In court papers, prosecutors lay out case against Creato

The morning that 3-year-old Brendan Creato was reported missing in Haddon Township, sparking a massive search by residents and authorities, a K-9 dog tracked his scent using one of Brendan's Mickey Mouse slippers.

The police dog led investigators down Cooper Street, into woods near South Park Drive, down a dirt path, to a creek where Brendan's body was partially submerged. Brendan was wearing pajamas and socks, and the socks were clean. The site was three-quarters of a mile from his father's apartment, where he was last said to have been seen.

The following day, at 4 a.m., a crime-scene sergeant from the Camden County Prosecutor's Office walked from David "D.J." Creato Jr.'s apartment to the woods - in socks - to see if Brendan could have gone there on foot. Investigators even had a 3-year-old girl, whose identity and connection to the case have not been specified, walk the path wearing socks similar to Brendan's.

The result in both cases: The socks became filthy.

Authorities concluded that someone had placed Brendan's body in the woods. In January, they charged his father with murder and endangering the welfare of a child.

Those events are detailed in motions the Prosecutor's Office filed this week in Superior Court, requesting that a judge toss motions that Creato's attorney, Richard J. Fuschino Jr., filed in late March.

Those motions sought to prevent prosecutors from using as evidence a statement Creato gave to investigators, and to have the indictment against Creato dismissed.

Fuschino declined to comment Wednesday, and a spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office said, "The motions speak for themselves. We have no further comment."

The latest court filing also reveals that Creato, 22, took a lie-detector test the day Brendan was found. While the results are not specified, the motion says, "When he was advised of the results, he asked detectives if he could take the test again." It's unclear if he did.

Prosecutors have said that Brendan died of "homicidal violence," and that an examination of his brain showed an abnormality consistent with oxygen deprivation that can be caused by asphyxiation, drowning, or strangulation.

Authorities, however, could not determine an exact cause of death.

County Medical Examiner Gerald Feigin, who performed an autopsy, explained the complexity of the case to the grand jury that indicted Creato, according to a copy of Feigin's testimony included in the motions.

"This is a difficult case," Feigin said. "It's not a beating or anything else. So I had to look for any disease that I can think of or any of my other doctors could think of, and we looked at all the organs to see if there's any disease that could have killed [Brendan]. There were none."

Feigin, who also pointed to the clean socks as evidence his body was placed in the woods, added, "There was no evidence of an accident."

Creato called 911 around 6 a.m. last Oct. 13 to report Brendan missing from his apartment near Cooper and Virginia Avenue in Westmont. Police sent automated calls about the disappearance to residents, who searched through cars and yards, and inside plastic Halloween pumpkins.

Brendan was found just before 9 a.m. facedown in the shallow creek, his body slumped over a rock.

Authorities took his father to the Haddon Township Police Department for questioning just after the discovery, though Creato did not yet know that Brendan's body had been found, according to the court filings.

Creato, the motions said, told detectives that Brendan was afraid of the dark and that it was "just so unlikely that he would just get up and leave" from the love seat in the living room, where Brendan had slept that night.

When detectives told Creato his son had been found dead, Creato asked several questions, according to the motions, including, "When did he pass?"

"We don't know that," Prosecutor's Office Detective Michael Rhoads replied. "There's a lot of questions that we need answers to and we need your help to find out."

"Yes, sir," Creato said, according to the filing. "I'll tell you anything."

Creato said detectives could search his iPhone 6. He also said during the questioning, "I'll do anything. I have nothing to hide," the motions say.

Creato was arrested Jan. 11 and remains in the Camden County Jail on $750,000 bail.

Prosecutors allege that Creato killed Brendan to stop his 17-year-old girlfriend, who investigators said disliked children, from leaving him. Investigators reviewed more than 9,000 text messages between Creato and the teen to reach that conclusion.

Prosecutors said the girlfriend was away at college when Brendan died. Brendan's mother, Samantha Denoto, did not live with Creato.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 16.

mboren@phillynews.com

856-779-3829 @borenmc