Creato set to face second trial in son's death
D.J. Creato will face a second trial in September, after the first resulted in a mistrial.
A second trial will be held in September in the case of David "D.J." Creato Jr., the Haddon Township father charged with killing his 3-year-old son, Brendan, and dumping the boy's body in woods in 2015.
Prosecutors first tried the case in May, but a mistrial was declared after two of the 12 jurors concluded there wasn't enough evidence to find Creato guilty. The remaining 10 believed he was guilty.
Creato, 24, displayed little emotion as he briefly appeared Wednesday in Superior Court in Camden, where Judge John T. Kelley set a new trial date for Sept. 11.
Creato's father, David Sr., expressed frustration at having to wait two months for another trial but otherwise declined to comment as he left the courtroom with his wife, Lisa, who is Creato's mother. David Sr. and Lisa Creato have maintained their son is innocent.
In the first trial, prosecutors argued that Creato killed Brendan to prevent his girlfriend, who demanded she be Creato's number-one priority, from leaving him.
The defense argued that Creato was the victim of a flawed police investigation and that authorities had only circumstantial evidence to link Creato to his son's death.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office vowed to retry the case after the mistrial.
Brendan's pajama-clad body was found slumped over a rock and partially submerged in a creek in woods about three-quarters of a mile from Creato's apartment in Haddon Township on Oct. 13, 2015.
Creato called 911 around 6 a.m. that day, saying he woke up and Brendan was missing.
Creato was arrested and charged with murder three months later, and has remained in the Camden County Jail on $750,000 bail.