the table and fry them. Mentally ill or not it was premeditated no matter what they say Premeditated murder mentally ill people don’t go through that much thinking. The mentally ill is just a cover my option.
I agree if it was just one killing I may think ok could be mental illness but calling your cousin and adding 3 more bodys is not. Both should be put to death.
Geez Ron, First of all we don’t “fry” anyone any more, so get with the times! The co-def and the primary perp are entitled to justice too, whether one or both are mentally ill. Actually mentally ill people do that kind of planning, if you want to call it that. If your family member did something like that, you would want the justice system to proceed, fairly.
Pure speculation here from me…..theory; Cosmo knew the boys…..wanted to kill for the sake of killing and used the pot as a way to lure each one in. He had no intention of any kind of sale. Something in his recent past with each boy against him set him off. I see Cosmo as a man who snapped. Imagine using his mother’s 357 gun to kill. A backhoe to dig 12 and ahalf feet down. And a grave six feet down. Most killers don’t go that far to bury a person. Cosmo had so much anger in him to do these crimes.
Only my opinion.
God rest their souls.
Gigi,
I think your theory is pretty much spot on! I’ve been saying the same thing! Those 4 young men are not here to defend themselves and all we have at this point is the word of a murderer as to what happened.
Gigi, I agree. For whatever reason he wanted to kill. (And if he is in fact schizophrenic that could very well mean it seemed perfectly logical to him) That was his goal when meeting with each victim. To kill them.
I think many people confuse mental illness with stupidity.
I have known highly intelligent people who are mentally ill.
And yeah, the victims are not here to tell us what actually happened. We only have the killer’s version.
My heart hurts for those young men and their families and friends.