Crews Dig In Field As Search For Missing Young Men Continues

UPDATED: 8:06 p.m., Tuesday: 

Cosmo DiNardo, 20, of Bensalem, was released Tuesday evening after 10 percent of $100,000 bail was posted, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

Original Story: 

The family and friends of four missing young men gathered down a wooded hilly driveway about a quarter-mile from where police and members of the FBI sifted through piles of dirt pulled from the 70-acre rural property owned by the DiNardo family in Solebury.

The friends and family of the missing men brought chairs, bottles of water and coolers as they mingled and toyed on their phones.

By late Tuesday afternoon, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said none of the four missing men –  Jimi Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township, Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Montgomery County; Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township, and Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township – had been found, but he held out hope they would be recovered alive.

“Yes, anything is possible. I have hope,” the district attorney said. “I think that it’s very important to hang onto hope until there is no room left for it. And I would ask that everybody share my thoughts and prayers in that regard.”

“We have four families literally keeping a vigil at the scene of our investigation,” he said in the morning.

The work wasn’t easy and weather wasn’t cool, but law enforcement officials searched multiple areas on the property while others followed up on tips sent in by the public.

Weintraub said cadets from Montgomery County Community College’s Municipal Police Academy and specially-trained K-9 units searched across the Solebury property off Route 202 near Peddler’s Village. However, he stated he did not consider the whole property a crime scene, but said it is being searched.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, investigators were spotted in helicopter footage from 6abc focusing resources on debris dump off a gravel driveway that cuts through cornfields and woods. A Solebury Public Works Department employee operated a backhoe that carefully cut into the dump, just feet away from underbrush and piles of discarded concrete.

Members of the FBI Philadelphia Field Office’s Evidence Recovery Team carefully sifted through the dirt removed from a large hole dug by investigators. They laid the dirt on tarps and carefully inspected everything that came out of the hole. Just feet away, Bucks County Detectives used cameras to keep a record.

“We want to be careful not to miss the tiniest piece of evidence,” Weintraub said.

By 6 p.m., a large white tent was moved over the area where the backhoe was digging by the debris.

Cosmo DiNardo, 20, of Bensalem, has been confirmed by the district attorney’s office as a “person of interest” in the “criminal investigation” into the disappearance of the four young men, one of whom was last seen Wednesday and the other three on Friday.

“I want to make it very, very clear that Mr. DiNardo has been arrested on charges that do not relate or pertain to this case,” Weintraub said. “Mr. DiNardo is a person of interest in this case, but sometimes the chasm between being a person of interest and being a person who is accused, arrested and convicted of a crime is so wide that we never cross it.”

The DiNardo family owns the large property where the investigation has focused in Solebury, a smaller property nearby and a 3,864-square-foot home on Wayland Circle in Bensalem.

DiNardo was arrested Monday afternoon and had a gun-related charge refiled. As NewtownPANow.com reported previously, DiNardo in court and in official documents was listed as previously suffering from mental health issues.

DiNardo’s full connection to all four missing men was not released by authorities, but Weintraub Monday admitted there was an apparent connection. NewtownPANow.com reporter Amanda Burg discovered a Facebook account belonging to the missing 19-year-old from Newtown Township was ‘friends’ with Dinardo.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said two cars linked to the missing men were found in Solebury Sunday. One was found behind a business not far from the DiNardo’s properties and another was found at a garage on the smaller property the family owns along Aquetong Road.

As he walked to a waiting unmarked police car following a press briefing, Weintraub said Tuesday that he could not comment if there is suspicion that a gun may be involved in the young men’s disappearance.

“Both cases involve, potentially, a gun,” an assistant district attorney said during DiNardo’s arraignment Monday in Bensalem without elaborating.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, DiNardo remained in the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown unable to post bail, according to court records.

DiNardo’s attorney, Michael Parlow, said in court Monday that the 20-year-old man spoke with Bucks County Detectives. He did not wish to elaborate when spotted at the Bensalem police station a short time later.

Weintraub Tuesday afternoon confirmed investigators had been in touch with the DiNardo family but did not share more.

The district attorney praised the media for responsible reporting on the investigation and for their helping encouraging the public to call in tips. He did note that a TV station report Monday night that bodies were found on the property was false.

The veteran lawman and Bucks County native reminded reporters that the missing men’s families were paying attention to their coverage.

Anyone with information on tips that could help investigators are asked to dial 215-297-8201 or submit information online.

NewtownPANow.com reporter Amanda Burg contributed to this article. 

 

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— Tom Sofield (@BuxMontNews) July 11, 2017