Published May 16. 2018 07:26AM
DOYLESTOWN (AP) — Two cousins charged in the deaths of four young men found buried on a suburban Philadelphia farm are expected to resolve their criminal case without a trial.
Cosmo DiNardo and Sean Kratz, both 21, will be in court on Wednesday for hearings seen as the final step in closing the matter.
Police found the missing men, ages 19 to 22, after a grueling, five-day search last July. Three were lit on fire and placed 12-feet (3-meters) deep in an oil tank converted into a pig roaster.
DiNardo allegedly lured them to his family’s 90-acre (36-hectare) farm under the guise of making marijuana deals.
Kratz is charged in three of the deaths.
DiNardo is charged in all four. His lawyer says he confessed to avoid the death penalty.
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office in Doylestown, Pa., shows Cosmo DiNardo, of Bensalem, Pa., who was charged Friday, July 14, 2017, with the killings of four Pennsylvania men. DiNardo and his cousin, Sean Kratz, both 21, will be in court on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, for hearings expected to resolve their criminal case without a trial. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office via AP, File)
FILE - This undated photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office in Doylestown, Pa., shows Sean Kratz of Philadelphia. Kratz and his cousin Cosmo DiNardo, charged in the deaths of four men who were found buried on a sprawling Pennsylvania farm, awill be in court on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, for hearings expected to resolve their criminal case without a trial. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office via AP, File)