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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

Man Confesses in Killings; CNN Heroes

Aired July 13, 2017 - 20:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the four men that are missing, Tom Meo, Mark Sturgis, Dean Finocchiaro, Jimi Patrick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened to these boys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have named Cosmo DiNardo as a person of interest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What connected the four men and Cosmo DiNardo, the young man who has since been labeled a person of interest?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ninety-some acres, and we`re going through it with the equivalent of a fine-toothed comb.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So much property to search.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cadaver dogs have been in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone`s talking about this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn`t feel real. Feels like a dream or a movie, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s frightening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search at the scene right up the road is really intensifying. We are going to find something for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hear a number of shots that were fired. Literally a minute later, we heard another series of six, seven, eight shots fired.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have hope until there is no room left for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grim discovery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple human remains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The body of one of the four missing young men was found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have found human remains in an approximately 12-and- a-half-foot-deep common grave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One victim has been identified as 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. DiNardo this evening -- he confessed to his participation or commission in the murders of the four young men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we`re going to bring each and every one of these lost boys home to their families. We will not rest until we do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Thank you so much for joining us. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

We do have breaking news tonight. Search crews are urgently excavating a 12-and-a-half-foot-deep grave where the body of one of the missing

Philadelphia-area men has been found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW WEINTRAUB, BUCKS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have found human remains in an approximately 12-and-a-half-foot-deep common grave that we

have painstakingly dug with a lot of care so as not to damage any potential evidence.

And I`m very, very sad to say that we can now identify Dean Finocchiaro, 19 years old of Middletown, as one of the people that was found buried in that

grave. He`s been missing since Friday. We notified his family that we have recovered his body.

There are additional human remains inside that grave. So this painstaking process will go on. We`re not done yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: You heard the Bucks County district attorney there. He says cadaver dogs led authorities to the graves on Wednesday, and they are

continuing to dig, continuing to sift through what they are finding on that farm just north of the city. Finocchiaro and three others -- Jimi Patrick,

Thomas Meo and Mark Sturgis -- all disappeared over several last -- days last week. They were within miles of each other.

Cosmo DiNardo, the son of the property owners, was arrested for the second time in a week on Wednesday and charged with trying to sell Meo`s vehicle.

While investigators will not call DiNardo or anyone else a suspect in their investigation, he is being held on a $5 million cash bail. And just a

short time ago, DiNardo`s attorney says his client has confessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL LANG, COSMO DINARDO`S ATTORNEY: Mr. DiNardo this evening confessed to the district attorney. He confessed to his participation or commission in

the murders of the four young men. In exchange for that confession, Mr. DiNardo was promised by the district attorney that he will spare his life

by not invoking the death penalty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Interesting words there by the district -- well, by the defense attorney -- participation or commission of the crime.

I do want to bring in CNN national correspondent Miguel Marquez. He is live with us tonight in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. What is the latest,

Miguel, on this investigation?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That we know that the district attorney here in Bucks County is going to hold a press conference sometime this

evening, we expect in the next hour or two, and it might be to identify the other individuals who they found in that common grave because there were

remains of several individuals in that grave.

This had been headed toward a very disturbing and sad place as the facts began to roll out. And with the confession of Mr. DiNardo today, that

clearly seals the certain fate, unfortunately, of these other young men.

[20:05:02]I can tell you that this case has just put this entire area -- it is an absolutely beautiful part of the country, 40 minutes from

Philadelphia, an hour from New York, big, lush farms and estates and mansions. And for this to happen here, I think it has just left this place

reeling and in shock, and it seems to be coming to a rapid conclusion -- Jean.

CASAREZ: And Miguel, the investigators, crime scene investigators and cadets from the local police academy -- they all have been digging now for

several days. And normally, you hear about a shallow grave. This is nothing but shallow grave. Just describe for our viewers the depth of this

grave that is being called by the district attorney a common grave.

MARQUEZ: Yes. This is a 12-and-a-half-foot hole that they are digging into. And I can tell you, as you drive around the area where this 90-acre

farm is, it is a very big area, and there are police blocking several roads. There are several houses at the outskirts of this area that they

are also -- have clearly an interest in.

Mr. DiNardo`s parents, prominent individuals in the community -- Anthony DiNardo owned a cement or concrete business here locally. They had access

to heavy machinery. They had access to concrete. They had access to other things that he could have dug that hole with. It is likely that he used

some sort of device, some sort of a backhoe or other heavy machinery to dig a 12-and-a-half-foot hole because you just don`t do that easily.

Despite that effort, they were able to get cadaver dogs out there and were able to locate that hole. Also very difficult to hide that sort of hole

even on a 90-acre property if police are looking there -- Jean.

CASAREZ: And as Miguel just said, the district attorney`s office is saying that they will be holding a press conference tonight. If that would happen

during this hour, we will definitely go to it live right away.

Interesting words by the defense attorney representing Cosmo DiNardo today. I want to go to bring in Stacey Newman on that. His words were that there

has been a confession by his client, Cosmo, by committing or participating, committing or being part of, and then he was continually asked, Did your

client act alone? And he would not answer that question, Stacey.

STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER: Yes. And he also said, you know, we need to draw our own conclusions based on that. And I specifically asked the DA in

the presser this morning, Are there any other suspects? At that point in the day he said, I haven`t even named a suspect.

Now, post-confession, you know that question`s going to come up again at the presser that Miguel mentioned because, as he said, how did one person

do all of this alone when we`re thinking this is four victims?

CASAREZ: And Stacey, do we know where -- and there he is right there -- Cosmo DiNardo is right now because if, in fact, he has confessed, why

hasn`t he been charged yet with four murders?

NEWMAN: Well, we did see in his "I`m sorry" video, where he was being taken out in that perp walk. But in this one, he was totally shackled and

in full orange jumpsuit, much different from the perp walk we saw earlier when they made a second arrest, where he was in his street clothes when,

you know, I was out there and he was looking at us out of the window.

Clearly, they`re transporting him from the courthouse to some sort of jail facility. They will not tell us on record which jail facility at this

time.

CASAREZ: And you know, it`s very interesting, Miguel, because I feel the devil`s in the details. The defense attorney, Peter Lang, was asked

tonight by a reporter -- not only did he give out relevant information but what about the bodies, the four bodies. And he said that he had told

authorities where the four bodies were, and in lieu of confessing and giving all relevant information, the prosecutor won`t seek death?

MARQUEZ: That was the exchange. The prosecutor will not seek death in this case. He did -- is cooperating with them. The family is cooperating

with them, the family of Mr. DiNardo releasing a statement through their attorney saying that they are just heart-broken and saddened for the other

families of the dead who are going through all of this. So I think there is a great effort on the part of the DiNardo family to try to help

authorities as much as possible.

And clearly, to watch Cosmo DiNardo walk out of that hearing today in full prison orange, completely chained and cuffed -- and when reporters asked

him, what do you say to those families? What do you say? He just looked down at his feet and said, "I`m sorry." Clearly, there`s a lot of

contrition there, and he seems to be cooperating with authorities right now. And that was the deal they made.

[20:10:00]CASAREZ: You know, Miguel, let`s let our audience watch exactly what you just described. Here is Cosmo DiNardo himself apologizing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Cosmo, why did you do it?

QUESTION: What do you say to these families?

QUESTION: Cosmo, you admitted to killing four people. Why`d you do it? What do you have to say to these families, Cosmo? Anything to day?

(CROSSTALK)

COSMO DINARDO, CONFESSED TO MURDER: I`m sorry.

QUESTION: Why did you do it?

QUESTION: Was it having to do with some other crimes, drug dealing?

QUESTION: Cosmo, you want to say anything to the families?

QUESTION: Anything?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And that was Cosmo DiNardo just about an hour ago. To our knowledge, he has not been charged with homicide at all. He has been

charged with stealing an auto, an auto of one of the young men that went missing.

I want to go to Stacey Newman, who is standing there with Miguel very close to the search site and also the residential area. Stacey, you were telling

me earlier that everything is close, that we think it`s so far away, but everything is relatively close to each other there.

NEWMAN: Yes. There`s multiple properties and multiple what we would consider investigative scenes at this point. You know, you might be under

the impression that every place is, like, 20 minutes away, 30 minutes away, 40 minutes away. But we`re seeing here with the cars, with the license

plate reader evidence, all these things were within a few blocks of each other. And then they were all just a quarter mile from the search site and

the DiNardo property. So not a very expansive area in terms of where all of this looks like it went down.

CASAREZ: But quite a site at that search area where that common grave was dug and now authorities are there.

I want to go right now to Steve Moore. He is a former FBI agent. He`s an investigator, a CNN law enforcement contributor.

Thanks so much. We need your expertise tonight because I first want to look at yesterday afternoon, they had not identified any human remains in

that grave. We now know that they were digging. Last night at midnight, there was just out of the blue a presser at midnight. And that`s when they

said that one of the young men had been identified.

What does that tell you about how easy it was to have that identification of Dean Finocchiaro?

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT AND INVESTIGATOR, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: When you have a site like this, it`s obviously very tragic

and very heart-breaking for the people who are there, but -- and the families, but the bodies are very recently buried. You`re going to be able

to get fingerprints off of all these bodies and a fingerprint check is going to come back within hours.

I`m not certain that they haven`t identified -- I can`t imagine why they haven`t identified the other three bodies if they`ve at least been removed,

but they may be proceeding very carefully so as not to destroy evidence that would also be in the grave with the men.

CASAREZ: Well, and then that`s my question because they had a press conference at 11:00 o`clock today, and everyone thought that more of the

victims would be identified, that they had been found. They did not. And they canceled a press conference this afternoon. So it has been all day,

it has been hours, and there is still no identification.

Could those bodies be unidentifiable at all or more difficult than Dean`s body?

MOORE: I would be very surprised if they`re going to be difficult to identify. And what I`ve seen here, Jean, is that these -- this law

enforcement team has decided to be very close to the vest in all the information they have.

I mean, you`ve got DiNardo, who`s confessed to killing or assisting in the killing of four people, and they still haven`t even charged him with murder

yet.

This is an extremely cautious investigation. They have tons more information than they are giving out. And one of those is going to go --

some of that information is going to go to motive, which is the one thing I think people are still most curious about, besides whether or not Cosmo

acted alone.

CASAREZ: You know, one thing about this common grave, this area that they`ve been digging, is that it`s all about, we understand now, cement,

and a lot of it. I want you to listen to the district attorney as he spoke publicly in that press conference today about the aspect of cement.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Can you tell us about the progress in identifying the other remains?

WEINTRAUB: I am very, very pleased, paradoxically, with our progress, but I`m not prepared to acknowledge that at this time.

QUESTION: So none of the other four have been identified?

WEINTRAUB: I cannot comment on that at this time.

QUESTION: Can you tell us if the bodies are whole?

[20:15:02]WEINTRAUB: I can`t say. I can`t comment on that. But if last night could serve as a protocol of sorts, I would hope to be able to repeat

that at some point.

QUESTION: Was there cement inside the hole or anything else that was inside of it?

WEINTRAUB: I think you`ve all seen some aerial views of the parent (ph) hold, and I`ll let you draw your own conclusions.

QUESTION: Any other search sites that you`re looking at?

WEINTRAUB: Well, we are -- we`re currently investigating a number of sites, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And to the side of that very deep grave is a lot of cement.

I want to go back to Steve Moore, former FBI agent. When you look at this grave, 12-and-a-half feet deep and still digging, the district attorney

said, can one person do that? And if so, how long would it take, and what would they use to dig that deep?

MOORE: Well, I think, first of all, you`re looking at a backhoe or some type of industrial digger which would probably be very common with a

construction or concrete business.

First of all, you have to ask if Cosmo was qualified on that type of machine. The other thing is that if there is cement in the hole, it`s even

harder for one person to have done this even if they were trained, or do it in a timely fashion.

CASAREZ: Right. And so I think what I`m saying is -- and I watched some of the investigators that are digging there, and they were, like -- they

weren`t just, like, getting soft dirt up. So does that tell you that there was cement as far down as we know that grave is?

MOORE: It could easily be. I mean, he could have dug the grave, placed the bodies in and then placed either dry or wet cement on top of the

bodies. That`s going to be extremely difficult, but it`s not going to be impossible for the FBI teams because they`re equipped with cranes and other

equipment to bring this stuff out. And...

CASAREZ: But thereby, can`t you lose evidence that way?

MOORE: You have the potential of losing evidence, but one of the things the FBI trains for and we do all the time on these kind of things is every

shovel full of dirt that comes out of that hole is going to be sifted through a fine screen. There won`t be a dime, there won`t be a shoenail

that isn`t caught by the agents and the officers who are digging this hole out.

CASAREZ: And that`s what they said, that it`s like a needle in a haystack and they`re not quitting.

MOORE: It is.

CASAREZ: There is so much more that we have to tell you on this story. We are following these developments as rescuers dig into the deep grave where

one of the four missing men`s bodies has been found.

We`ll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:22:13]WEINTRAUB: This is a homicide., make no mistake about it. We just don`t know how many homicides.

I can`t comment on the type of homicide that it is at this point, but I am comfortable classifying it as a homicide. Dan?

QUESTION: Do you have enough to file homicide charges now at least for the one victim?

WEINTRAUB: That is something that we`re going to look at very, very closely. I feel that we bought ourself a little bit of time in charging

Mr. DiNardo with the stolen car case today and getting that $5 million bail. It is my hope that he does not post that, but that`s his

prerogative, of course, if he can post it. But we`re going to start looking seriously at the homicide charges and in fact, we already have

pursued that option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And we are waiting at this hour to see if tonight, homicide charges will, in fact, be filed. They have not yet been filed, as we know

of. They have not even labeled Cosmo DiNardo as a suspect in this case at all.

I do want to go back out to Stacey Newman, HLN producer. Stacey, the thing that just amazes me, absolutely amazes me is that the district attorney

said that they had been digging on this one site from the beginning -- this is a 90-acre farm out there -- and that it was cadaver dogs that took them

to that area.

NEWMAN Yes. I mean, that was an interesting detail that they let out at the presser yesterday, that cadaver dogs hit on that location. But now

with this confession, we`re hearing Mr. DiNardo was the one who led them to this location. So I`m gathering he told them where the location was, they

had a more zeroed-in spot, and then were able to take cadaver dogs in that area.

And also another interesting question, Jean, is cadaver dogs -- if, in fact, there is concrete or some sort of cement, would cadaver dogs hit

through that? So very interesting timeline in terms of -- go ahead, Jean.

CASAREZ: I think that`s an excellent point. And we`re also basically assuming at this moment that all of the bodies are in that shallow grave.

That has not been confirmed yet. It is believed because the district attorney said other human remains were in there.

I want to go to Joseph Scott Morgan. He is a certified death investigator. He is also a professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University.

Thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, I think Stacey`s question is an important one. If you`ve got such a deep grave -- because remember, last night at midnight, when they

said that Dean Finocchiaro`s remains were found, they also said in the same sentence that the grave was 12-and-a-half feet deep.

[20:25:05]Can a cadaver dog sniff -- "hit" is the proper terminology -- on remains that are that deep?

JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR (via telephone): Yes, possibility exists, Jean. Thanks for having me this evening. Keep in mind

that the senses of the dog -- they have a very broad spectrum. And so it`s not like us. When they go into these areas, they`re not just going to be

smelling directly down into where a body would have been placed. They will smell the entire area, and you could potentially get a hit.

I`ve seen cadaver dogs do some pretty amazing things. I`ve even seen cadaver dogs do things over bodies of water that you wouldn`t believe that

they`re capable of doing, but they do, not with great consistency over water as much as on land. So yes, it`s quite possible that the dog could

have hit on this.

CASAREZ: You know, the district attorney today said that the manner of death was homicide. He was assured of that.

MORGAN: Right.

CASAREZ: Well, that`s understandable, right?

MORGAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: He would not say at all the cause of death. Would not.

MORGAN: Right.

CASAREZ: And that could be for a number of reasons. But we do know that Cosmo was arrested earlier in the week for possession of a shotgun, with

the ammunition in the gun. We also know that neighbors heard shotgun going off Saturday mid-afternoon.

If, in fact, this was a violent death of some kind, there`s going to be blood. We haven`t heard about blood at all. Furthermore, one of the young

men went missing on Wednesday, but the other three went missing on Friday. So will they be able to determine if they were alive for a certain amount

of time, obviously, where they were murdered and then the common grave?

MORGAN: Yes, hopefully. If DiNardo is, in fact, directly involved in this, which it appears at this moment in time at least per one confession

he may be, the idea is how much more information is he going to give? If he doesn`t give any more information, then of course, we can rely on the

body.

One of the really interesting things, Jean, about -- we talked kind of about kind of the down side of having these bodies in concrete. One of the

interesting things and the up side to this is that these bodies, or a body so far, if the body is encased in concrete, one of the up sides is the fact

the body is essentially being cocooned.

It`s going to be left up to the skill level of the FBI team, as well as the coroner in that area and the forensic teams that are also involved. Will

they be able to extract critical information relative to this? And if it is firearms-related death, I don`t like to say that they heard shotgun fire

because sometimes, that`s completely indistinguishable in large areas. But if they did hear gunfire they think is associated with this, things are

going to come into play like range of fire.

And also, with the bodies, I`m thinking they`re pretty well preserved at this point. The idea is how much of this trauma has left hemorrhage

behind? Keep in mind if the body -- if the individual is still alive and they have been traumatized, kept alive for a period of time -- the body

only hemorrhages if it is still alive. And so that`s going to give us an indication that they were subjected to any kind of torture or duress prior

to death.

Then we`re going to be looking at postmortem changes, that is, trying to marry up these timeframes that you`ve talked about. We`ve got one

gentleman that was missing another day, the other ones went missing at another point in time. How long have they been dead?

And this paints a very exacting picture not just for what the individuals went through but for the activities of the perpetrator relative to the

crime. And this is going to be essential moving forward with this case.

CASAREZ: There are so many questions that are not answered yet, so, so many. But one is just really basic. Why aren`t we hearing the identities

of any of the other victims if they`ve been recovered? It`s been hours now. And if they are encased, as you`re saying, and that preserves the

identity -- and we know that the families have been close to the digging site. There`s a crime scene investigator, victims` assistance that`s

helping them. But they are close by, so the families would be notified. Why no news?

MORGAN: Well, I`ll put it to you this way. I concur with your earlier panelist who said that they are playing things very close to the vest, as I

would, as well, as I have in previous cases of my own be very, very careful with this.

Also, if we`re talking about concrete -- and let me just throw out one potential idea here. If they are encased in concrete, it will take time

for these bodies to be extricated from the ground. And then taking great care, you have to remove this concrete, and it is a painstaking process

because not only are you trying to be gentle and respectful with the bodies, you`re trying to preserve the evidence that is contained therein.

In this world that we live in, we want things very, very quickly, we want them turned around quickly, but they have to be very exacting in this. They

do not want to get this wrong. Let`s just throw this out there as well. We know that four are missing. What if, what if there`s more? And you have to

be very careful. We can`t just jump into this and say there`s only four guys.

We`re just going to assume that that`s all there is. They want to be very, very careful and make sure that they get these I.D.s right. There have been

all kinds of cases across the country where people have been misidentified. That`s the worst possible scenario for the family to have to endure.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN AND HLN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You are so right, doctor. You know, one thing the district attorney talked today and you just mentioned

it, it is rough conditions out there because of the weather, because of the hours. Let`s listen to the district attorney as he talks about those tough

conditions for investigators.

MATTHEW WEINTRAUB, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BUCKS COUNTY: They work in shifts due to the exhausting conditions. The heat, the dust, the humidity. But they

actually have to be ordered to stand down from their shift so that they can be replaced by new and fresher law enforcement brothers and sisters. They

have to be ordered out of the hole and off the line so that they can be replaced.

A fresh shift of law enforcement personnel was coming in at midnight while many of us were getting ready to go home. They`re side by side. They`re

combing through vast fields and buildings. They`re down 12 foot deep in a hole that`s getting deeper by the minute. They`re tenderly, painstakingly,

reverentially recovering the remains of people that they do not even know, that they never even met.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: You know, Stacey Newman, HLN producer, when I hear him say that, I just get chills. And to be in that community, and you`re right there,

you`re close to the search site, you`ve spoken with people in the community. They must be paralyzed with what has happened.

STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I even was today going to some local places to grab maybe like a water, things like that. You hear

people talking about it. They`re unnerved by this. What was amazing last night at that midnight press conference, at least a hundred people from the

community, a lot of them very young in age, showed up at that location.

They wanted to know what was going on. They`re very dialed into this. Because, as Miguel explained earlier, this is a beautiful town. This is a

close-knit community. And they are very shocked that something like this is happening here.

CASAREZ: And the district attorney has said that he will be holding another press conference tonight. What he will say, we don`t know. But if that

comes during the show, we will definitely take you to it live. You know, there is no letting up this desperate search by rescuers and cadaver dogs

as more developments in this mystery are revealed. We`ll have more right after this.

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINTRAUB: The investigation, as you all know, has taken two tracks. It`s been about recovery on one side and about ascertaining what actually

occurred on the other side. And we`re still avidly pursuing both of those avenues at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said today you found evidence in two places. Can you now tell us a little bit more about that evidence?

WEINTRAUB: No, because that part of the investigation is very much alive. As I said before, all the leads that we`ve been pursuing are hot. They

remain so, and this is verified proof of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And we have learned just minutes ago during the break actually that the press conference that the district attorney`s office said they

would be holding tonight, they have just canceled it. So there will be no presser tonight. Stacey, what do you know?

NEWMAN: Yes, I mean, this just happened literally while we were in the commercial. We got a tweet from the D.A. that they were no longer doing the

press conference. And one can only begin to imagine since this news broke, that Mr. DiNardo confessed, they really need to be careful with this and

get their ducks lined up in a row.

I`m sure there`s more they need to investigate. Jean, as I`m standing here, we`re in the middle of a flash flood right now. It is pouring here. So,

they may not even be able to do what they need to do out here at the search site behind me. So they just may need more time to give us more

information.

CASAREZ: You know, Joseph Scott Morgan, you are an expert in forensics. You are a certified death investigator. They`ve been having flash floods all

day. That can really hurt evidence collection, isn`t that right?

MORGAN: Yes, it can. Water is -- water is one of the worst enemies that we have. We have a saying that one of the worst sounds an investigator can

hear, rumbling in the distance is thunder. It washes away evidence. You have to be very, very careful.

I`m sure that they`re going to great lengths, knowing the FBI and this particular area, the coroner particularly in Bucks County, I`m sure that

they`re taking great care and have this area tented up very well. The problem is you will get water that will backwash into this hole and it can

compromise evidence. Hopefully they`re going to sandbag that area and keep it clear of that.

CASAREZ: All right. Steve Moore, you are a former FBI agent, and you`ve participated in many investigations.

[20:40:00] Not exactly like this, I`m sure, but we have just learned --

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT AND INVESTIGATOR: Close.

CASAREZ: -- that the next press conference is going to be not until 11:00 tomorrow. What do you make of the fact that absolutely no information at

all was released today as they continue to dig, as they continue to say that there are human remains in that common grave. And now Cosmo DiNardo

has confessed. We don`t believe that he has been charged at all. I mean, why just cancel a presser? The eyes of the country are on this case wanting

to know the latest.

MOORE: Well, it it tells me, again, how conservative they are being with this. But one thing it might be telling us is that Cosmo is talking to the

police. That would also explain why they didn`t want to say where he was being held. That`s usually not a private thing. So my guess is that he is

cooperating with police right now, and we don`t know where this is going to go. And the police certainly don`t want to be tipping their hand to anybody

who also could be involved.

And some of the evidence that they are getting out of this deep hole could be evidence that would implicate somebody else in the killings. I mean, why

would you almost immediately accept a plea deal before you`ve even charged him unless there`s a reason for you to do it, and that would seem to be

he`s going to tell you stuff that you might not find out otherwise.

CASAREZ: That`s right. And I think that`s an excellent point right there. And if he`s talking and his attorneys are allowing him to talk, couldn`t

that be one reason to cancel everything because you`re getting more information than you ever thought you would?

MOORE: Yes. And in cases like this, Jean, one of the things that we had trouble with is that we would be working extremely hard, and it was hard to

feed -- what we call feeding the monster. Keeping the public apprised of what we were doing when sometimes that actually takes you away from

managing the case. So it`s possible that they could be getting so much information right now that they simply don`t have time, the case managers,

to prepare talking points.

CASAREZ: And what about, Steve, when the defense attorney tonight was asked did he act alone? Did he dig the grave alone? Did he participate all by

himself? The defense attorney left it open ended. I will let you think about that. I`ll let you figure out. I`m not going to say. Could they now,

because they`ve got other names, just want to make sure that they can talk to, interview, even possibly arrest others that might be involved in all

this?

MOORE: Absolutely. You have no idea what chain of events a statement could put into motion. And we learn so much more from what prosecutors and

investigators don`t say than what they do in these cases. So here are the things they haven`t said. They haven`t said he acted alone. Well, why not?

I mean, if he acted alone, done.

They haven`t told us where he`s being held. Well, why not? The only reason is you want to protect him. They haven`t made any kind of conclusion on the

other victims. So there is so much in play, and I think what we should realize here is that the police and the FBI here know worlds more than they

are letting on, but in their judgment right now the best thing to do is to remain silent.

CASAREZ: And Steve, what about motive? That`s what everybody wants to know. Why? Why would he do this to four young men that have just graduated from

high school? One is currently enrolled in college.

MOORE: Here is the thing that I think we`re going to find. That there is no sense to this. I mean, there may be something in common with all of them.

It could be money, it could be something else. But I guarantee you, it will not be a big thing. You are going to look at why these men were killed, I`m

afraid, and find out it was the most petty small thing in the whole world because if there was a big motive, it would have already been obvious.

CASAREZ: All right. Well, we`re going to be right back. And you`re going to be able to listen to the defense attorney of Cosmo DiNardo in his own words

saying what his client told authorities tonight. There`s no letting up on this desperate search by rescuers and cadaver dogs as more developments in

this mystery will be revealed right after this.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he act alone?

PAUL LANG, ATTORNEY FOR COSMO DINARDO: I can`t answer that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he confess to?

LANG: He confessed to the participation of the commission of four murders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you say participation, does that suggest that anybody else was involved?

LANG: I`ll leave that for you to determine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that he admitted to being a part of a commission of the murders. You mean that he ordered them to be done by

someone else or what do you mean by that?

LANG: He committed or participated in the commission of the four murders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the district attorney`s office, Matt Weintraub, has just tweeted out that he is not confirming what the defense attorney is saying.

He is not at this moment confirming that. Joseph Scott Morgan, I want to go to you because the district attorney just tweeted out something else.

Listen closely.

[20:50:00] He just tweeted that the information that was to be released tonight has not yet been confirmed. What do you think he`s talking about?

MORGAN: Hard to say. And again, we have to consider there is a lot -- there`s a huge undercurrent with this whole thing. We don`t know what`s

going on well below the surface here. There`s a lot of talking back and forth that`s going on. And again, I still would not totally discount this

idea that more information is being developed just from a forensic side at the scene. What else have they recovered, what else is out there.

CASAREZ: Right.

MORGAN: And these things will eventually be revealed, but they`re playing it so close to the vest here. I have to -- I would pat them on the shoulder

if I had the ability to do it.

CASAREZ: Right. Of course, we`re thinking identities, identities the of the victims. They`re not confirmed yet, but you`re right, it may be information

that they`ve learned in this investigation or with regard to other crimes that have been committed that they are looking into --

MORGAN: Right.

CASAREZ: -- and trying to talk to people about now. Stacey Newman, you have been doing news gathering all day out where you are in the area near the

search site, near the residential area. And you came upon, on the DiNardo property, you believe, you came upon what looks like a garage. Now, I will

say that in the probable cause affidavit which charged Cosmo with having stolen property and theft, it was saying that he took one of the victim`s

cars. You talked to police out on the scene. What did they tell you?

NEWMAN: Yes, well, we are hearing that one of the victims, Tom Meo, that his car was possibly found in this garage? I went up to the scene today and

there were actually two officers there now. Because before they did have one. They did tell me that this is part of the crime scene. So here we have

yet another part in the investigation that they`re going to have to connect the dots before they put charges out and also tell us officially as far as

Mr. DiNardo being a suspect.

CASAREZ: All right. Stacey, we do have some pictures tonight that we want to show everyone. Pictures that "Primetime Justice" was able to get from

authorized Facebook accounts. I think we have that. We can show some people. Right there, that`s Mark Sturgis. That is one of the victims that

went missing a week ago now. That`s Mark Sturgis again right there. You`re seeing him there on that -- and Mark Sturgis there playing ball.

He`s the one that`s facing the camera. So those are pictures. I want to go to our attorneys, Brian Claypool, defense attorney joining us tonight, as

well as Kenya Johnson. Brian, why is the district attorney tonight just minutes ago disavowing or not confirming what the defense attorney for

Cosmo DiNardo said, that a deal was struck and his client confessed to participating or contributing to the murder of four young men?

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jean, the prosecutor might be worried about the integrity of this confession. And what I mean by that is they

hadn`t even charged DiNardo yet with a crime and they`re interrogating him about an alleged murder. That`s bizarre, and I think that`s improper.

Secondly, a big component that we haven`t talked about here is DiNardo has a history of mental illness.

He was previously institutionalized involuntarily. So why wasn`t he subjected to some type of mental health exam before he was questioned by

the prosecutors? If I was his attorney -- and I`m not saying he didn`t do this, but if I`m representing him, that`s the first thing that I would have

done to make sure that he`s competent and able to even talk about what happened. So I think there`s an issue here.

CASAREZ: Kenya Johnson, your thoughts?

KENYA JOHNSON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: My thoughts are that the police are worried about the recovery phase but the D.A. is looking to a conviction

and gathering the evidence and preserving the trial if the evidence points towards the guilt of this defendant. And so he is looking at the jury pool,

the evidence, things that may be excluded in evidence, things that may come out in the trial.

Everything has to be done absolutely perfectly especially in this type of case so that no false conviction or that an innocent person is facing

trial. So we have to look at the details and it`s prudent for the prosecutor to hold as much as close to chest until much of the recovery

phase in the investigation is complete.

CASAREZ: And if he wants to talk and he`s got his attorney and his attorney is allowing him to talk, Brian, let him talk.

CLAYPOOL: Well, Jean, I hate to put my legal hat on in such a tragic situation. I went to law school at Villanova about 30 minutes from where

this occurred. So I`ve driven through that area many times. But I have to put on my legal hat here. I`m wondering about effective assistance of

counsel.

[20:55:00] Why would any lawyer, Jean, allow a client to be talking to law enforcement without even having been subjected to a mental health exam? He

hasn`t even been charged.

CASAREZ: And that`s a big issue, Brian. Brian and Kenya, we`ll be right back. Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CASAREZ: In Los Angeles, hundreds of at-risk children look to one man to help them find the right path. They come from juvenile detention centers,

from foster care, and many are high school dropout. The man they connect with can relate. Growing up, he spent five years of juvenile probation.

Meet this week`s CNN hero, Harry Grammer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[21:00:00] HARRY GRAMMER, CNN HERO: Bottom line is everybody in this room including myself, we got a story to tell. You going to tell the world about

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END