The Misery Machine - The Bizarre Case of Jimi Patrick, Dean Finocchairo, Thomas Meo, Mark Sturgis, and Cosmo DiNardo

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Bensalem, PA, to discuss the case of Cosmo DiNardo, a convicted mass murderer and nepo baby who is currently serving four consecutive life sentences. Cosmo admitted to luring four young men to his family's sprawling 90-acre farm in Solebury Township in July of 2017. There, all four were shot. When the fourth man, Mark Sturgis, didn't die immediately, Cosmo plowed over him with a backhoe while he was still alive. All four young men were buried in a steel drum, known as the "pig roaster," on the farm property.Support Our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Our Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcastDiscord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#themiserymachine #podcast #truecrimeSource Materials Available Upon Request.

Cosmo DeNardo was born on January 21st, 1997 in Ben Salem, Pennsylvania, to parents Sandra and Antonio Tony Donardo. Sandra and Tony both described themselves as honest and hardworking business people. They ran concrete, construction, snow removal in real estate businesses. Tony owned the family concrete company Metro Ready Mix and supplies. Sandra ran a logistics company, Bella Trucking Corps. Cosmo was the oldest of four children and had a pretty happy life as a child. He grew up with money and went to Holy Ghost Preparatory School, which was a private Catholic prep school in Ben Salem.

In 2005, the family purchased a farm in Solbury Township. In addition to the farm, they had owned a small suburban development of around eight homes in Ben Salem Township, located about 20 miles south of the farm. The family home included several amenities, such as a backyard swimming, swimming pool, and beyond the farm, they'd built well over 30 homes across the city and suburbs, a dialysis clinic, and a short-term residential center for teens in Philadelphia called the bridge. Sandra described Cosmo as a model son, dependable, hardworking, and a good student. He was also a devout Christian, always wearing a cross around his neck and carrying a Bible with him.

According to Sandra, he used to decorate his room with crucifixes and statues of saints and would fall asleep with his Bible on his chest. During junior high, Cosmo also served as the captain for his football team, the Bucks County Bears. Unfortunately, his football career ended after a neck injury and several concussions. In 2015, the mayor of Ben Salem appointed Cosmo to the Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board, a group that reviewed substance issues and made recommendations to the township council. Members are typically appointed for one-year terms. In June of 2015, Cosmo graduated and got a scholarship to Arcadia University. He studied biology and talked about becoming an orthodontist.

He dropped out after a single semester. Around the same time, his plans to pursue a career as a Navy SEAL also fell through. Some have speculated that this was likely due to his declining mental health, and we're going to touch on more of that in just a moment. For Nessandra, Cosmo's mental health started falling apart in 2015 after a breakup with his girlfriend. In the summer of 2015, he met a girl named Sarah at a concert. She was going to be a freshman at Arcadia as well.

Sarah later said Cosmo made her feel very uncomfortable. He invited her and her friends back to his house and then repeatedly harassed her on social media afterwards. Sarah described it as aggressive and uncalled for. According to neighbors and family, Cosmo had some anger issues, but he always came across as polite and helpful. One neighbor said, Cosmo DiNardo is the kind of kid who would always say hello, and he would grab your groceries out of your hand and walk you to your car. We're another family member, if my husband was digging in the yard, Cosmo would grab a shovel and dig alongside of him. If he saw me shopping, he would carry my packages inside for me.

When it snowed, he would shovel my driveway. Sandra was desperate. Over the years, she went through at least 10 different psychiatrists and psychologists at eight different hospitals and clinics. Sandra also wondered if something supernatural was going on. According to local legend, their neighborhood in Ben Salem was built over a Native American burial ground. Sandra had said she'd heard screams in the basements for years. At first, Tony called her delusional until he started hearing them too. After the accident, Sandra started taking Cosmo to morning mass at St. Charles Baromio and Ben Salem.

Around this time, Cosma told his mother he was hearing voices, voices telling him to hurt people. Sandra also asked Father Charles Ravard of the local church to perform a spiritual cleansing on the house. According to Sandra, the priest started in the basement and said he felt something was wrong, especially around the fireplace and later in Sandra in Tony's bedroom. It got to him so badly that he ran outside and threw up on the lawn. Later, Father Charles talked about his relationship with a family but refused to speak about the alleged spiritual cleansing. According to an archdiocese spokesperson, and I quote, Father Charles is not inclined to discuss the DeNardo family, nor will he provide further comment.

Cosmo was put on heavy antidepressants, which caused him to gain around 100 pounds. According to Sandra, her five-foot-tebrosephs, 10, 160-pound son, who was, according to her, the hottest boy in Ben Salem, had blown up like a house. She also noted that Cosmo Head also allegedly developed man boobs, which apparently made things worse. We'll be back in just one minute. Please stick around for the following ad. It not only supports the channel, but it also supports charities in our area. Are data parasites putting you at risk? Well, have no fear because this week's episode has been brought to you by cloaked, who dared me to see just how exposed my info is, so let's do this.

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of traffic and tried to force his way into a stranger's car, yelling that he was being kidnapped by his mother. Police put him in handcuffs and took him to the hospital. They gave a statement saying, he felt his mother was a Russian spy and that his cast was bugged. Doctor subsequently diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. Manope Valley Crisis Center evaluated him first, then sent him to Doylestown Hospital. When to a psychologist, the mother is overwhelmed trying to manage her son's illness.

Despite everything, Cosmo's parents were described in medical records as extremely supportive, but support alone wasn't enough because Cosmo showed no real signs of improvement. As he cycled in and out of these facilities, Cosmo became more and more violent and erratic. He stated at Belmont behavior, behavioral hospital for around three weeks, where he attacked a nurse multiple times and threw a wheelchair

at a technician. He had to be put in restraints. In October of 2016, he showed up uninvited to a Holy Ghost prep open house. He had to be escorted out and was later banned from campus. Cosmo was also angry with his father for sleeping with other women. We're into a psychologist Jeffrey Wyckoff. Cosmo talked about his father's infidelities, said he hit the car of a woman who was with his father with a baseball bat. father pushed him. They got in a fight. In November of 2016, a psychiatrist named Christian Kohler began treating Cosmo. In their first session, he wrote, Cosmo hunted after his dad with an AR-15, but decided not to kill him. Sometime in December, Cosmo attacked his father while he was driving. Cosmo was angry at his dad for not coming home the day before. According to Sandra, he ended up beating his dad up in the

truck. He came after me and my husband hit him in the head with a brick. The cops were called because the neighbor saw us running. After that incident, Cosmo was hospitalized again. Before into his medical reports, he had a plan and intent to commit, along with fleeting thoughts of homicide. During his stay, Cosmo threatened the staff at one point telling doctors, if I had a gun, I'd kill them all. In late 2016, Cosmo tried to re-enroll at Arcadia University. He got into verbal fights with students and staff and was subsequently banned. Cosmo also talked about selling drugs and weapons. For one friend, he's told me and my friends, yeah, I've killed people before.

I just haven't been caught. We literally were like, yeah, all right, Cosmo, sure you did. Eventually, most of his friends had cut him out. On December of 2016, Cosmo made a post saying, it's official, I have no friends. Cosmo was put on a mix of antipsychotics and antidepressants. The meds helped with the violence, but they had wrecked his body. He'd randomly start trembling and foaming at the mouth. According to Sandra, his eyes just pierced right through me like there's no emotion.

His doctors kept adjusting his prescriptions. On December 19th, Dr. Wyckoff noted that Cosmo was making vulgar comments about his mother and telling stories about selling drugs, cutting someone's head off with a chainsaw, and feeding him to an alligator. The psychologist wrote, It's hard to say whether Cosmo really believes these stories as he claims. Cosmo was clearly manic and delusional. The same day, Sandra drove Cosmo to Dr. Kohler's office.

Cosmo punched his mother, kicked an elevator, and kept up his vulgar remarks. He also made the receptionist extremely uncomfortable. At one point, leaning towards the glass partition separating them and licking it. Dr. Kohler told Cosmo that if he didn't knock it off, he was out. That stopped Sandra cold. She slammed her hands on the table and said, Doctor, I can't go home with him. He's going to kill me.

I'm not leaving unless you help me. I'm not going to make it home alive. Dr. Kohler changed his prescription. Later that night, Sandra stayed up praying with her rosary, begging God to give her back her son. The next morning, Cosmo seemed better. He woke up, turned to his mother peacefully, and said, Good morning, Mama, how are you today?

Sandra believed her prayers had worked. She called it a Christmas miracle, but it didn't last. Cosmo was still as violent and volatile as ever. On December 27th, he made a Facebook post reading, I am a savage no explanation needed. A month later on January 20th, he posted, birthday sex anyone? The next day was his 20th birthday.

And he spent it soliciting strangers online, saying things like, Who wants to go out with me tonight for my birthday? Who loves intercourse like me? In February of 2017, someone called the police after seeing Cosmo get into the family Cadillac with a shotgun. An officer pulled him over and found a savage arms 20 gauge in the vehicle. Under Pennsylvania law, anyone who has been involuntarily committed cannot carry a gun so that was a felony. Cosmo was arrested but never jailed.

A judge dismissed the charge because of faulty paperwork. Not long after this arrest, he got into a fight at Temple University. He ended up getting a cut on the chin as well as a black eye. His next appointment, Dr. Kohler still wrote that Cosmo was not a risk to anyone. By mid-March, Cosmo had not taken his antipsychotic medication for two days. Doctors also noted that his bipolar disorder appeared to be in remission. Month later, Dr. Kohler felt that his patient was making progress and experienced low hypomanic elated mood.

Cosmo was taking his medication every other day instead of every day. Still, Dr. Kohler reduced Cosmo's prescription. In May of 2017, he wrote in a letter, Cosmo has responded well to treatment and his symptoms are currently in remission. A month later, Dr. Kohler reduced Cosmo's medication again. He also suggested that Sandra and her husband, Tony, give Cosmo some personal space while he adjusted.

That summer, one of Cosmo's paternal relatives, Vanessa Amodi, got in touch with Sandra and Vanessa understood. her own son Sean Kratz, who was also 20 years old, was struggling to. But unlike Cosmo, Sean had a serious criminal record. According to some newspaper records, Sean had flashed a gun at his nine-year-old brother and threatened to blow his brains out in September of 2016. He also threatened to kill his own sister. His mother Vanessa admitted him to Friends Hospital in the Northeast.

In 2017, Sean was under investigation for his mother, an attempted murder in Philadelphia, which involved a shooting that left a victim in a wheelchair. He also had two ongoing burglary cases, and his ex-girlfriend had reported him for various break-ins as well. When Vanessa first reached out, Sean was recovering from a drive-by shooting, one that was believed to be in retaliation for something. He had been shot 19 times and somehow survived. Sandra didn't know about any of Sean's history. In early July 2017, Vanessa, texted Sandra, which read, Hopefully he gets better over time.

Him and Sean would be good together in that sense. Neither one knows anybody worth anything. They should stick together and stay away from the trash. Sandra replied, true. We just need to make sure they don't get in trouble together because Cosmo has no more sense of fear or what's right or wrong. On July 5th, Cosmo had offered to sell 19-year-old Jimmy Patrick four pounds of weed for $8,000.

Jimmy had also gone to Holy Ghost prep. He was a year behind Cosmo and was a standout on the baseball team. He was raised by his grandmother, Sharon Patrick. Everyone who knew him said he was a good kid. Jimmy had told Sharon in his high school years that Cosmo taught him how to make a few bucks selling sneakers online. In July of 2017, Jimmy was working at a restaurant in Buckingham, Pennsylvania. He had just finished his freshman year at Loyola University in Maryland

on a full scholarship. He'd even made it to the dean's list. Growing to some reports, Jimmy was once kicked out of high school. He also started using drugs and some photos found on his phone showed him posing with guns and various substances, but despite all of that, things were looking up for him. That afternoon, he told his grandmother he was going out to eat and would be back soon.

Cosmo picked Jimmy up from his home in Newtown and took him to his family farm. Once there, Jimmy said that he had only brought $800. Instead of the weed, Cosmo offered to sell him a shot. gun, took Jimmy to a remote part of the farm and shot him in the head, instantly killing him. Cosmo claimed he did it in self-defense. He said he had spotted a Glock in Jimmy's backpack. Later said, this particular deal, I was not making any money. I was just, you know, getting him a good price on a large quantity. So we get there, you know, I said, okay, well, let me see, you know, the $8,000. Let me see the money. So I got to count the money. There's $800 there.

So I'm like, dude, if you don't have the money, like this is all. horrible. This is not good for me. I said, well, I could sell you a gun. So we get out of the truck, I hand him a shotgun, he goes to shoot it, and I shoot him. So after you shoot him, I go, get the backup. Big the hole, you know, set of prayer, turn him in the hole. I believe I burned all the money. Why did you do that? I didn't want the kids $800.00. I didn't kill him over to $800. I wasn't robbing him. This was not going to go good for me. The guy would have shot me if I went to meet up with him and didn't have the money.

And I did not want to get killed for his stupid-ass mistake. Before into later, police reports the rifle was stolen from North Carolina around 2016. The De Nardoes said they had no idea this rifle even existed. For killing Jimmy, Cosmo got a backhoe and dug a six-foot hole. He buried Jimmy there. Around 2 a.m., Jimmy's grandmother texted him and got no response. Around 4.45 the next day, his grandfather reported him is missing. Same day, Sandra drove Cosmo to see Dr. Kohler again.

In the waiting room, Cosmo Googled Soupmaker cartel on his iPad. The cartel got its name by dissolving roughly 300 murder victims and barrels of acid and serving what was left as soup. Dr. Kohler, who was obviously unaware that Cosmo had just killed a man, wrote that he was no clear risk to self or others. Furthermore, he recommended that Cosmo discontinue all of his medication. A day later on July 7th, Cosmo picked up his cousin Sean in his silver 2016 Ford pickup. He drove to Home Depot and bought three five-gallon gas cans and stopped at 8-plus to fill them up with 13 and a half gallons of gas.

He went out and brought some more guys to the farm. Same setup. Weed deals. First up was 19-year-old Dean in Akaro. Dean was a 2016 graduate of Nashamne High School, where he was a member of the local ice hockey team and played for several other local teams. Dean loved being outdoors. He enjoyed doing stunts on his bike, skateboard, and dirt bike. His favorite quote was, love the life you live, and live the life you love. In March of 2017, he started working as a cook at Richmond's ice cream company. Dean lived with his parents in Middletown, Town, Town. township and struggled with his mental health. A lot of it tied to his drug use. In early years, his brother had sent him a message that read, people I went to high school with that were like you

are all either dead from overdoses or drug addicts. You got to start caring. Dean bought and sold drugs regularly and had picked up a few minor charges. According to a friend, he'd once tried to buy a tech nine from Cosmo, but backed out of the deal after the gun had misfired. On July 7th, Cosmo and Sean drove to Hampton Drive and picked up Dean from his parents' house, offering him a quarter pound of weed for $700. They drove him out to the farm where Cosmo took Dean and Sean on an ATV towards the barn. They'd originally planned to rob Dean in the woods, but changed it up and moved the whole thing inside. Once inside, Sean shot Dean in the head with a Smith and Wesson handgun that Cosmo had given him, his mother's gun.

After Sean fired, Cosmo took the gun from him and also shot Dean while he was killed. face down on the floor, though Cosmo claimed Dean was already dead when he pulled the trigger. Cosmo later said, So I go to meet up with Dean. How are you going to meet up with Dean? Hey, drug you off. This was pre-planned? Yeah.

What's he to buy him? Quarter pound a week. I don't have a quarter pound. I have two ounces. So he picked Dean up. Now, this was a robbery. Shone was going to, you know, rob him in the woods by himself on the quad. And kill him.

He did. So we come back into the barn. We're looking at the best I had, and when we stopped looking at that, Dean turned around to go walk out. When I went to turn, I just hear a bunch of shots going on. Dean goes down. I took the gun from Sean and I shoot Dean, you know, I think once or I don't know how many times I shot. Why was he not dead? No, he was dead.

Okay. But I just, just to finish, you know, I just shot him. I'm not lying, he was dead. His head was split, split the hell open. His brain, you probably found it, half his brain was in the barn. After killing Dean, Cosmo wrapped his body in a blue tarp and tried to drag him out of the barn. Using the backhoe, he dumped him in an old oil tank, the family called the pig roaster. Dean was later reported missing at night when he didn't show up for work.

Cosmo told Sean he had two more kids coming. Those two were 21-year-old Thomas Mayo, his best friend 22-year-old Mark Sturgis. Both of them worked at a construction company owned by Mark's dad. Tom had dropped out of East Stroudsburg University and was working construction and picking up shifts at a gas station. Mark's mother described him as a teddy bear. His goofy, always joking around, and his favorite actor was Jack Black. Cosmo met both Mark and Tom at a church in Peddler's Village, not far from the Donardo's family farm. Mark and Tom had come there in their separate cars.

Mark parked his Nissan Maximum in Peddler's Village, got in Tom's car, and they followed Cosmo to the farm. Tom parked his car at 2827 Aquitong Road. The area was owned by the DeNardo's. From there, Tom and Mark got into Cosmo's truck. Cosmo drove them deeper into the property where Sean was already waiting. Cosmo mentioned that the two could tell something was off. Whether they actually did or this was Cosmo's paranoia, we'll never know. But Cosmo recalled his version of events.

They could send something not right. So when they turn their backs on me, I shoot Tom in the back Drop him Mark's like, what the He was such a big kid I unloaded the gun on So

He's paralyzed Because I can't feel my legs I can't feel my legs I went and grab the machine Because he's screaming now I mean I'm surprised the neighbors didn't hear us Why aren't you shooting him again? I'm out of bolts

He's screaming going crazy Sean's like got his head in his hands I grabbed tobacco, you know, he sees that come and just shuts the fuck up and I just run him over. He used the backhoe to load Tom and Mark into the pig roaster with Dean. Then he poured gas over the bodies and set them on fire. As their bodies were burning, he and Sean went to Steve's Prince of Steaks. Although both ordered Philly cheese steaks, Cosmo later said he didn't eat because his stomach was upset.

He later said, I just did something so gruesome. I didn't have the appetite. Should also be noted that after the murder, Cosmo called his father Tony multiple times asking him to drive out to the farm. There are differing accounts of timeframes here. One claiming that Cosmo called his father, begged him to come to the farm, but told him to leave once he realized he was with his mistress. Another account came directly from the mistress herself.

He testified in court saying that she and Tony pulled into the driveway after the murders took place and said that they left because she didn't want Cosmo to see her. She said that neither of them noticed anything suspicious, that Cosmo called after they drove away. Nothing about the call raised any red flags to either of them. Some theorized that Cosmo was calling his dad for help after coming to his senses. Others believe that Cosmo was planning on killing his own father. We'll never truly know what his intentions were. Later that night, Sean went over to Cosmo's house. Where in Sandra, both guys seem to be in good spirits.

She texted Sean's mom that the kids had been out quodding, saying, well, they sounded like they were having fun. Vanessa replied, I hope they both use their positives to cancel out the negatives. I'm sure you do too. And I think they will. Sandra texted back saying, and thank you, Cosmo really needed a friend. The next day, July 8th, when Mark and Tom didn't show up. for work, Mark's dad got worried. He figured they had a big night out and were sleeping it off somewhere.

At same day, Cosmo dug a 12 and a half foot grave with the backhoe and dumped all three inside. Sean also hid the murder weapons at his aunt's house. Later that day, Tom's mom contacted the police and reported him as missing. She told authorities that Tom was diabetic and would never go anywhere without his diabetes kid. She also mentioned that he was a close friend of Mark Sturgis, who was also reported missing. Now, around the same time, Tom's friend group created a Snapchat thread called Tom, where are you at,

to figure out what had happened to him, Mark and Dean? Cosmo DeNardo was also in that chat. When someone asked Cosmo if he wasn't worried about Dean, he replied, I mean, I know the kid, but yeah, I feel bad for his parents. He's a pill-popping junkie who had two DUI. He probed just jump parole or probation. Cosmo also talked about how someone had trespassed on his property that weekend.

He threatened to call the police over the trespassers and get them arrested. On July 9th, detectives found Tom's vehicles somewhere around the Donardo's farm. Mark's Nissan was also found around two miles from the farm. One of Cosmo's friends tipped off the police. Cosmo had offered to sell him a Nissan Maxima for $500 the day before. The police brought Cosmo in, and at around 2.30 p.m., Bucks County detectives, Coyne and Kemmerer interrogated him. He told the detectives he'd picked up Dean on July 7th. According to Cosmo, Dean wanted to go to Langhorne to do a big Coke deal.

Cosmo said he refused and kicked Dean out of the truck near Route 413 in Bridgetown Pike. He also denied being in the Solbury Township area that day, claiming that he had gone fishing, but the detectives didn't buy it. They knew Cosmo was involved. Dean's cell phone was still on, and it had pinged at the DeNardo's farm. They didn't have enough to charge him yet for the murders, but they held him on that gun charge from February. His bail was set at $1 million.

Detectives obtained a search warrant at the farm. Forensic teams set up nearby. Hundreds of volunteers, police officers, and FBI agents, along with cadaver dogs scoured the property. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub called it the biggest, investigation the county had ever seen, he said. Take the biggest one you've ever seen and multiply that by a million. That's what we're dealing with here. It's not just a single property. We have people combing the entire county trying to work on this case. Two days later on July 11th, 2017,

Cosmo was released on 10% of his $1 million bail. It was brought back in when his charges were upgraded. His bail was increased to $5 million. His detectives comb the farm, family and friends of the victims held a vigil nearby, still holding out hope. We're in one friend, it's hard. We're all just shaken up by the whole thing. We're just scared. We just want to know something. July 12th, detectives uncovered three victims, Dean, Mark, and Tom from a 12-and-a-half-foot

makeshift grave. Oring the local resident, Claire Vandenberg. It seemed like a horror film or something, just unraveling before our eyes. First Assistant District Attorney Greg Shore said, simply losing a loved one is overwhelming. What they've had to do was sitting through 96 painstaking hours at a site where weather conditions were awful at times to see whether their loved ones are in the ground. That has been an overwhelming experience for them.

On July 13th, Bucks County detectives Martin McDonough and Lieutenant David Kemmerer interviewed Cosmo again. He admitted to the killings, told detectives he had killed Jimmy Patrick and said where Jimmy was buried. He also admitted that he lied in his July 9th interview. Cosmo struck a plea deal. Pouring to his lawyer, Paul Lang. In exchange for that confession, Mr. DeNardo was promised by the district attorney that he will spare his life by not invoking the death penalty. Cosmo was charged with four counts of criminal homicide,

conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, a bunch of a corpse, and 12 other charges. Sean, meanwhile, tried to play innocent throughout the interview. I shot Dean. I was scared that he was going to harm not only myself, but, you know, I... I have a one-and-a-half-month-year-old nephew, got a little brother, her mother. He made it out, you know, like, you know, you say anything, you know, I would hurt you. You hurt your brothers, you know, after knowing what he's capable of, scared not only for myself,

you know, for others. Then his mother, Vanessa, was brought into the room, who urged him to tell the truth. After 40 minutes, Sean agreed. Led the detectives to the murder weapons and faced three cats. of criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, use of a corpse, and additional charges. On May 16, 2018, Cosmo De Nardo pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Sean was expected to take a plea deal, 118 years with the possibility of parole after 59, but surprisingly, against the advice of his public

defender, Sean rejected the deal and pled not guilty. Got a new lawyer, Charles Peruto, who publicly called his court-appointed lawyer a scumbag for not taking the case to trial and instead pushing for a plea deal. Attorney Peruto turned around and called his own client, an idiot and slow, with a tested IQ of 79. For into him, Sean was afraid of his lunatic cousin and simply followed his lead, but that defense didn't work. November 15th, 2019, Buck's County Judge Jeffrey Finley found Sean guilty. He was convicted of first and second-degree murder in the death of Dean Finnecaro, and voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Thomas Mayo and Mark Sturgis. Sean was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder,

plus consecutive terms of five to ten years for each of the voluntary manslaughter charges in related to Thomas Mayo and Mark Sturgis, as well as five to ten years for robbery and one to two years for each count of abuse of a corpse. For sentencing, the victim's families filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cosmo's parents, arguing they should have cut off his access to guns, ATVs, and construction equipment, given his history. Yes, all of the victim's parents were in tears today describing life after losing their sons. They believe more should have been done to prevent the accused killer Cosmo Donardo from getting a gun. I told him I loved him and he told me he loved me. And we hugged each other.

And I told him, Tom Carapiroli, and he said he would. Sharon Patrick never saw her 19-year-old son, Jimmy Patrick walked back through her front door. He was among four young men shot, killed, and buried on a farm in Solberry in Bucks County last July. On Monday, the attorneys for the families of Dean Finacaro, Tom Mayo, and Jimmy Patrick announced wrongful death civil lawsuits against the accused killer Cosmo De Naro, his parents, and his cousin, Sean Cracks. The family of the fourth victim, Mark Sturgis, filed a wrongful death civil suit last year. According to the criminal complaint, Sergis was shot with a gun owned by Cosmo De Nardo's mother. The lawsuits also claim his parents neglected to safeguard their gun while knowing their son had serious mental health issues.

The farm where the men were found is owned by De Nardo's parents. He and his cousin were charged in all four murders. It's undescribable, the emotions I feel and the loss. Jimmy Patrick's mother says she was most proud of her son's giving heart. His goal in life was to help people. Now her goal is to honor Jimmy's goal by making a change in everyone's life. Society can begin to change to make sure that mentally ill individuals disturbed, never, ever have access to weapons to kill people. The lawsuit was settled in May of 2023, but these terms were never made public.

Sandra also sued Dr. Kohler in the University of Pennsylvania Health System, arguing that his negligent care had let Cosmo go off his meds and ultimately kill four people. Cosmo tried to piggyback on that same lawsuit seeking compensation for being in prison. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court shut that down under the state's no-felony-conviction recovery doctrine where a convicted murderer cannot collect civil damages from his own crimes. Cosmo is still in prison today. Some point after his sentencing, Cosmo went off his medication again and became manic. He gone into a fight with his cellmate and was placed in solitary confinement.

When he covered the only window in his cell with a towel and refused to respond to orders to take it down, a team of corrections officers forced their way in. The time was over, Cosmo had a broken nose and injured jaw and another probable concussion. In July of 2017, Cosmo confessed to two additional murders from years earlier. According to police sources, Cosmo DeNardo, who's already admitted to killing Dean Finnecaro, Tom Mayo, Mark Sturgis, and Jimmy Patrick, says he's also killed at least two others in Philadelphia during the last five years. He confessed only after the Bucks County District Attorney took the death penalty off the table, but with the consent of families of the four victims.

As of the date of this recording, almost nine years after his confession, there has been no proof of any additional murders. While there have been rumors on social media, there's been no names of missing people linked to him, and police haven't announced any leads. Likely, this was some product of Cosmo's declining mental status, but anything substantial to come from. from these supposed murders remains to be seen. Jimmy Patrick was laid to rest at St. Andrews Catholic Church Cemetery in Newtown. Friends and family said goodbye to Dean Finacaro on July 22nd, 2017, gathering at James J. Dardy Funeral Home in Levittown. His funeral was private and his burial details were never made public.

Mark Sturges' funeral services were held at Fleur funeral home in Ben Salem, though his burial details remain unknown. For Thomas Mayo, relatives and friends gathered on July 19th and 20th at Burns' funeral home in Philadelphia, followed by his service at St. Anselm Church, after which he was laid to rest at Resurrection Cemetery in Ben Salem. There is something that doesn't get enough attention when it comes to coverage of Cosmo's case, and that's the fact that a psychiatrist completely cleared Cosmo and ordered him to stop his psych meds. I want to stress to you that this isn't some random first-year psychiatrist. Christian Kohler is an experienced neuropsychiatrist.

He received his doctorate in 1985 and completed two residencies, one in psychiatry and one in neurology. By the time he had assessed Cosmo, he had over 30 years of experience. He contributed to at least 13 publications that I could find. He also held several assistant professor positions at the University of Philadelphia and is currently a professor of psychiatry and neurology. This is not just a man who was clearly educated, but very qualified for his job. Now, I'm not trying to say I know more than him. He's probably forgotten more about neuropsychiatry than I know as a layperson.

But having talked to other mental health professionals off the record, I find his choice is very concerning. Again, I'm not a doctor, but let's look at what we know. First, Cosmo's first involuntary commitment was in July of 20, By this point, he had already seen several doctors and had been put on medication. He had documented head injuries. This is beyond the scope of this video, but I encourage you to look up the effects of head injuries and CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy on a person. This is a degenerative brain disease if you're not familiar with it.

It's linked to repetitive trauma to the head. You may have heard this brought up in the cases of Chris Benoit, Aaron Hernandez, or Philip Adams. Knowledge on this subject is still fairly young, all things considered, but there is well-documented evidence that major and or repeated blows to the head can change a person and their behavior. I myself had a friend in high school who got into a car accident, hit their head, and it was like talking to someone completely different afterwards, more risk-seeking, less stable, combative, you name it. Most people do not become homicidal from CTE or a head injury, but those injuries are relevant

in the setting of a drastic change. in a person's behavior, especially if that behavior is violent. Don't forget, Cosmo was a high school football player before the ATV accident. While CTE is associated with NFL players, the effect high school football can affect the brain is well documented. In 2023, the National Institute of Health released a study of male brain donors that had played about 12 years of football and died at age 60. out of 631 men, 180 or 28% had no evidence of CT in their brains, but 72% did, with 163 having

low-stage CTE, and 288, roughly 45% had high-grade CTE. Yes, this was data collected after Cosmos crimes. But even by 2017, it was published in the Journal of American Medicine that 99% of brains obtained from NFL players had evidence of CTE, with 91% of college football players and 21% of high school football players showing evidence. Now, does this mean your kid is destined to become a Cosmo DeNardo from playing high school football? Absolutely not. But the fact that Cosmo played football and had several head injuries from an ATV accident are relevant pieces of information when decide to discontinue treatment.

Even if you want to discard the weight of his medical history, please take into consideration how he responded during treatment. He had documented instances of paranoia and violence that started when he got into the ATV accident. These are all important parts of assessment for ongoing treatment. So again, Cosmo's involuntary commitment was in July of 2016. He was already well known to doctors and his psych history was well documented. From his hospitalization, he did not respond well to treatment. He attacked staff multiple times.

When released, he had incidents with students on campus, and he got violent with his father. By the time he was assessed by Dr. Kohler in November of 2016, all of this information was available. Dr. Kohler should also have been aware of Cosmo's incidents when beginning treatment with him. During their first session, Cosmo tells him he attacked his dad and considered killing him. When he was hospitalized after that, he showed clear ideation towards others and himself, as well as made threats towards staff. When released, he was banned from another college campus for incidents there. The other doctor treating him, Dr. Wyckoff, highlighted Cosmo's bizarre behavior and documented that he was clearly manic and delusional. Dr. Kohler should have had access to that information.

And even if he didn't, when Cosmo visited Dr. Kohler's office in December, he physically attacked his mother. He made obscene gestures at the receptionist. Dr. Kohler even threatened to get rid of him as a patient. His mother told the doctor that she was afraid he was going to kill him. her and Cosmo didn't dispute it. He had a brief bounce back after a med change, but not even a month later, he was back to his volatile behavior. Two months after that in February of 2017, Cosmo was arrested for carrying a gun. After he was released, he got into a physical fight at Temple University. It was also documented that Cosmo was non-compliant with his medication regimen. Not even a month after that fight, Dr. Kohler wrote that Cosmo wasn't a risk to anyone. In our research, it also states that Dr. Kohler considered Cosma's bipolar disorder to be in remission.

For any doctor worth their salt to consider a patient's bipolar disorder to be in remission while just having a violent episode a month ago in the setting of noncompliance, in my opinion, that is very concerning. Yes, bipolar disorder can go into remission. But with the evidence we have on Cosmo, a month after that, so we're in April at this point, Dr. Kohler felt Cosmo was making progress. Cosmo was still documented as non-consumption. compliant with his medication, and Dr. Kohler reduced it. Another month later in May, he wrote,

Cosmo has responded well to treatment, and his symptoms are currently in remission. And in June, doubled down writing bipolar disorder was in full remission. One month later in July, Cosmo murders Jimmy Patrick. And not even 24 hours after the murder, if my understanding of the timeline is correct, Dr. Kohler deems him no clear risk to self or others. He recommends all his medication be discontinued. Day later, Cosmo murders Dean Finacaro, Tom Mayo, and Mark Sturgis. I personally believe that Cosmo still would have committed the last three murders, whether or not Cosmo was taken off his meds at that point. It was already too late. What I wonder is if Cosmo didn't have his dosage reduced months earlier, would any of this have happened? They might say, well,

people lie to doctors all the time. Maybe Cosmo was just very good at keeping up appearances. While anything is possible, I find it difficult because of the documentation of Cosmo admitting to his homicidal ideation. The doctor's witnessing Cosmo's outbursts, even in the office, and Cosmo's documented public incidents during treatment, and Cosmo's mother fearing for her own life. To my knowledge, Cosmo never tried to dispute any of this. And even if he did, the other evidence would outweigh it, in my opinion, which, it should be noted. Initial neuropsych assessments aren't short questionnaires. They aren't laying on a couch for an hour while somebody asks you how you're feeling. These are workups that take hours. I've seen mention of some depending on the

situation and the setting taking eight hours, sometimes split up between multiple days. That's hard to just fake your way through. And it's plenty of time, I would believe, for a neuropsychiatrist to gather necessary information. In the setting of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which, by the way, usually aren't diagnosed together, usually when symptoms of both are present, the diagnosis tends to be schizoaffective disorder bipolar type. In post-production, I found sources saying he did

get a schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, but there were also sources saying he was diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia, so he can't say for certain what his final diagnosis was or if these were working diagnoses, but regardless the symptoms were clear. In this setting, I need help understanding how a leading

neuropsychiatrist has a patient with recent persecutory delusions, with homicidal ideation, with express danger to oneself with recent violent incidents, with past history of brain injuries, and says, you're in remission, you don't need medication. I understand needing to change a patient's medication. I understand changing treatment approaches, changing therapy modalities in conjunction with treatment, but I struggle to see discontinuing treatment. There are cases where a person with schizophrenia can live normal lives, symptom-free, without medication, but those people are

not common. And in my understanding, it is rare without some sort of other treatment protocol. There are anomalies, of course, but I could not find a case in my research where a patient was on medication for a year, give or take, was noncompliant with that regimen and is now in remission without treatment. De Nardo v. Kohler was a real lawsuit filed by the family. In it, Dr. Kohler was labeled an active participant in the murders. Cosmo's mother alleged Dr. Kohler failed to obtain medical records for Cosmo's hospitalization, refused to communicate with staff, minimize Cosmo's violent outburst and ultimately incorrectly asserted Cosmo not being a risk to himself or others. I do not know how this trial would have gone in other states, but based on my understanding of

reading up on the court case, a huge barrier in reaching a verdict for Cosmo's family was the fact that Cosmo would have benefited from the benefited, excuse me, from the success of the lawsuit, which directly violates the no-fellony conviction rule. This exists in penitimate. Pennsylvania. It was also highlighted that Cosmo pled guilty to the murders. He didn't plead guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity, which the court felt was another reason to hold Dr. Kohler harmless in this case. Now, when reading about this case in the journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry in the law, which of an article in the source material below, something really stood out to me. It was the final paragraph discussing the case. I will quote it for you. The ruling in this case carries significant

implications for treating psychiatrists. Had Dr. Kohler been held liable for losses experienced because of Mr. De Nardo's criminal conduct, this may have had a chilling effect upon other psychiatrists who may become hesitant to treat patients who express homicidal ideation or exhibit physical aggression for fear of being held liable for their patient's future acts. Similarly, such a liability may cause treating psychiatrists to practice defensive medicine or over-hospitalize or excessively medicate individuals with homicidal ideation or a history of physical aggression for fear of legal or financial consequences if an individual acted violently while

under their care. This liability would also certainly undermine the difficulty treating psychiatrists face in predicting future dangerousness to others. Moreover, on a societal level, such liability would have financial implications by increasing health care costs if medical providers incurred the financial burden of criminal conduct committed by their patients. I don't know how you interpret that, but it makes me wonder, was part of the court's reasoning that we can't even risk declaring malpractice in this setting because think of all the other

poor psychiatrists that will suffer as a result of this ruling? Legal precedent is a very real thing. I'm not going to pretend it isn't, but where's the line? I'm not a lawyer. there was a possibility that Dr. Kohler didn't communicate with other doctors who treated Cosmo. And in my opinion, it seems possible, based on what we know, that he did downplay Cosmo's violent outbursts. Would every psychiatrist who truly did their due diligence really be so horribly affected by this ruling? What is malpractice insurance even for anyways?

I'm not declaring that this is malpractice or not. I am not qualified to make that distinction. But I need to know where the line is because that wasn't made clear to me by this court case. And it seemed like the court was all too happy to lean on the no felony conviction recovery rule and be done with it. So what does this mean for future neuropsych patients in Cosmo setting? Is it hopefully the doctor doesn't discontinue treatment in less than a year? And if they do, we can't hold them accountable. Sorry about your dead loved ones. I don't know.

I just can't help but feel like something more could have been done. by those who had the knowledge and the ability to make something positive happen. Do we need better protocols when working with violent patients in the context of brain injuries? Do we need a minimum set of standards before discontinuing medication from schizophrenic or schizoaffective patients with recent histories of violence? I don't have those answers. All I know is that it doesn't sit right with me, that anyone can look at the pictures of these four young murder victims and say that nothing else could have been done.