PHILADELPHIA _ The Bucks County district attorney said Monday afternoon he suspects foul play in the disappearance of four young men reported missing after mysteriously disappearing last week.
"I sure believe there is" foul play, District Attorney Matt Weintraub said at a Monday afternoon news conference on the status of those missing, identified by county investigators as Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg; Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead; Dean Finocchiaro, 18, of Middletown; and Jimi Tar Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township.
As search crews combed through a field along Lower York Road in Solebury, Weintraub said investigators are treating the case "as a criminal investigation at this time until we know differently." Bucks County authorities called in the FBI to assist with the search, Weintraub said.
Records show the farm property being searched on Lower York Road in Solebury is owned Antonio DiNardo, 46, and Sandra DiNardo, 47, both of Bensalem. Calls to them Monday afternoon went unanswered.
In a development that may be related, authorities confirmed taking the couple's son, 20-year-old Cosmo DiNardo of Bensalem, into custody on a February firearms charge that had been dismissed and refiled Monday. Court records showed the younger DiNardo was being held at the Bucks County prison, unable to post 10 percent of $1 million cash bail. That charge appears to be unrelated to the men's disappearance.
After Cosmo DiNardo was arraigned Monday afternoon in Bensalem, his lawyer, Michael Kevin Parlow, left the police station with Antonio DiNardo. Both men declined to comment.
Weintraub said the search _ which could go on for days _ was "like finding needles in a haystack." Several police cars and a backhoe could be seen from the roadway.
"We're not exactly sure what we're going to find there," he added.
Bucks County property records showed the property being searched at 6071 Lower York Road, a parcel of 68.4 acres, includes a 1,700-square-foot farmhouse built in 1890.
Sturgis' father, Mark Potash, said his son and Meo were last seen Friday. Weintraub said one of the other men also was last seen Friday and the fourth disappeared Wednesday. Investigators said they were unsure if the disappearances are linked in any way except that they were told all four knew each other.
At a briefing Monday morning, Weintraub reported no breaks in the case and asked for the public's help.
Potash said his son and Meo both worked for him at his construction business.
On Saturday morning, when the two didn't show up for work he was concerned.
"I thought maybe they had a night of drinking and slept somewhere," Potash said. "That was my hope."
By midafternoon, Potash said he knew something was wrong. Calls to both men's phones went straight to voicemail, he said. He said he contacted police late Saturday.
"They are just really good kids," Potash said, describing them as hard workers.
He has no idea why his son or Meo are missing, Potash said.
"I can't even begin to imagine," he said. "At this point, as the hours pass, it seems more and more grim."
Sturgis is a phenomenal guitar player, "super intelligent," a great athlete, worker, brother and son, Potash said. His son, who grew up with his mother and now lives with him, has three sisters and one brother.
He and Sturgis' mother have been in touch and he said they are both struggling with the disappearance. Potash has also been in contact with the Meo family and said everyone is trying to keep themselves together.
"It is very difficult," he said. "I really don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of the day. I'm going minute by minute right now."
A Facebook post seeking leads said Meo is diabetic and was last seen near Doylestown on Friday.
Devin Houser, 20, of Doylestown, previously worked with Meo at Doylestown Auto and Tire. The two met about a year and a half ago and became work friends, Houser said; they hung out a few times since and lived minutes apart so Houser frequently gave Meo a ride home when their shifts let out. He said Meo would strike up and hold a conversation with anyone and everyone.
"He was like an easygoing person, he was a really nice dude," Houser said. "He'd get along with any single person."
He said those who know Meo are concerned.
"Everyone just seems stunned by it," Houser said. "No one really knows what's going on."
State police, along with detectives from Solebury, Middletown, Newtown and Buckingham Townships along with police dogs, executed a search warrant at a home in Solebury Township on Sunday evening.
Potash said Meo's car was found in the garage of the house. What connection, if any, the house has to the missing four is unclear.
Potash said his son's car had been found at Peddler's Village in Lahaska, near New Hope. Finocchiaro was last seen as he was being picked up by a fifth person, who is not missing, Potash said.
Weintraub declined to comment on whether cars were found. He said county detectives, with the help of several local police departments and the FBI, were searching several locations.
Asked whether the four young men were still alive, Weintraub replied: "I can't say. We hope and pray that they are, but we need to go where the investigation leads us."
