In her first interview since her son was involved in the violent murders of four young men, Sandra DiNardo called her jailed-for-life offspring, Cosmo, a “model son” before mental illness took over.
The interview, which was published Tuesday evening by Philadelphia Magazine, tells the DiNardos’ side of the story and talks about a lawsuit filed by the family against Cosmo DiNardo’s psychiatrist who reportedly said he posed no risk around the time of the murders of four young men – Jimi Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township; Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Montgomery County – on a Solebury Township farm in July 2017.
Cosmo DiNardo, who turned 23 last month, of Bensalem, agreed to a deal in 2018 that sent him away for four life sentences.
The long profile is told from the DiNardo side and provides some insights in Cosmo DiNardo’s history of mental health problems.
In the story, Sandra DiNardo said after he son was arrested, Thomas Klebold, the father of Columbine High School killer Dylan Klebold, called her to offer support.
“My son wasn’t this horrible animal that everybody says he was,” she said. “He lost his life a year before those kids. He’s a prisoner in his own brain. He’s lost forever.”
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
However, in court multiple times, prosecutors portrayed Cosmo DiNardo as an unstable monster who was out to kill.
Cosmo DiNardo’s cousin, Sean Kratz, 22, of Philadelphia, was found guilty of shooting Finocchiaro in the head in a rustic barn on his cousin Cosmo DiNardo’s family farm in Solebury in July 2017. Prosecutors said Kratz additionally was the lookout while his cousin murdered Meo and Sturgis. Last November, Kratz was ordered to spend life in state prison.
