Disturbing details in the death of 3-year-old David Creato were made public at the arraignment of his father, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

The child's mother, Samantha, was in the courtroom as assistant Camden County prosecutor Christine Shah made the prosecution's case against 22-year-old David Creato Jr. and described how Brendan was found with clean socks, wearing pajama tops in a wooded area off South Park Drive in Haddon Township on Oct. 12 after being reported missing by his father. Creato has told police the area was "spiritual" to the boy.

Shah said that the 3-year-old was also afraid of the dark and would not have left the house in the early morning hours on his own, and that there were no signs of forced entry at the home.

According to Shah, investigators believe Creato placed his son there after smothering or drowning him. She did not specify a cause of death except to say he died as a result of "homicidal violence."

Creato, Jr. had a 17-year-old-girlfriend attending college in New York who did not like Brendan and refused to see him if the boy was with his father, Shah said. Creato was also jealous of a male student she talked to, and Creato posed as the girlfriend online to tell that male student to leave "her" alone, Shah said.

Creato's lawyer, Ricahrd Fuschino, called the case a "weak" circumstantial case.

Bail was set at $750,000 for Creato who is being held at the Camden County Jail.

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