‘One of the Most Horrific Days': Sean Kratz Goes on Trial for 2017 Bucks County Farm Killing Spree
A jury will begin to hear arguments in Sean Kratz's criminal homicide trial on Wednesday
By Alicia Victoria Lozano ••
The trial began Wednesday for Sean Kratz who is accused of helping his cousin Cosmo Dinardo kill three young men and then burying their bodies at a family farm in Bucks County. Kratz could get the death penalty if he is convicted. NBC10’s Matt DeLucia has the details.
What to Know
Sean Kratz goes on trial Wednesday in the 2017 Bucks County farm killings.
Kratz is accused of helping his cousin kill four young men and bury them at the farm. He faces criminal homicide counts in three killings.
Kratz stunned prosecutors and victims' relatives last year in turning down a plea deal that would have helped him avoid the death penalty.
More than two years after “one of the most horrific days in Bucks County history,” the man accused of helping his cousin kill three people on a sprawling farm will likely take the stand in his own defense, lawyers said in a Pennsylvania court Wednesday.
Kratz’s cousin and alleged conspirator, Cosmo DiNardo, is also expected to take the stand, lawyers said.
Sean Kratz, a man accused of killing three men on a farm in Bucks County in 2017, is expected to take the stand in his own trial, which gets underway Wednesday. Prosecutors say Kratz and his cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, lured the men to the farm with an offer to sell them drugs.
On Wednesday, prosecutors and Kratz’s defense team presented two different versions of what happened in July 2017 when the victims — 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, 22-year-old Mark Sturgis, 21-year-old Tom Meo and 19-year-old Jimi Taro Patrick — were killed.
Kratz and DiNardo were on a “mission to kill, rob and bury bodies,” Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler said during opening statements. “It was one of the most horrific days in Bucks County history.”
There, all four were shot to death. Three of the victims’ bodies were doused in gasoline and burned in a makeshift pig roaster, according to confession tapes obtained exclusively by NBC10. Click here to hear and read the grisly confessions.
Kratz’s lawyer, A. Charles Peruto Jr., offered an opposing view. He described his client as having a low IQ and being “preyed upon by a psychopath.”
“The evidence will show that all four would be dead with or without Sean Kratz," he said.
Jurors also heard from Tom Meo’s mother, who recounted calling police when her son went missing. Later in the afternoon, they were shown ATVs Dean Finocchiaro, DiNardo and Kratz rode shortly before Finocchiaro died.
SkyForce10/Bucks County DA
Dennis Byrne
Wednesday, July 5nJimi Patrick, from Newtown, Pennsylvania, goes missing. Officials say he was last seen on July 5 at about 6 p.m. He was reported missing the next day after he had no contact with friends and family.
Officials say that on July 5, Patrick drives to the the property owned by family of Cosmo DiNardo to buy $8,000 worth of marijuana. Patrick allegedly did not have enough money for the purchase, and DiNardo took him to a remote part of the property and shot him.
Court documents allege that DiNardo then used a backhoe to dig a hole and bury Patrick in a secluded part of the property.
Bucks County District Attorney's Office
Friday, July 7nMark Sturgis, pictured left, tells his father he is going to meet his friend Thomas Meo, pictured right, of Doylestown in Bucks County. Sturgis leaves his Pennsburg home and was not heard from again.
Bucks County DA
Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Langhorne, also went missing on Friday, July 7. Police say he was last seen around 6:30 p.m. getting into a vehicle.
Officials revealed that on Friday, July 7, Finocchiaro got into a car with DiNardo and his cousin, Sean Kratz to purchase $700 worth of marijuana. The two decided to rob Finocchiaro. Kratz allegedly shot Finocchiaro in the head, and DiNardo shot him a second time. Officials say the cousins then used a backhoe to place the body in a metal tank.
The same night, officials say DiNardo sets up a drug deal with Meo and Sturgis. When Meo and Sturgis arrived at the Solebury farm, officials say DiNardo shot Meo in the back, and then shot Sturgis as he was running away. He and Kratz allegedly used a backhoe to place the bodies in the tank, where Finocchiaro's body was. DiNardo confesses that he and Kratz poured gasoline in the tank and burned the bodies, before using a backhoe to bury Finocchiaro, Sturgis, and Meo's bodies.
NBC10
Saturday, July 8 nCosmo DiNardo allegedly tries to sell Meo's car to a friend in Bensalem. Meo's mother reports him missing after he fails to show up for work and fails to respond to texts from his girlfriend.
NBC10 - Brian X. McCrone
That same day, DiNardo contacted a man named "KBM" around 5:00 p.m. to try and sell Meo's car for $500.
AP/FILE
Sunday, July 9 At 2:10 a.m., Sturgis' vehicle is found in the area of Peddler's Village in Buckingham Township, about 2 miles away from a DiNardo family home on Aquetong Road.
NBC10 - Brian X. McCrone
Just two hours after Sturgis' car was found Sunday morning, Meo's car was discovered inside a garage on the DiNardo property. Authorities found Meo's diabetic supplies were in the car, and his car keys hanging on a wall in the garage.
Monday, July 10nVarious law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, help in the search, focusing on a vast property. The 90-acre farm in New Hope, Solebury Township belongs to the DiNardo family.
Later that day, Bucks County District Attorney Mark Weintraub says he believes "foul play" is involved in the disappearance of the men as information began to surface that all four men were connected.
Police also search another property belonging to the DiNardo family Monday, in Bensalem where Cosmo DiNardo lives.
DiNardo, 20, is arrested Monday his home is searched. He is arrested on an unrelated gun charge and held on $1 million bond.
Bensalem Police, Bucks County District Attorney's Office
Tuesday, July 11nAs the search continues, Weintraub reveals for the first time that DiNardo, whose family owns real estate in the area, is a "person of interest" in the disappearances. Prosecutors also confirm that all four of the young men seem to have a connection to each other and DiNardo.
SkyForce10
Throughout the day on Tuesday, a massive police force searches the DiNardo property in Solebury Township, digging and sifting through dirt. Officials report more than 50 people, including FBI agents and police recruits, are searching for clues.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
That day, DiNardo's father, Antonio DiNardo, posts $100,000 (10 percent of $1 million) bail.
SkyForce10
Wednesday, July 12 nWeintraub says they have found "several pieces of evidence" on the DiNardo property.
Weintraub says, "The search at the scene right up the road is really intensifying." He says he's confident they will find something: "We have been utilizing resources, resources I didn't even know existed."
NBC10
On Wednesday, DiNardo is arrested again for trying to sell Meo's car. Bail is set at $5 million. Weintraub considers DiNardo "to be even more of a flight risk."
Weintraub announces later that day that Meo's diabetic kit, "which he never went anywhere without," was found in his vehicle. The DA says that without the kit, Meo could go into "diabetic shock."
SkyForce10
Thursday, July 13 nIn a midnight news conference, Weintraub announces remains have been found in a 12-1/2 foot hole, a "common grave," on the DiNardo property.
NBC10
In that press conference, authorities identify 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro's remains. They are still working to identify the other remains. "This is a homicide, make no mistake about it," Weintraub said.
NBC10
Thursday, July 13 About 5:45 p.m., Cosmo DiNardo's attorney Paul Lang announced his client admitted in a "full confession" to participation in the murders of four men who disappeared in early July. The confession is part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, Lang said.
Matt Rourke/AP
"I'm sorry," a shackled Cosmo DiNardo said as he left the courthouse in an orange prison uniform.
Katy Zachary
Friday, July 14 nInformation is released around 12:30 p.m. that Sean Kratz, 20, is in custody and charged with allegedly killing the four young men. Kratz was taken into custody from this house on Magee Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia on July 13.
Bucks County District Attorney's Office via AP
Bucks County DA Matthew Weintraub announces charges against DiNardo and Kratz. DiNardo faces four counts each of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and robbery inflicted injury, as well as a possession of weapon charge. Kratz faces three counts each of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and robbery inflicted injury, as well as possession of weapon. Both were denied bail. DiNardo is being held in the Bucks County Jail, Kratz in another county's facility. Both have preliminary hearings scheduled for September 7.
Tuesday, July 18 nPhiladelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said his department hoped to interview DiNardo after sources said DiNardo claimed he killed other people in the past in Philly.
NBC10
Sources inform NBC10 later that day that DiNardo told Bucks County detectives that he killed a woman in the basement of a Philadelphia home. Sources say DiNardo also claimed to kill another man, but only offered a nickname for the individual. Authorities say that the dates, times, and locations surrounding DiNardo's haven’t been corroborated.
SkyForce10
Thursday, July 20 nPhiladelphia police joined the search for clues. Bucks County DA Weintraub said various agencies wanted to comb the farm before turning it back over to the DiNardo family.
The bloodbath started on July 5, 2017 when Jimi Taro Patrick, DiNardo’s former classmate, attempted to buy cannabis from DiNardo. Instead, he was shot in the back and buried just 10 feet from where he died.
Two days later, DiNardo orchestrated another marijuana deal that allegedly involved Kratz. The cousins were meant to steal Finocchiaro’s money and maybe even kill him. It wouldn’t be the first time DiNardo did that, he told Kratz, according to his confession.
“He wanted me to rob him in the woods and shoot him, take his money,” Kratz said in his confession tape. “I just couldn’t do it.”
Except that he did shoot, Kratz went on to say in his confession.
"[DiNardo] gave me a signal — a hand gesture as a gun," Kratz said in therecording. "I kinda was hesitant. I pulled the gun out. I aimed it in the air, closed my eyes and fired a shot."
Finocchiaro collapsed to the ground. DiNardo took the gun away from Kratz and fatally shot the dying Finocchiaro. Kratz vomited shortly after the bloodshed, he previously told police.
The two remaining murders happened that same day. Tom Meo and Mark Stargis showed up at the farm to buy pot and never left. It would take several days and countless man hours for investigators to find their bodies and piece together what happened.
