A New Jersey man who killed his 3-year-old son because the boy was getting in the way of his relationship with a teenage girlfriend has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
David ‘DJ’ Creato Jr, 23, learned his fate on Friday after prosecutors played a 14-minute video that showed a collage of photographs of his late toddler son, Brendan. He did not look at the slideshow.
Creato pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in August and admitted that he ‘recklessly caused his son’s death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life by depriving Brendan of oxygen.’
David Creato stands with his lawyer Richard J. Fuschino Jr. as he is sentenced to a 10-year prison term for killing his 3-year-old son, in Camden County Superior Court Friday
Creato (left) pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in August and admitted to depriving his toddler son (pictured right) of oxygen
Prosecutors say Creato killed his son because he was worried his then-17-year-old girlfriend was going to leave him while she was away at college because she did not like spending time with the toddler.
She was never charged in the boy’s death, and the couple have since broken up.
Creato initially maintained his son wandered away from his Haddon Township home on October 13, 2015. The father called 911 around 6am to report the toddler missing.
At his first trial, which ended in a mistrial in May, prosecutors said the boy’s socks neon-green were clean, despite muddy conditions, when his pajama-clad body was found hours later in a wooded area by the Cooper River, about a mile from the home.
A medical examiner had testified Brendan died from ‘homicidal violence’ but couldn’t determine where or when the death had occurred.
Prosecutors said Creato killed his son (pictured together) because he was worried his then-17-year-old girlfriend was going to leave him while she was away at college
Samantha Denoto lowers her head as a video of her son is played before David Creato Jr. is sentenced on Friday
Prosecutors played a 14-minute video that showed a collage of photographs of Brendan Creato (pictured)
Brendan’s brain showed an abnormality consistent with oxygen deprivation that can be caused by asphyxiation, drowning or strangulation, but it couldn’t be determined which of those led to his death.
During Creato’s sentencing Friday, a prosecutor read aloud a victim impact statement from Brendan’s maternal grandmother, Danielle Collins, who accused the young father of denying the family closure by refusing to admit that he murdered her grandson, reported NJ. com.
‘DJ, I hope one day you are able to speak the truth about what happened,’ the statement read, in part.
Creato wore a blank expression on his face when his sentence was announced. He could be released from prison on parole within six years and nine months, having received credit for 628 days served in jail.
Brendan’s mom Samantha Denoto is pictured with the boy sometime before his death
Following the hearing, Creato’s father, David Creato Sr, maintained that his son did not kill Brendan, but opted for the plea deal because he did not want to risk being put on trial a second time, reported Philly.com.
‘Something happened to Brendan that night. He was stolen out of thin air,’ he told reporters. ‘I won’t stop until I find answers or I die.’