Suspects in Penn. murders of 4 had trail of petty crimes
Police still seeking motive
PHILADELPHIA — The cousins started small — break-ins, jewelry heists and traffic violations — but on Friday they were charged in a grisly crime spree that ended with police unearthing the bodies of four young men from two pits buried deep on a sprawling family-owned farm.
Police found the missing men after a grueling, five-day search in sweltering heat and pelting rain, but it’s still not clear why the 20-year-old suspects’ crimes escalated from petty offenses.
For Cosmo DiNardo, whose lawyer said he confessed to all four killings in exchange for being spared the death penalty, brushes with the law began in his early teenage years.
He was about 14 when the Bensalem Police Department first had contact with him. Over the next six years, he had more than 30 run-ins with its officers, department director Frederick Harran said, although court filings reflect only the minor infractions and traffic stops that came after age 18.
Court records show Kratz was previously arrested on two separate burglary charges in Philadelphia for thefts in June and December of last year where he reportedly stole $1,000 in tools and $450 worth of jewelry.
Kratz, who said he works at a tiling company, did not have a lawyer with him at his arraignment. Clad in a blue jumpsuit and flanked by detectives, he told a judge that he has trouble walking because he’d been shot three months ago. Kratz’s mother, Vanessa, declined to comment.
At a press conference Friday announcing that police had recovered all four previously missing bodies, a reporter asked Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub why DiNardo felt the need to kill the young men.
“I’m not really sure we could ever answer that question,” he said.