September 28, 2016
A trial date for the murder case against David “DJ” Creato will be determined Monday by Superior Court Judge John T. Kelly.
The judge had originally listed Monday for the start of the trial against the South Jersey man accused of murdering his three-year-old son, Brendan Creato.
But the judge’s office now says the proceeding in the Camden County Hall of Justice will instead be a conference to schedule a firm trial date.
The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Creato’s lawyer, Richard J. Fuschino Jr., declined comment. His client has been jailed, unable to post $750,000 bail, since Feb. 8 when he entered a not guilty plea before the judge.
Creato's son's body was found in Cooper River Park on the morning of Oct. 13, 2015, about a half-mile from the apartment the two shared in Westmont, a section of Haddon Township in South Jersey.
DJ Creato had called 911 about three hours earlier that morning, reporting his son was missing. He in fact suggested to the dispatcher that Brendan, who slept on a couch in the living room, had let himself out and wandered off.
The prosecutor in the Creato case has alleged that DJ killed his son – filicide – to further a romance with his former girlfriend, Julie “Julia” Stensky. She was a 17-year-old college student in New York at the time of the homicide. She has since joined the Air Force.
The prosecution contends Stensky’s "disdain" for Brendan drove DJ to kill his son. Homicide prosecutor Christine Shah has characterized Stensky as “hateful” and “discontent."
Part of the prosecution case relies on messages, social media postings, and pictures exchanged by the pair, including the nearly 9,500 texts they exchanged in less than five months after meeting online.
Creato, who was then 22-years-old, and Stensky, still a minor at the time they dated, had visited the spot where Brendan’s body was discovered on the weekend before his son went missing.
