Bucks DA: Person of interest arrested in case of missing men

The missing are: Mark Sturgis, 22; Tom Meo, 21; Dean Finocchiaro, 19, and Jimi Tar Patrick. There was no indication whether Cosmo DiNardo, Sandra DiNardo or Antonio DiNardo were involved in the disappearances of the four men. Two of them, Sturgis and Meo, worked together at a construction business owned by Sturgis’s father.

“He’s a good guy, a good friend”, said 19-year-old Wil Snyder.

Cosmo DiNardo, also of Bensalem, was taken into custody for a firearms charge that was previously dismissed but refiled Monday after he allegedly had a shotgun and ammunition in his possession despite being previously involuntarily committed to a mental health institution, which bars him from having a gun, King said.

NBC Philadelphia reported that police are investigating whether a 20-year-old who was arrested Monday on gun charges from February is connected to the incident, though he is not now considered a suspect. Patrick was last seen Wednesday.

Patrick went missing on Wednesday, July 5.

He was last seen around Routes 202 and 263 near Doylestown on Friday, she wrote.

Weintraub declined to comment on what drew them to DiNardo nor the farm and would not give specific details on the evidence found there and at other locations.

Weintraub said Tuesday DiNardo is considered a person of interest in the disappearances. “We hope they are, but we need to go where the investigation leads us”. But Weintraub did not call him a suspect and cautioned there is often a “chasm” between being called a “person of interest” in an investigation and being charged with a crime. He said the man’s $1 million bail was set that high at his office’s urging.

Though, the district attorney noted, DiNardo’s months-old charge is not connected to the missing individuals.

“We are gradually sifting through the property”, said Weintraub.

“He had frontal lobe damage, and I think that messed up his brain”, the friend said.

The family of DiNardo, 20, of Bensalem, owns both Solebury properties that have been searched thus far.

“This is rough on everyone involved”, he said, mentioning the warm conditions and large numbers of properties that are being searched. Investigators at the farm are “going through it with the equivalent of a fine-toothed comb”, he said.

Weintraub has described the search an “all hands on deck” situation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, state police and five local law enforcement agencies assisting with the case. Sources told ABC News a cellphone ping is what led authorities the property, though Weintraub has said he can’t say what directed authorities there.

Middletown police said Finocchiaro, who was the second to be reported missing, last was seen about 6:30 p.m. Friday entering a vehicle on Hampton Drive in the township. Meo is five feet five inches tall, weights 140 pounds, and has blond hair and blue eyes.

The search for four young men who have been mysteriously missing for days “is a marathon not a sprint”, a southeast Pennsylvania prosecutor said Tuesday.