She did not want to share him with his 3-year-old
from a previous relationship; he worried she
would leave him. The roiling emotions proved
deadly for little Brendan Link Creato, a Camden
County prosecutor told a judge Tuesday, seeking
high bail for the boy's father, who had reported
him missing and now is charged with his murder.
Weeks before Brendan's pajama-clad body was
found in Haddon Township woods, David "D.J."
Creato Jr. was distraught and arguing with his
17-year-old girlfriend to keep her from leaving
him, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah said.
The girlfriend, a juvenile whom Shah did not name
but who has been identified as Julia Spensky,
had warned Creato she disliked children and
resented his devotion to the boy. Shah said
authorities learned of the fraught relationship
mostly from the couple's numerous text
messages and online postings.
"She issued an ultimatum to him," Shah
said Tuesday after Creato, charged with the
Oct. 13 murder of his son, was brought into
a Camden courtroom for his first
appearance.
Shah said medical examiners determined the boy
died of "homicidal violence." Superior Court Judge
Edward McBride set bail at $750,000 - lower than
the $1 million sought by Shah, but higher than
the $250,000 a defense attorney said might be
appropriate.
Creato, 22, did not confess to police, but Shah
said he told investigators that he was feeling
"jealous and anxious" in the hours before he
noticed his son had disappeared from his
apartment, and that he had been worried that the
woman he loved had found someone else.
Creato called 911 at 6:07 a.m. Oct. 13 and told
the dispatcher that his child must have unlocked
the door and wandered off, Shah said.
"I just woke up, and my 3-year-old's
missing," Creato said, according to a
recording of the call. "I just woke up and he
wasn't in my apartment. I don't know if he
wandered out or what happened. I don't
know where he is. The door was locked. I
guess he unlocked it and left."
Shah said his voice during the call had a "flat
affect and tone."
Brendan had been "very afraid of the dark," Shah
said, to the point that he had been reluctant to
go to the bathroom at night, according to
interviews with grandparents and other relatives
who had babysat him.
The stretch - about three-quarters of a mile -
between Creato's apartment and the muddy spot
by the Cooper River where Brendan's body was
found is extremely dark at night, very steep at
one point, and difficult to negotiate, she said.
Besides, Shah said, Creato was sleeping less than
nine feet from the door and would have
awakened if Brendan had unlocked it or if an
intruder had entered.
It is "a circumstantial case" in which the
"circumstances are quite compelling," Shah said,
laying out a chilling narrative.
Much of D.J. Creato's life was online, she said.
Investigators examined 9,487 text messages he
exchanged with his girlfriend after meeting her in
June on Tinder, a dating website, and during an
"intense romantic relationship" that continued into
October. Shah said the teen had written a series
of "unbelievable" blogs in which she described her
"strong dislike of children."
Creato, shackled and wearing blue jail garb, said
nothing during the hearing and mostly looked
down.
His attorney, Richard Fuschino Jr., said the
prosecutor's version of what happened was
improbable, and that his client had cooperated
fully and truthfully with investigators.
"He spent an entire day answering the
questions of investigators," Fuschino said.
Shah, in saying Brendan died of "homicidal
violence," said an examination of his brain
showed an abnormality consistent with oxygen
deprivation that can be caused by asphyxiation,
drowning, or manual strangulation.
The prosecutor said there was unhealed bruising
to the right clavicle, near the neck, which
indicated that the toddler was injured prior to his
death. There was no evidence that an accidental
injury or disease caused the child's death, she
said.
Shah did not say where the murder took place,
but disputed Creato's suggestion that Brendan
had gone missing.
"Never once had he left the apartment or
his mother's house or his grandparents' by
himself," she said.
Shah said that on the night Brendan was killed,
Creato had called his girlfriend eight times, and
that he noticed from her Snapchat online account
that she had met up with a "guy he was jealous
of." Then, at 1:37 a.m., he checked his phone
again, though he told investigators he had gone
to bed at 10 p.m., Shah said.
Shah said problems developed between Creato
and his girlfriend after she began attending
college in New York and could only visit him on
weekends. The teen, who previously lived in
Pennsylvania, told Creato that he would have to
give up taking custody of Brendan every other
weekend to be with her, Shah said.
McBride, the judge, said that if Creato posts bail,
he will not be allowed to leave the state or make
any contact with Brendan's mother, Samantha
Denoto, or her family.
Denoto sat stoically in the front row of the
packed, hushed courtroom and declined to
comment afterward. She and Creato, who were
not married, had shared custody of Brendan. She
has made no public comment since the boy's
death, when her family issued a statement saying
it was "heartbroken" and wanted privacy.
The only sign of emotion Denoto showed was
when Shah told the judge that Creato and
Spensky still were communicating. Denoto shook
her head vigorously, as if she did not believe that
was possible.
Shah said the teen was away at college when the
child was killed.
In an interview in November, Fuschino identified
Creato's girlfriend as Spensky and said she had
been at Creato's apartment the weekend before
Brendan's death.
In a Tumblr post after Brendan's body was
discovered by a K-9 unit, Spensky wrote that she
was "possibly a suspect in a homicide
investigation."
The post, subsequently removed, also said:
"I was advised by my attorney not to speak
to anyone about my case. . . . My boyfriend
is in worse trouble than I am and can't
leave the state he's in."
Shah said that while they dated, Creato and his
girlfriend had visited the spot where Brendan's
body was found about 30 times. The pair had
taken pictures there and posted them online.
Creato told investigators that it was a "favorite
place . . . and he referred to it as spiritual to
him," Shah said.
Brendan "was placed there," Shah said, noting
that the socks he was wearing when his body
was found had no dirt on them.
If convicted of murder, Creato would face a
minimum of 30 years in prison without parole and
a maximum term of life imprisonment with at
least 67 years without parole, the judge said.
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