The officer at times fought back tears as she talked of her dog tracking the missing boy's scent.
CAMDEN -- On the second day of testimony in the murder trial of David "D.J." Creato Jr., Delaware River Port Authority Officer Constance Nicholson was collected and matter-of-fact as she described how her K9 partner began to track the scent of a missing boy Oct. 13, 2015.
Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah, left, questions DPRA Officer Constance Nicholson in Camden County Superior Court April 25, 2017. But several points in her testimony about the death of Creato's son, Brendan, 3, she apologized and fought back tears.
That's what happened when she was describing getting ready to track the scent; considering grabbing a jacket and hoping she was tracking a boy that was alive.
"I thought if we found the child I could put it on him if he was chilly," she said with emotion.
She told jurors how her dog tracked the scent down Cooper Street, into Cooper River Park, across a field and down a path to a creek. That's where her dog went right, while her colleague from the DRPA went left.
Within moments, her coworker got her attention and she went to see what he found.
"I saw a small child lying in the water," Nicholson said, grabbing a tissue. He had brown hair, white and orange pajamas and matched the description of the boy she and the dog had been tracking, she said.
State: Dad said spirits drew boy to stream
Creato has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of his son. The lead prosecutor, Christine Shah, told the jury in her opening statements that Creato killed his son and carried him to the side of the stream in Cooper River Park. His motive, she said, was his rocky relationship with his 17-year-old girlfriend, who disliked his child.
Creato denies that. He told police he put his son to bed on the couch at his Cooper Street apartment and in the morning, discovered he was gone. He called 911, telling police that Brendan knew how to unlock the door and must have wandered out overnight.
In a conversation secretly recorded by Brendan's mother a month after his death, Creato said that perhaps "spirits" drew the boy from the house and to the spot by the stream, which he considered sacred.
Also testifying Tuesday morning was Creato's mother, Lisa Creato. She testified that she sometimes visits psychics and, like her son, believes in spirits.
Lisa Creato, mother of David "D.J." Creato Jr. and grandmother to Brendan Creato, wipes her eyes while testifying in Camden County Superior Court April 25, 2017. She was moved to tears at the sight of photographs of her grandson's pajamas, which his aunt had dressed him in the night before he disappeared.
Lisa Creato testified that earlier on Columbus Day weekend of 2015, days before his death, Brendan spent that Saturday night at her home. She recalled that Creato's girlfriend, Julie Stensky, was visiting him from New York that weekend.
DJ Creato also dropped the boy off again at her home Monday night to have a bath, she testified, because DJ's apartment only had a shower.
Brendan's aunt bathed him and after putting him in his pajamas, they walked with him the block to Creato's apartment, she said. The exterior back door was unlocked, she said, but after dropping Brendan off, she locked it on her way out.
She also testified that she kept a screwdriver handy when going to Creato's because if that exterior back door was locked, she could "pop" the lock with it. There was another interior door from the hallway to his apartment that she testified was not locked when she left shortly before 9 p.m.
In the morning, she said, her son called her to say that her grandson was missing.
"I flew out of my bed," she said, running the block to her son's house to help him look. She told him to call 911. "It's kind of a blur."
Judge: No media at jury's crime scene visit
On cross examination by defense attorney Richard Fuschino Jr., Lisa Creato testified that Brendan could unlock doors and that when he was at her home, he sometimes let himself into the backyard without permission or supervision. She said it never happened at night, however.
Shah asked Lisa Creato if her grandson was afraid of the dark, as she has of every witness who knew Brendan. They all confirmed that he was and liked to sleep with a light on outside his room.
Shah told the jurors in her opening statement that there is no way a boy who was afraid of the dark would walk to a park at night by himself, notwithstanding the fact that his only footwear, socks, were clean when his body was found.
Lisa Creato stole occasional glances at her son while she was being questioned, giving him a hint of a smile shortly after taking the stand.
The trial is expected to continue Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to the end of May.
The jury is expected to visit the scene where Brendan was found later this week, weather permitting, but Judge John T. Kelley on Monday issued an order banning the media, without explanation, from attending and reporting on the visit.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.