Four men who went missing last week in Pennsylvania: From left, Tom Meo, Dean Finocchiaro, Jimi Tar Patrick, and Mark Sturgis. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office/AP) 
 
 Authorities said they have discovered human remains in a search for four missing men in Bucks County, Pa., and identified one of the bodies as a 19-year-old who disappeared on Friday. 
 
 District Attorney Matthew Weintraub announced in a midnight news conference Wednesday that investigators found the body of Dean Finocchiaro among the human remains discovered in a grave more than 12 feet deep where they have been searching for the missing men since last week. Cadaver dogs led investigators to the hole, which Weintraub identified as a “common grave.” 
 
 The revelation came after authorities named Cosmo DiNardo, 20, of Bensalem, a “person of interest” in the case and arrested him for stealing a car belonging to one of the missing men. 
 
 Weintraub said he is now classifying the case as a homicide, but “we just don’t know how many homicides.” He did not say how Finocchiaro was killed. 
 
 [Police continue searching for 4 missing Pennsylvania men, identify ‘person of interest’ in the case] 
 
 Weintraub did not say whether the rest of the bodies were identified as the other three missing men. The first of the men to disappear, Jimi Tara Patrick, 19, was last seen on July 5. Finocchiaro, Mark Sturgis, 22; and Tom Meo, 21 — who is diabetic — vanished on Friday. 
 
 “This painstaking process will go on,” Weintraub said. “Were going to bring each and every one of these lost boys home to their families one way or another. We will not rest until we do that.” 
 
 
 
 Matthew Weintraub, District Attorney for Bucks County, Pa., speaks to the news media New Hope, Pa., on July 13, 2017. (AP/Matt Rourke) 
 
 The discovery of the remains marked a grim turning point in the arduous search for the missing men, which has gripped this picturesque county, one of the wealthiest in the state. Over the weekend, authorities from several local and state law enforcement agencies — along with the FBI — launched an extensive criminal search effort, focusing on a sprawling farm belonging to DiNardo’s parents and located in a rural area about 40 miles north of Philadelphia. 
 
 Police had initially arrested DiNardo in February after finding him with a 20-gauge shotgun he was not authorized to possess because of his history of mental illness, according to a police affidavit. Authorities initially dismissed the charges but re-filed them on Monday, after the disappearances of the four men. 
 
 He was released from custody Tuesday night, after DiNardo’s father posted 10 percent of $1 million bail. Then, on Wednesday, authorities arrested DiNardo again, accusing him of stealing and trying to sell a 1996 Nissan Maxima that belonged Meo, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. DiNardo allegedly tried to sell Meo’s car for $500 to a friend, District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said. 
 
 Cosmo DiNardo (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office/AP) 
 
 Authorities found the car on Sunday, with Meo’s unsigned title inside, on a Solebury Township property owned by DiNardo’s parents, Weintraub said. 
 
 Meo’s diabetic kit, “which he never went anywhere without,” was also found inside the vehicle, Weintraub said. Relatives told authorities that Meo could not have survived without the kit. 
 
 DiNardo was arraigned Wednesday on felony charges of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stole property. A magisterial district judge ordered him held on $5 million cash bail, saying he found that DiNardo “is a grave risk.” 
 
 “We bought ourselves a little bit of time,” with the charges and bail amount, Weintraub said. “It is my hope that he does not post that, but that’s his prerogative.” 
 
 “We’re going to start looking seriously at the homicide charges and in fact we already have pursued that option,” Weintraub added. 
 
 DiNardo has a history of mental illness, and was previously involuntarily committed to a mental health institution after firing a shotgun, authorities said. Prosecutors said he is schizophrenic, a flight risk and a “dangerous person,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, adding that his lawyers claimed he was being targeted for his mental health issues. 
 
 A lawyer representing DiNardo’s parents and the owner of the large farm, Antonio and Sandra DiNardo, released a statement saying the family is cooperating with the investigation and sympathizes with the relatives of the missing men, the Associated Press reported. 
 
 Some or all of the missing men appear to know each other, authorities said. Two of them, Sturgis and Meo, were good friends and worked together at Sturgis’s father’s construction business. 
 
 The men who vanished also seem to have connections to DiNardo. Meo and Sturgis first met DiNardo when he was looking to sell marijuana, one of Meo’s friends told the Philadelphia Inquirer. DiNardo and Patrick both went to Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem. DiNardo and Finocchiaro were both in at least one Facebook page for buying and selling ATVs, the newspaper reported. 
 
 Patrick, the first of the four to go missing, just finished his first year at Loyola University in Maryland, a Jesuit school. He was on the dean’s list and had no conduct violations, the university’s president, the Rev. Brian Linnane, told the Baltimore Sun. 
 
 “He had a very successful year, and he is poised for a great success at Loyola,” he said. “We want to be with him and his family and hope for the best.” 
 
 About 50 students, faculty and staff gathered at the university’s chapel Wednesday to pray for Patrick and the other three men. Director of Campus Ministry Sean Bray said the group wanted to “storm heaven with our prayers for Jimi’s safe return,” honoring a request from Patrick’s grandmother, the Baltimore Sun reported. 
 
 The families of the missing have also kept a vigil throughout the week near the area searched by investigators, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. 
 
 ”At this point, as the hours pass, it seems more and more grim,” Mark Potash, Sturgis’s father, told the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this week. 
 
 He said his son is a skilled guitar player and athlete, and “super intelligent.” He has three sisters and one brother. 
 
 Wil Snyder, 19, who called himself one of Finocchiaro’s best friends, told the newspaper that Finocchiaro works a retail job. 
 
 “He’s a good guy, a good friend,” Snyder said. 
 
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 Texas teen was electrocuted by her cellphone while taking a bath, her family says ||||| A law enforcement official escorts Cosmo DiNardo to a vehicle Thursday, July 13, 2017, in Doylestown, Pa. Lawyer Paul Lang, a defense attorney for DiNardo, said Thursday that his client has admitted killing... (Associated Press) 
 
 DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A drug dealer has confessed to selling four young men marijuana before killing them and burning their bodies at his family's farm, a person with firsthand knowledge of his confession said Thursday. 
 
 The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss details of the case. The person said a co-conspirator was involved in the shooting deaths of three of the men, who had been reported missing. 
 
 The details were provided after one of Cosmo DiNardo's lawyers said Thursday that DiNardo had confessed to murdering the missing men, who included a Maryland college student, and had told investigators where their bodies were. 
 
 DiNardo, 20, agreed to plead guilty to four first-degree murder counts, attorney Paul Lang said outside court, where DiNardo had met with investigators. 
 
 "I'm sorry," a shackled DiNardo said as he left the Doylestown courthouse. 
 
 The person with firsthand knowledge of DiNardo's confession said the men were shot in the head or the back after DiNardo felt cheated or threatened during three drug transactions. DiNardo sold quarter-pound (113-gram) quantities of marijuana for several thousand dollars and sold handguns to area residents, the person said. 
 
 "Every death was related to a purported drug transaction, and at the end of each one there's a killing," the person said. 
 
 DiNardo said one victim was killed July 5 and the other three were killed July 7, the person said. The remains of the last three killed were reported discovered Wednesday by investigators, and DiNardo agreed to tell investigators the separate location of the first victim's body, the person said. 
 
 Authorities had charged DiNardo earlier this year with having a gun despite an involuntary mental health commitment. In seeking $5 million bail on a stolen-car charge this week, prosecutors said he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He also suffered a head injury in an ATV accident a year ago. 
 
 DiNardo's parents declined to comment after leaving a government building where he spent several hours with Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub and other investigators. 
 
 In exchange for DiNardo's cooperation, Lang said, prosecutors were taking the death penalty off the table. There was no immediate comment from prosecutors, but they retweeted news reports of DiNardo's confession Thursday and planned a briefing Friday. 
 
 The mystery of the four men's disappearances transfixed the Philadelphia area over the past week, taking a grisly turn when human remains were discovered in a 12½-foot-deep grave on the farm. But what sort of evil befell them, and why, had remained shrouded in secrecy. 
 
 The prosecutor, who has held twice-daily briefings, made it clear early Thursday he knew a lot more than he was saying, citing the need to protect the investigation. That only added to the speculation and rumors before DiNardo's confession. 
 
 The four men, all residents of Bucks County, disappeared last week. At least three knew each other. The remains of only one, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, have been officially identified. 
 
 Weintraub said the victims' families were holding up "remarkably well." 
 
 DiNardo, whose parents own the Solebury farm, remained in custody on $5 million cash bail, accused so far only of a gun possession charge and trying to sell one of the victims' cars. 
 
 Police were back at the farm early Thursday, digging away in the dust and the 90-degree-plus heat and using plywood to shore up the deep, tent-covered trench that they excavated at the spot where Weintraub said dogs smelled "these poor boys 12½ feet below the ground." 
 
 For days, TV news helicopters trained their cameras on the excavation, creating an unsettling racket but allowing the public to follow the forensic work from their office computers. Viewers could watch investigators haul up buckets of dirt and sift it through handheld screens in what looked like an archaeological dig. 
 
 When the prosecutor held a dramatic midnight Wednesday news conference to announce the discovery of remains, Claire Vandenberg, of neighboring New Hope, gathered around a TV with a group of friends to hear developments on what she said is "all we talk about." 
 
 "It seemed almost like a horror film or something, just unraveling before our eyes," she said. 
 
 Eric Beitz, who said he had hung out with DiNardo, told philly.com that DiNardo routinely sold guns and had talked "about weird things like killing people and having people killed." 
 
 DiNardo's father initially bailed him out, but he was jailed again later in the week on the stolen-car charges, and bail was set much higher, after a prosecutor said he was a danger to the community because of his mental health problems. 
 
 The other missing men are Mark Sturgis, 22, and Thomas Meo, 21, who worked together in construction, and Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, a student at Loyola University in Baltimore. Patrick and DiNardo had attended the same Catholic high school for boys. 
 
 It was the discovery of Meo's car on a DiNardo family property a half-mile from the farm that led to DiNardo's re-arrest. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Izaguirre reported from Philadelphia. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This story has been corrected to show Patrick's middle name is Taro, not Tar, as prosecutors had reported. ||||| A law enforcement official escorts Cosmo DiNardo to a vehicle Thursday, July 13, 2017, in Doylestown, Pa. Lawyer Paul Lang, a defense attorney for DiNardo, said Thursday that his client has admitted killing... (Associated Press) 
 
 DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A jail inmate who was the focus of an investigation into the disappearances of four men admitted on Thursday that he killed them, his attorney said in a surprise development. 
 
 Cosmo DiNardo, 20, confessed to the commission of or participation in four murders and agreed to plead guilty to four murder counts, attorney Paul Lang said outside court, where DiNardo had met with investigators. DiNardo also told investigators where the bodies are. 
 
 "I'm sorry," a shackled DiNardo said as he left the courthouse. 
 
 In exchange for the cooperation, Lang said, prosecutors were taking the death penalty off the table. There was no immediate comment from prosecutors, but they retweeted news reports of DiNardo's confession. 
 
 The mystery of the four men's disappearances has transfixed the Philadelphia area over the past week, taking a grisly turn when human remains were discovered in a 12½-foot-deep grave on a farm. But what sort of evil befell them, and why, had remained shrouded in secrecy. 
 
 The prosecutor, who has held twice-daily briefings, made it clear Thursday he knew a lot more than he was saying, citing the need to protect the investigation. That only added to the speculation and rumors before DiNardo's confession. 
 
 Laura Hefty, who lives a few miles from the gravesite in Solebury Township, where farms bump up against new residential developments, said many people were trying to convince themselves this is nothing that could ever happen to their kids. 
 
 "They feel incredibly sad. Some people are pretty angry, too," and are asking, "How did it get this bad?" she said. 
 
 The four men, all residents of Bucks County, disappeared last week. At least three knew each other. The remains of only one, 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, have been identified, though authorities said other remains were found in the hole as well. 
 
 DiNardo, the son of the farm property's owners, was being held on $5 million cash bail before his confession, accused of trying to sell one of the victims' cars. 
 
 District Attorney Matthew Weintraub parried one question after another by saying he couldn't — or wouldn't — answer. 
 
 Police were back at the farm Thursday, digging away in the dust and the 90-degree-plus heat and using plywood to shore up the deep, tent-covered trench that they excavated at the spot where Weintraub said dogs smelled "these poor boys 12½ feet below the ground." 
 
 For days, TV news helicopters trained their cameras on the excavation, creating an unsettling racket but allowing the public to follow the forensic work from their office computers. Viewers could watch investigators haul up buckets of dirt and sift it through handheld screens in what looked like an archaeological dig. 
 
 When the prosecutor held a dramatic midnight Wednesday news conference to announce the discovery of remains, Claire Vandenberg, of neighboring New Hope, gathered around a TV with a group of friends to hear developments on what she said is "all we talk about." 
 
 "It seemed almost like a horror film or something, just unraveling before our eyes," she said. 
 
 Authorities have not revealed any details about how the victims found in the grave may have died or how they got there. The prosecutor had said he thought a backhoe may have been on the property. 
 
 Susan Coleman told news outlets that she and her husband were in their backyard last Saturday afternoon when they heard several rounds of what they believed was shotgun fire coming from the direction of the DiNardo farm. 
 
 "This person was going bananas," she told phillyvoice.com. 
 
 Eric Beitz, who said he had hung out with DiNardo in recent weeks, told philly.com that DiNardo routinely sold guns and on multiple occasions had talked "about weird things like killing people and having people killed." 
 
 DiNardo, whose parents own construction and concrete businesses in the Philadelphia area, has had a few brushes with the law over the past year. 
 
 He was arrested on Monday on an unrelated gun charge dating from February, accused of illegally possessing a shotgun and ammunition after being involuntarily committed to a mental institution. 
 
 His father bailed him out, but he was jailed again later in the week on the stolen-car charges, and bail was set much higher, after a prosecutor said he was a danger to the community because he had been diagnosed as schizophrenic. 
 
 The other missing men are Mark Sturgis, 22, and Thomas Meo, 21, who worked together in construction, and Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, a student at Loyola University in Baltimore. Patrick and DiNardo had attended the same Catholic high school for boys. 
 
 It was the discovery of Meo's car on a DiNardo family property a half-mile from the farm that led to Cosmo DiNardo's re-arrest. 
 
 ___ 
 
 The story has been corrected to show the name of the first neighbor quoted is Hefty, not Heft, and that Patrick's middle name is Taro, not Tar, as prosecutors had reported.
– The family of one of four missing young men in Pennsylvania got the news they were dreading Wednesday night when authorities announced that the body of 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro had been found in a deep grave on a suburban Philadelphia farm. District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said the body was found in a "common grave" more than 12 feet deep, though he didn't say whether the other remains found belong to the three other men who vanished last week, the Washington Post reports. The farm belongs to the family of Cosmo DiNardo, a "person of interest" in the case who was arrested Wednesday for stealing a car belonging to one of the missing men, the New York Times reports. DiNardo, 20, was bailed out by his father late Tuesday after being arrested on a weapons charge from earlier this year. Bail on the new charges has been set at $5 million. "We bought ourselves a little bit of time" with the stolen car charge, Weintraub told reporters early Thursday, adding that homicide charges are being seriously looked at. Eric Beitz, a friend of one of the missing men, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that DiNardo sold drugs and guns and once boasted about having somebody killed. "Cosmo has spoken about weird things like killing people and having people killed," Beitz says. "Everybody you talk to about this guy, you hear he’s mentally unstable."