Source: Man killed 4, burned bodies

DOYLESTOWN, PA. » A drug dealer has confessed to killing four young men separately after selling them marijuana and then burning their bodies at his family’s farm, a person with firsthand knowledge of his confession said Thursday.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss details of the case. The person said a co-conspirator was involved in the shooting deaths of three of the men, who had been reported missing.

The details were provided after one of Cosmo DiNardo’s lawyers said Thursday that DiNardo had confessed to murdering the missing men, who included a Maryland college student, and had told investigators where their bodies were.

DiNardo, 20, agreed to plead guilty to four firstdegree murder counts, attorney Paul Lang said outside court, where DiNardo had met with investigators.

“I’m sorry,” a shackled DiNardo said as he left the Doylestown courthouse.

The person with firsthand knowledge of DiNardo’s confession said the men were shot in the head or the back after DiNardo felt cheated or threatened during three drug transactions. DiNardo sold quarter-pound (113-gram) quantities of marijuana for several thousand dollars and sold handguns to area residents, the person said.

“Every death was related to a purported drug transaction, and at the end of each one there’s a killing,” the person said.

DiNardo said one victim was killed July 5 and the other three were killed July 7, the person said. The remains of the last three killed were reported discovered Wednesday by investigators, and DiNardo agreed to tell investigators the separate location of the first victim’s body, the person said.

Authorities had charged DiNardo earlier this year with having a gun despite an involuntary mental health commitment. In seeking $5 million bail on a stolen- car charge this week, prosecutors said he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He also suffered a head injury in an ATV accident a year ago.

DiNardo’s parents declined to comment after leaving a government building where he spent several hours with Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub and other investigators.

In exchange for DiNardo’s cooperation, Lang said, prosecutors were taking the death penalty off the table.