Cadaver dogs led authorities to a "common grave" where they found the body of one of four men missing in suburban Philadelphia since last week, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said.
At a midnight news conference, Weintraub identified the man as 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro. He was found in what was described as a 12.5-foot deep common grave in a sprawling property at the center of the investigation.
A lawyer for Cosmo DiNardo, a 20-year-old man who was arrested Wednesday for attempting to sell a vehicle belonging to one of four missing men in eastern Pennsylvania, said his client has confessed to "his participation or commission in the murders of the four young men."
Attorney Paul Lang told reporters the confession came after the district attorney promised not to seek the death penalty. DiNardo told authorities where to find the bodies, Lang said.
"We are not done yet. This is a homicide, make no mistake about it," Weintraub told reporters.
Additional human remains were found inside the grave but haven't been identified, Weintraub said.
Finocchiaro was last seen at about 6:30 p.m. Friday.
"We are going to bring each and everyone one of these lost boys home to their families," Weintraub said.
Missing men
Finocchiaro and three other men between 19 and 22 went missing over several days last week within miles of each other.
The first to vanish was Jimi Patrick of Newtown Township. He was last seen at 6 p.m. on July 5 and was reported missing the next day after he had no contact with friends or family.
Police say the 19-year-old also didn't show up for work. He was a beer runner at a restaurant-bar in nearby Doylestown, CNN affiliate WPVI-TV reported.
"He was on the shyer side, but you would get a smile out of him, a little conversation," bartender Jennifer Albrecht told WPVI.
Two days later, Finocchiaro, Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg and Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township went missing.
Close friends Sturgis and Meo were last seen near the Doylestown area in Bucks County, CNN affiliate KYW-TV reported. Both young men didn't go to work on Saturday, police said.
Meo's girlfriend told investigators that she had been texting with him on Friday until just before 7 p.m. After that, she had no contact with Meo, which was "out of the ordinary and not common," court documents said.
Farmland search
Local and state police and the FBI have embarked on an "all hands on deck" search of a 90-acre property in Solebury Township, north of Philadelphia.
For five days, dozens of law enforcement officers have searched the farmland owned by Dinardo's parents, Antonio and Sandra Dinardo, on foot and by air.
"I am still encouraged by the pace of the investigation, but as you can imagine, it's just massive in scope," Weintraub said.
Later he said: "Take the biggest (investigation) you've ever seen and multiply it by a million."
Large makeshift tents were set up across the property, and investigative teams dug for evidence using large machinery.
Susan Mangano and her teenage daughters said this quiet community has not seen anything like this before.
"We live here, we pass by, we saw the helicopters," Mangano said. "As a parent, it's been sickening to watch this. I have kids this age. It's just devastating."
