Trial In Bucks Co. Farm Murders Starts Wednesday

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The trial for a man accused of helping his cousin kill three young men on a Solebury Township farm in 2017 will begin Wednesday in Bucks County court. Sean Kratz, 22, is charged with homicide in connection with three of the four murders carried out on a farm owned by the family of Cosmo DiNardo.

DiNardo has already pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence for four murders. However, Kratz rejected a plea deal.

Authorities say the victims were killed in three separate shootings, all of which took place on DiNardo's family farm on Lower York Road. Kratz was involved with two of the shootings, authorities allege.

The slayings were connected to three separate drug transactions, the Bucks District Attorney has said.

Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township was killed first. Two days later, authorities said DiNardo and Kratz killed Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg.

Human remains were discovered days later on the farm after a massive search effort by multiple agencies.

Authorities say DiNardo buried Patrick in a single grave on his parents' land in Solebury and buried the other three victims in a 12-foot-deep common grave on the same property.

The killings rattled the normally quiet community of Solebury, putting Bucks County in national headlines as law enforcement searched for the missing young men before making the gruesome discovery.

It began on July 5, 2017 when DiNardo picked up Patrick at his Newtown home and took him to the property in Solebury after he agreed to sell him marijuana.

When Patrick came up short with money for the transation, DiNardo took him to a remote part of the property and shot him with a .22-caliber rifle, investigators have said. DiNardo then used a backhoe that was on the property, dug a 6-foot hole and buried him, authorities said.

Two days later, on July 7, DiNardo allegedly agreed to sell marijuana to Finocchiaro. DiNardo first picked up Kratz and drove to Finocchiaro's home in Middletown Township.

The pair agreed ahead of time that they would rob Finocchiaro, DiNardo told investigators.

Kratz, armed with a .357 handgun belonging to DiNardo's mother, drove with DiNardo and Finocchiaro to the Solebury property, where Kratz shot Finocchiaro in the head, authorities said in a probable cause affidavit. Kratz disputes that and says he did not pull the trigger.

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DiNardo then took the gun and shot Finocchiaro a second time as he lay on the ground, the affidavit said. He then wrapped Finocchiaro in a blue tarp and placed in him a metal tank that he referred to as a "pig roaster," the affidavit said.

Later that same day, DiNardo met Meo and Sturgis at a church parking lot in Peddlers Village after setting up a meeting for a marijuana deal.

Meo and Sturgis followed him to the Solebury property in Meo's Nissan Maxima, and after parking on Aquetong Road, they got into DiNardo's truck. The three drove to the Lower York Road property where Kratz was waiting, the affidavit said.

"When they turn their backs on me, I shot Tom in the back," DiNardo said, according to charging documents. Meo lay screaming on the ground as he shot Sturgis, who was trying to flee. But DiNardo ran out of ammunition at the point, he told investigators, so he used the backhoe to fatally injure Meo, Kratz told investigators.

DiNardo then allegedly used the backhoe to lift both bodies into the metal tank where he already had put Finocchiaro's body. He poured gasoline in the tank and lit it, then Kratz and DiNardo left the farm, the affidavit said.

DiNardo and Kratz returned to the property the next day and, using the backhoe, dug a 12.5-foot hole to bury the tank containing the bodies, authorities said.

Kratz has been held in prison since he was charged July 14, 2017.

The trial is expected to last two weeks, The Intelligencer reported.

See the full timeline here.