Jury Continues To Review Evidence In David Creato Murder Trial

HADDON TOWNSHIP, NJ — The jury in the David "DJ" Creato murder trial is in recess over the weekend and will return to deliberations on Tuesday. Creato is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in the death of his 3-year-old son Brendan.

The jury went into deliberations late Tuesday afternoon and spent much of the last two days reviewing key pieces of evidence.

The jury deliberated for a little more than four hours on Wednesday before asking to review three pieces of evidence presented during the trial.

It saw video of the interrogation Haddon Township Police conducted with Creato in the hours after he reported his son missing, but before they told him they found his son’s body in Cooper River Park on Oct. 13, 2015 on Wednesday. It then heard an audio recording of the 911 call Creato made to police, to report his son missing.

On Thursday morning, it reviewed an audio recording of a conversation Brendan’s mother Samantha Denoto secretly recorded while talking to Creato about their son’s disappearance. During the conversation, Creato tell Denoto he thought a “spirit” might have summoned their son to the spot in which his body was found.

All recordings are being reviewed in the court room. Judge John Kelley denied the jury's request for access to all of the audio and video evidence in the jury room, according to the Courier Post. He said court rules prohibit this so that jurors don't put too much emphasis on one piece of evidence.

Transcripts are not permitted in the jury room because they are not considered evidence, according to the report. The purpose of the transcripts is that the be read along with audio and video evidence.

Jurors are welcome to view video and listen to audio evidence in the courtroom at any time. On Thursday afternoon, they returned to the courtroom to once again review video evidence from Creato's interrogation at the Haddon Township Police Department.

During the course of the video, Creato repeatedly asks if there are any updates concerning the whereabouts of his son, whom he had reported missing around 6 a.m. on Oct. 13. When investigators finally told him his son was found dead, David Creato paused before he said "No, no, no, he was my best friend."

The jury has viewed this piece of evidence four times total, including three replays and once during the trial. Creato didn't testify during the trial.

Brendan Creato was last seen alive at 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015, when his grandmother dropped him off at his father’s apartment. Creato reported him missing the morning of Oct. 13, 2015, at 6 a.m. The toddler's body was found about three hours later. Creato was arrested and indicted on murder and endangerment charges in his son’s death on Jan. 12, 2015.

The prosecution contends Creato killed his son because his then girlfriend Julia Stensky, a college student at the time, didn’t like children. She testified during trial that although she didn’t like when Brendan was around, she never asked Creato to kill his son.

Attached image: David "D.J." Creato Jr., listens to the testimony during his trial in Camden, N.J., Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Creato is accused of killing his 3-year-old son in October 2015. (Jessica Griffin /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)