Prosecutors allege Creato killed his son because his then-girlfriend didn't like that he had a child.
CAMDEN -- The ex-girlfriend of David "D.J." Creato Jr. acknowledged at his murder trial Tuesday that she wished at times that he would give up custody of his 3-year-old son, Brendan.
Prosecutors have argued that Creato, 23, of Haddon Township, killed his son and dumped his body in Cooper River Park Oct. 13, 2015 because he was afraid his girlfriend, Julia Stensky, was going to leave him due to the child. Creato denies the charges.
Stensky testified that soon after she and Creato got together, she started attending Pace University in New York City and visiting him in Haddon Township on some weekends.
On the weekend before Brendan was found dead, she said, she was annoyed Creato couldn't pick her up at a train station and that he had custody of his son that weekend.
"My logic at the time was I believed I was coming down, you, know, sacrificing my weekends in New York to be with DJ," she said. "I was 17 at the time and I just didn't think I was ready for the responsibility of care for another woman's toddler."
She said that she told him it would be better if he just let the boy's mother or grandparents have custody, even if it meant paying child support.
Creato told police in an interview that Stensky had given him an ultimatum that weekend, saying she would leave, but they talked more and decided not to break up.
Cop: Appeared dead tot was placed in stream
Creato called 911 on the morning of Oct. 13, 2015 to report that he woke up to find his son was missing. A police dog tracked Brendan's scent to a stream in Cooper River Park, where the boy was found dead. His socks were clean, which Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah told jurors means the boy couldn't have walked the three-quarter-mile route from Creato's apartment to the stream.
Creato told police that while it was very unlikely his son would walk out of the apartment at night, he did know how to unlock the door. He also said that perhaps, if he had forgotten to lock the door, someone might have taken his son from the home.
Creato was questioned for hours that day, but was only indicted and arrested three months later. His murder trial in Camden County Superior Court began April 20 and is expected to last until the end of May.
Shah told jurors that Stensky was in New York City when Brendan went missing, and witnesses and surveillance back up her alibi.
Stensky tried to invoke her fifth amendment right to refuse to testify in order to avoid incriminating herself, but Judge John T. Kelley ruled that she did not have a good reason and had to testify.
In addition to testifying about her feelings toward Brendan, Stensky told jurors that her former boyfriend had "financial problems" -- she and his mother often paid for his food -- and was jealous that she was talking to a male classmate. She recalled telling police that Creato was afraid she was going to leave him for another man.
Shah told jurors in her opening statement that Creato may have also been motivated to kill the boy because he did not have enough money to split the cost of Brendan's preschool with the boy's mother: his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Denoto.
The prosecutor also told jurors that Creato was crazed with jealousy the night before he reported his son missing. Creato told police himself that he tried to call her 9 times, and a detective testified Creato had logged into Stensky's snapchat at 1:30 a.m.
Dad said maybe spirits drew son to stream
During cross-examination by Creato's attorney, Richard Fuschino Jr., Stensky said she saw Creato with his son between five to 10 times and believed he was a good parent.
"He was a good father. He tried his best," she said. "He gave him toys and stuff to play with... We would go on walks."
Every time she told him she would rather Brendan wasn't in his life, he always said that would never happen, Stensky said.
Fuschino asked her whether she ever told Creato to get rid of or kill his son. "Absolutely not," she said. She said the last time she talked to Creato was Jan. 11, 2016, the day he was indicted.
The lead detective in the case, Michael Rhodes of the Camden County prosecutor's office, testified last week that Stensky agreed to come to Haddon Township and gave one statement to police the day Brendan was found dead.
However, Rhodes said he later found a blog post by Stensky in which she referred to Brendan as a "mistake" that tied Creato down and said she didn't want to be tied down because of it, too. He asked Stensky to come give another statement but she had hired an attorney and refused, Rhodes testified.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.