Court hearing Monday for Sean Kratz, accused in Bucks County murders

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (FOX 29) - A court hearing is scheduled Monday for Sean Kratz, one of two cousins charged with brutally killing four young men in Bucks County in the summer of 2017.

Sean Kratz is accused of helping his cousin Cosmo DiNardo in a plot that involved luring the men to the family farm in Solebury Township, ambushing and killing them, burning their bodies and crushing one with a backhoe before burying them. After the killings, prosecutors said, Kratz and DiNardo, then 21 years old, went for cheesesteaks.

Trial was initially scheduled to begin for Kratz Monday, but court records show that it was canceled. A miscellaneous criminal hearing will take place instead.

DiNardo pleaded guilty to four counts of murder last year in exchange for a life sentence.

Kratz rejected an offer that would have put him in prison for at least 59 years for the crimes.

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According to District Attorney Matthew Weintraub, Kratz gave a videotaped confession during plea negotiations detailing his involvement. Prosecutors will seek to use the recording as evidence at his trial.

Authorities saw DiNardo, a mentally disturbed son of wealthy parents, as the mastermind of the plot and charged him in all four deaths. Kratz was charged in three of the deaths but would have pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy charges related to one victim, Dean Finocchiaro, who was 19.

DiNardo confessed during a grueling five-day search last July and agreed to help authorities find the body of his first victim, Loyola University Maryland student Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. His plea gave solace to a grieving father, who turned to the stone-faced killer and told him: "Your only way out of prison is wearing a toe tag."

"That's the least we all deserve," said Mark Potash, the father of victim, Mark Sturgis, 22.

DiNardo, who dabbled in dealing marijuana and customizing sneakers, portrayed himself on social media as "a savage." He showed himself holding guns and sent aggressive messages to women he found attractive.

Potash called DiNardo a "perfect example of someone who started at the top and worked your way down to the gutter."

"You think you're savage?" Potash said. "You've lived your whole life protected. In prison, you'll meet savage. And I promise you, it won't look like you."

The bodies of Sturgis, Finocchiaro and 21-year-old Tom Meo were lit on fire and placed 12 feet deep in an oil tank converted into a cooker DiNardo called the "pig roaster."

Finocchiaro's father, Anthony Finocchiaro, told DiNardo his family had "received a life sentence."

"I pray," he said, "that Dean's spirit haunts you the rest of your miserable life."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that a court hearing is scheduled for Monday. Trial was initially set for this date but was canceled.