PHILADELPHIA _ As FBI agents and police continued to scour a Bucks County property in a search for four missing men, District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub declared Cosmo DiNardo, the 20-year-old son of the property owners, to be a "person of interest" in the case.
DiNardo, who was taken into custody Monday on a firearms charge that authorities first filed in February, may or may not be included in continuing investigations, Weintraub told reporters at a briefing near the site Tuesday morning.
Still, the prosecutor's comments placed DiNardo firmly in the middle of the probe for the first time.
He has not said if he believes the men are alive or dead. He did say no remains have been found in the approximately 90-acre search area, which includes an overgrown field.
"We have not recovered any human remains to this point. But we continue to work very, very hard," Weintraub said, adding that a report of found bodies was false. Investigators at the farm are "going through it with the equivalent of a fine-toothed comb," he said.
They are also still trying to figure out what connects the four missing men to the property, to each other, or to DiNardo, the district attorney said. He described the search as slow and steady _ "a marathon, not a sprint" _ and asked for tips from the public about the men's connections.
Weintraub declined say whether DiNardo is talking with police. He said the man's $1 million bail was set that high at his office's urging. DiNardo had not posted bail as of late Tuesday morning.
The charges refiled against him Monday are not related to the investigation, Weintraub said. They had been dismissed by a district judge; the district attorney's office reauthorized the charges against him in a letter dated June 21. Asked why they were not refiled earlier, Weintraub said, "Sometimes that's out of our control."
"I will say, though, that Mr. DiNardo is a person of interest in this case, but sometimes the chasm between being a person of interest and being a person who's actually accused or arrested on a crime is so wide that we never cross it," Weintraub said. "We are certainly trying to explore every avenue."
Weintraub said Monday that he suspected foul play in the disappearance of the men, identified by county investigators as Mark R. Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg; Thomas C. Meo, 21, of Plumstead; Dean A. Finocchiaro, 18, of Middletown; and Jimi Tar Patrick, 19, of Newtown.
Search crews including FBI agents and local police officers descended on the DiNardo property in Solebury Township. The property belongs to Antonio and Sandra DiNardo, of Bensalem, Weintraub confirmed Tuesday.
The families of the missing men were at the property Monday and returned Tuesday morning. They parked in a cornfield near the entrance to the property and awaited updates from investigators. Police cars stand guard and block the driveway leading into the property.
"We have four families literally keeping a vigil at the scene of our investigation and they see and hear and read the news just like you all do," Weintraub said.
Sturgis and Meo were good friends, Sturgis' father, Mark Potash, said Monday. DiNardo is Facebook friends with Patrick.
Cars belonging to two of the men were found within a mile and a half of each other, according to Potash: Sturgis' at Peddlers Village, Meo's in the garage at a home in New Hope that belongs to the DiNardos and is near the property being searched.
U.S. Marshals, the FBI, the attorney general's office, several local police departments, the state police and now a few dozen Montgomery County police academy recruits are assisting in the search. The recruits are scouring a field in search of any evidence.
The search could take several more days, Weintraub said. Tips have been pouring in about the young men and investigators hope for more.
"We maintain hope that we will ascertain their whereabouts and bring them home safe," Weintraub said.
