Sean Kratz Guilty of First-Degree Murder in 2017 Bucks County Farm Killing Spree
The killings of four young men on a farm in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania, gripped the region and nation. Kratz's cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, admitted to the slayings in a taped confession.
By Alicia Victoria Lozano ••
Sean Kratz was convicted on Friday in the slayings of young men whose bodies were buried and found at a farm in Solebury, Bucks County.
What to Know
Sean Kratz found guilty of first and second-degree murder as well as manslaughter and other charges in the 2017 killings.
Kratz helped his cousin kill young men and bury them at the farm in Solebury Township, Pa. He recorded a taped confession and then recanted.
Kratz stunned prosecutors and victims' relatives last year in turning down a plea deal that would have helped him avoid the death penalty.
The man accused of killing three people on a suburban Pennsylvania farm in 2017 has been found guilty of first- and second-degree murder for the shooting death of 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro.
Sean Kratz, 22, was also found guilty of conspiracy, abuse of a corpse, robbery and possessing an instrument of crime as related to Finocchiaro's death.
Jurors will return Monday for more hearings to decide whether Kratz will receive the death penalty. It took them about 18 hours to reach a verdict.
Both prosecutors and Kratz's attorneys remained under a gag order until after sentencing and could not comment Friday.
Kratz, who rejected a plea deal last year, was also found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy for the deaths of Mark Sturgis and Tom Meo on his cousin's sprawling farm.
All three victims were lured to the property under the pretense of buying marijuana. Instead, the young men were killed and their bodies burned in a makeshift pig roaster.
The first day of jury deliberations in Sean Kratz's murder trial featured questions to the judge but no verdict. Jurors reconvene Thursday to decide if Kratz is responsible with helping his cousin kill three young men on their family's Bucks County farm in the summer of 2017.
Kratz's cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, previously pleaded guilty to these murders and that of Jimi Taro Patrick. He is now serving four consecutive life sentences for those killings.
During a 90-minute interview with detectives, which was obtained exclusively by NBC10 last year, Kratz admitted to shooting Finocchiaro at DiNardo's suburban Pennsylvania farm in July 2017. Jurors re-watched that interview in its entirely Thursday, the eighth day of trial.
The cousins, according to Kratz, agreed to rob, shoot and kill Finocchiaro but Kratz hesitated when it came time to pull the trigger, he told detectives in the tape.
"I kinda was hesitant. I pulled the gun out. I aimed it in the air, closed my eyes and fired a shot," Kratz said in the tape.
The bullet hit Finocchiaro in the head. He collapsed to the ground and DiNardo shot him a second time.
"Do you believe your shot hit Dean in the head?" a detective asked Kratz.
"Yes," he said.
Kratz said he ran out of the barn shaking and vomiting. DiNardo, on the other hand, walked out laughing and joking that Kratz has never seen a dead body before. DiNardo then riffled through Finocchiaro's pockets, retrieving a cell phone and other belongings. He eventually burned Finocchiaro's body in a makeshift pig roaster.
"I never touched his body," Kratz said in the video.
But he did accept $200 from DiNardo, Kratz said.
Kratz has been on suicide watch since Friday, which is standard for capital cases in Pennsylvania. Both he and DiNardo were expected to testify during the trial but neither took the stand.
During opening arguments, prosecutors and Kratz’s defense team presented two very different versions of what happened in July 2017 when the victims 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.”
Prosecutors argued that Kratz and DiNardo worked in tandem over the course of several days to lure the victims to DiNardo’s family farm under the guise of selling them marijuana.
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.
