Prosecutors allege David Creato Jr. carried his son to the location before reporting him missing.
CAMDEN -- Prosecutors in the murder trial of David "D.J." Creato Jr. have alleged that he carried his son Brendan, 3, to the spot in Cooper River Park where he was found dead Oct. 13, 2015.
But a federal agent told jurors Wednesday that there is no cellphone evidence to indicate that Creato was in that part of Haddon Township in the 13 hours before his son's body was found.
That doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't there. FBI Special Agent Bill Shute said Wednesday that it means that during that time period, his phone did not ping the cellphone towers that cover that area of Cooper River Park.
FBI Special Agent Bill Shute shows jurors a map he created to show that David Creato Jr.'s cellphone only pinged towers in the shaded area - where his home and his parents' are marked in yellow - and not in the area where his son's body was found. That spot is marked in red. If a person in the park had sent or received a call or text, or used data, it would have pinged the towers, Shute said.
Creato, 23, on trial for murder, called 911 around 6 am. Oct. 13, 2015 and reported that he woke up to find his son missing. He told police he had last seen him when he put him to bed around 9 p.m. the night before.
Authorities found the boy in a stream three-quarters of a mile away and eventually charged Creato with murder, concluding that he had killed his son because his teenage girlfriend did not like children and their relationship was on the rocks. Investigators believe that since Brendan was found wearing only clean socks, he must have been carried to the stream.
Creato has at various times suggested his son walked out and to the lake, possibly drawn by "spirits," or was taken by someone if the apartment door was left unlocked.
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Medical Examiner Gerald "Buck" Feigin testified Wednesday morning that he and two other colleagues could not determine exactly what killed Brendan. He testified that after seeing signs of oxygen deprivation, he listed the cause of death as "homicidal violence" which could include drowning, suffocation, strangling or another kind of asphyxiation.
Shute, an investigator who deals in cell phone analysis, also testified in the sixth day of the trial Wednesday.
He said that starting at 8 p.m. Oct 12, Creato's phone never pinged a tower other than those covering the area that includes his home and his parents' home.
Investigators focused on the time period starting at 8 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015 because that's when Brendan's aunt and his grandmother dropped him off at Creato's apartment.
Under questioning by Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Moran, Shute confirmed that if someone went to the park but left their phone at home, turned it off or simply didn't use it, there would also be no record that they had been there.
Shute said Creato's phone didn't ping any cell towers after 10:07 p.m. on Oct. 12. A detective from the prosecutor's office testified that Creato said he went to bed around 10 p.m., though his phone showed he accessed Stensky's Snapchat account around 1:30 a.m.
Creato also told police that he tried to call his girlfriend at least nine times before 10 p.m., which Shah told jurors was because he was crazed with jealousy that Stensky was talking to a male classmate.
The cell data Shute presented, as well as surveillance footage and witness accounts, supported Stensky's alibi. She was on a train heading back to Pace University in New York City on the morning of Oct. 12 and Brendan was seen alive by several family members as late as 8 p.m. that night.
Cellphone records are expected to play a large part in the trial.
Specifically, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah told jurors to expect to see over one thousand text messages that Creato and his then-girlfriend, Julia Stensky, exchanged in the days leading up to Brendan's death.
They include texts in which Stensky told Creato she wished he didn't have a kid and Creato replied that maybe in the future they could both "get what we want," Shah said.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.