David Creato Parole Hearing Date Set

HADDON TOWNSHIP, NJ — The Haddon Township man who was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after he admitted to killing his 3-year-old son becomes eligible for parole on July 10, 2024, according to the New Jersey State Department of Corrections website.

David “DJ” Creato was sentenced on Sept. 29 to 10 years in prison in the death of his 3-year-old son, Brendan. His parole hearing will take place about six years, 10 months from his sentencing date. Creato has been in prison since he was arrested on Jan. 12, 2016, meaning he will serve the mandatory minimum eight years, six months in prison before his hearing. Upon his release, he will be subject to five years of parole supervision.

Creato, who had been in Camden County Jail since his arrest, is now incarcerated in the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Trenton, according to the database. At sentencing, his attorney, Richard Fuschino, made the case for Creato to be incarcerated in South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.

On Sept. 5, Creato pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the toddler’s death. He had been charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
He entered into the plea about a week before a second trial in the case was scheduled to begin. His trial in the spring resulted in a hung jury, despite the fact that the jury voted 10-2 in favor of finding Creato guilty.

In pleading guilty, Creato 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” on Oct. 13, 2015, according to the prosecutor’s office. He reported his son missing early that morning, and the child’s body was found three hours later near the Cooper River.

The prosecution’s case was built on circumstantial evidence, with the prosecution accusing Creato of killing his son because his then-girlfriend — who was in college — didn’t like children. During the trial, his now ex-girlfriend said she didn't like children, but she never asked him to kill Brendan.

The prosecution pointed to Brendan's clean socks and the lack of any shoes in the area near the Cooper River where Brendan Creato's body was found made the death seem suspicious. Brendan Creato was wearing clean socks when his body was found. Wearing no shoes, investigators walked the same trail he would have from his father’s apartment and their socks were filthy when they were finished. Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah also had members of the jury take the same walk during the trial.

Fuschino accused the prosecutor’s office of mishandling the case and not conducting a thorough investigation because police believed Creato was guilty from the start. He continues to maintain his client is innocent.

At one point, Creato told Brendan's mother he believed a “spirit” might have summoned their son to the spot near the Cooper River in which his body was found. A cause of death was never pinpointed, with Shah using the term “homicidal violence of unknown etiology.” Investigators believed the child was either smothered or drowned.

Attached image: David "D.J." Creato Jr., listens to the testimony during his trial in Camden, N.J., Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Creato was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in his son’s death, and his parole hearing is set for 2024.