Brendan Link Creato, 3, was reported missing from his home on the 100 block of Cooper Street by a family member at approximately 6 a.m. on Tuesday
HADDON TWP. -- News that a 3-year-old boy reported missing early Tuesday morning had been found dead a mere three hours later left neighbors of a sleepy community off Haddon Avenue stunned.
Brendan Link Creato was reported missing from his home on the 100 block of Cooper Street by a family member at approximately 6 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
"I almost got out of the car and I'm so glad I didn't because I wouldn't be able to handle that mentally or emotionally," said nearby resident Courtney Doss, who spent the morning looking for the boy -- just like countless other groups of neighbors seen pacing the tree-lined streets early Tuesday morning.
According to the prosecutor's office, a police K-9 unit from the Delaware River Port Authority Police Department tracked the missing boy to a wooded area off South Park Drive, which borders the Cooper River.
The boy was found dead shortly before 9 a.m. Prosecutor's office spokesman Andy McNeil said late Tuesday afternoon that the results of the autopsy are pending and that no arrests had been made.
Trash was out for collection in the neighborhood where Brendan lived and longtime resident Dee Bailey said when she went out to look after receiving an automated phone call from police and the school district, she made sure to check the barrels, bins and boxes stacked along every street.
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She wasn't checking to see if the boy was inside; she thought maybe he went out and a made a fort.
"Everybody started looking around," said Bailey. "Naturally you want to help ... I never saw so many people walking around."
"This is a close-knit little town," she continued.
The tragic death stood in stark contrast to home upon home decorated for trick-or-treaters who would be visiting in two weeks' time. Motorists pulled over to talk with pedestrians so they could find out what was going on, neighbors sat on their porches while talking on cell phones and the news was shared inside nearby businesses.
Initially describing the distance from the boy's home to where his body was found as "very far," township resident Carolyne Abbate couldn't understand how the 3-year-old could have walked more than half-a-mile during the pre-dawn hours.
"There's no way a little 3-year-old walked all the way down there by himself," Abbate said while standing with neighbors and her 9-year-old daughter, Emily.
"This is heartbreaking," she said.
A vigil for Brendan will be held at dusk on Tuesday near his home at the intersection of Virginia and Cooper streets.
"I just felt this needs to be done," said organizer Dave Wallace. "I just hoped to reach enough people to let this family know we all care and have their back. We are all family in this town. We stick together."
Readers with information are asked to contact Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Michael Rhoads at (856) 225-8561 or Haddon Township Police Detective Don Quinn at (856) 833-6208. Tips may also be emailed to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.