Senseless killings dominate local news

When did the Philadelphia suburbs become the senseless murder capital of the universe?

When did Southeastern Pennsylvania – basically the Philly suburbs – become the senseless murder capital of the universe?

For the second time in a matter of a few weeks, we are left to do little other than shake our heads and ask the question for which – as yet – there is no answer. Why? Why was such a promising, vibrant young life, that of Bianca Roberson snuffed out in an instant of madness?

And now we’re trying to wrap our heads around the sickening reality of four young lives lost in Bucks County, our worst fears realized after a days-long hunt for four missing young men seemingly lured to their deaths by a troubled young man.

Answers elude us; the pain and agony – in particular for family members – do not.

Bianca Roberson was a recent graduate of Rustin High School in West Chester who was looking forward to heading off in a few weeks to start her college career at Jacksonville University in Florida.

In fact, she was returning from a shopping trip for some new clothes for school when she encountered the unthinkable – road rage carried to the extreme.

Roberson found herself jockeying for position with another driver on Route 100 in West Goshen where the road narrows from two lanes to one.

According to Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, that’s when David Desper decided to settle matters in an unthinkable way. He pulled out a gun and shot Roberson – killing her instantly. As Roberson’s car veered off the roadway and into a tree, Desper fled in a red pickup truck that became the focal point of a 48-hour manhunt.

Desper, from Trainer in Delaware County, turned himself in, answering the question of who was behind the wheel.

The hunt for the red pickup truck touched off national interest, as much of the nation asked the same question many here had: Has life really become that cheap, that expendable, that a person could consider using a gun to shoot another motorist while involved in a traffic incident?

Just as we were coming to grips with that tragedy, and searching for answers, word came in of four young men who had gone missing in Bucks County.

Once again the nation was riveted by a bizarre case here in the Philadelphia suburbs.

It was about to get a lot more bizarre – and more tragic.

Slowly but surely, law enforcement in Bucks County zeroed in on Cosmo DiNardo, a clearly troubled young man, in connection with the disappearance of Jimmy Taro Patrick, Mark Sturgis, Thomas Meo and Dean Finocchiaro. All four were in their late teens or early 20s, with their entire lives in front of them – right up until they encountered DiNardo. At first the 20-year-old was charged with a weapons violation. After he posted bail he was rearrested again on a theft charge after he tried to sell the car of one of the missing youths.

Eventually DiNardo laid out the unthinkable scenario for investigators. All four young men had been lured to DiNardo’s family’s sprawling farm in Solebury, where they were killed. DiNardo, with the aid of his cousin, Sean Kratz, according to police, buried all four, three in one spot, the fourth in another.

All four bodies were recovered, solving that part of this ugly riddle.

But once again, answering the simple question of why is not as easy.

Sunday night more than 1,500 people gathered in the Garden of Reflection, the spot created after the 9/11 attacks that took so many Bucks County victims, to again pay homage to victims of wanton violence.

They came to honor the young men, but also to shine a light on something that the Roberson family has now known for weeks.

There is unexplainable evil in the world. It can snatch away a life in an instant.

Much like the Robersons, and the families of the Bucks victims, we long for some kind of answer, some kind of explanation for what is unexplainable.

Maybe that’s the answer. There isn’t one. Hug your loved ones. They can be snatched away in a heartbeat.

A much-loved daughter, standout student and promising young life gone.

Four young men – sons, brothers – snatched away in moments of madness.

Some days you just shake your head.