Jury deliberations start in New Jersey father’s murder trial

Jury deliberations have started in the murder trial of a New Jersey man accused of killing his 3-year-old son because the boy had become an impediment to his relationship with a teenage girlfriend.

The panel got the case late Tuesday, shortly after defense and prosecution lawyers concluded their closing arguments.

Defense lawyers told jurors that prosecutors failed to show 23-year-old David Creato was guilty. But prosecutors noted that Creato was the only person with Brendan Creato the night the boy disappeared. They say it wouldn’t take much to smother a sleeping child.

Creato maintains Brendan wandered away from his Haddon Township home in October 2015. The boy’s body was found hours later in a creek.