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City Confidential Season 14 Episode 6
Transcript
00:00It's kind of just this scar in the community that still hurts.
00:22It was really frightening to hear that a three-year-old was missing, you know, and he could be anywhere.
00:27What sources do say is his father was caring for him, and he was reported missing at 6 o'clock this morning.
00:35It was no longer an accidental drowning. It was no longer a natural death. It was a homicide.
00:42I think it was a lightning bolt that, jeez, this happened to somebody in our safe neighborhood. What else is going on?
00:50I wish I could go back and change how everything went, and we'd be living a happy life, and I'd almost have a 10-year-old.
01:04From the pulsating streets of big cities to Main Street USA, no neighborhood is safe from the unthinkable.
01:15These are the stories of innocence lost, of communities changed forever.
01:19This is City Confidential.
01:32Head just nine miles east of Philadelphia, across the Delaware River, and you'll smack into Haddon Township, New Jersey,
01:39a three-square-mile area of land with a rich history.
01:45Back in 1698, John Haddon, a wealthy businessman from London, purchased the land and sent his 21-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, to manage his investment.
01:55For the next 62 years, she worked to transform the wilderness into a prosperous farming community.
02:06By the mid-1800s, the fertile land was some of the most sought-after in the area.
02:13Then the iron horse roared into town with the construction of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad.
02:19It was a speedy way to get goods out and new residents in.
02:25Today, the farms are long gone, but the 15,407 hard-working Salt-of-the-Earth residents are still going strong,
02:37always watching out for each other and the next generation.
02:42The thing that always stands out to me about Haddon Township is there's a lot of schools within the small area,
02:48and that every time you go by there, either in the morning or in the afternoon,
02:51you're going to see groups of kids walking to and from school with their parents.
02:54It's an important aspect in a community because these children are going to grow up and they're going to be the future.
03:02That's what's most important.
03:05Everything around this is just good, wholesome.
03:09That's why families flock here, just like fame director Steven Spielberg's parents did in 1952.
03:15In fact, Spielberg has often said Haddon Township's Westmont Theater is where his love of filmmaking began.
03:24In many of his blockbusters, delightful little suburban towns like this one are used as backdrops,
03:31and people here take pride in that Hollywood connection.
03:34So in 2015, locals were completely stunned when their filmic hometown became the setting for a real-life horror movie.
03:46On October 13th, Haddon Township 9-1-1 Dispatch gets a frantic call from 22-year-old resident DJ Criato.
04:069-1-1, where's your emergency?
04:07Police are immediately sent to DJ's apartment in Haddon Township's Westmont District to help find the toddler.
04:34DJ Criato told the police the last time he saw his son was around 9.30 when he put him in bed.
04:41He then said that he went to bed at 10 o'clock at night, and he woke up around 6 o'clock and noticed his son was missing.
04:49DJ tells the Texas he scoured every inch of his apartment.
04:54When he didn't find his son, he called his relatives, including his ex, Brendan's mom, Samantha Donato, to help look for the boy.
05:04When he called me that morning, I was very shocked, and I just hurried out as quick as I could, not really knowing what the situation was.
05:15And the drive over was very, very frantic.
05:18I don't remember much about it. It almost seems like I got there in one second.
05:24Your mind races, and you're just thinking a million different things that don't make sense, but still hoping that, you know, it's, you know, everything's going to be okay.
05:34DJ described his son, Brendan, as approximately three feet tall.
05:39He was wearing red and gray sports pajamas with socks.
05:42He was with brown hair.
05:45He was described as kind of a very sweet, average child, that he was always outside playing, playing his favorite game, which was Pirates with Captain Hook.
05:55He was smiley, and he would wave at people passing by, that he was just kind of a well-liked neighborhood child.
06:03The fire department's search and rescue team is deployed, and a command post is immediately set up.
06:14They conduct a reverse 911, and what a reverse 911 is, Central Communications will put out a phone blast to the neighborhood,
06:22and it will put out a description of Brendan and what he's wearing in the contact ahead of Township Police Department if he's spotted.
06:28It caused an understandable commotion in the neighborhood.
06:34I think that everybody who's ever raised a child could put themselves in the shoes of somebody who had a three-year-old missing.
06:43It was really frightening, you know, and he could be anywhere.
06:48I went out front, and it was very chaotic.
06:52The police were out there.
06:53The helicopters were flying.
06:56Everybody that was locally around was out searching, whether it was searching their backyard, their neighbor's backyard, around their house,
07:04walking up and down their block, screaming his name.
07:07By 7 a.m., the search expands beyond the Westmont neighborhood.
07:14Haddon Township volunteers put word out on social media.
07:17They scour woods, construction sites, and abandoned houses, anywhere a little boy might be stuck or hiding.
07:25Investigators for the prosecutor's office will not confirm what neighbors posted on Facebook that he was in his pajamas and missing.
07:31What sources do say is his father was caring for him, and he was reported missing at 6 o'clock this morning.
07:38By 8 a.m., there's still no trace of Brendan.
07:42Police call in the county's K-9 units to help cover more ground.
07:46We reported to the command post, and I got my partner ready.
07:51I put his tracking harness on, and I was greeted by one of the detectives, and I just requested an item of Brendan's that would have his scent on it.
08:05Officer Kai Nicholson was able to get a slipper from Brendan's apartment and use that as an article of clothing for her dog to track Brendan's scent.
08:14I went to the front door of the apartment to begin my track.
08:24We went West, and I could tell he was kind of searching about serpentining when they are on scent.
08:33A lot of times they'll serpentine back and forth almost like a snake.
08:37The search leads nowhere.
08:39Officer Nicholson goes back to DJ Criado's apartment to try one more time.
08:46Her K-9 partner, Cowan, immediately picks up the scent again.
08:50He took me across the street, and he pulled me off of the path into this wooded area.
08:58There were trees and overgrowth, and there was an opening, almost like the size of a football field, just an open area.
09:12And he, at that point, started pulling harder and harder, and at times I was having trouble keeping up with him.
09:18I just knew that he was picking up on a scent, and I needed to put everything that I've learned in my training into play and follow his lead.
09:33As the K-9 pulls her down a small hillside that leads to the Cooper River,
09:42no one has any idea that the heart of picture-perfect Haddon Township is about to be broken into a million pieces.
09:53Just a mile from three-year-old Brendan Criado's home,
10:03Officer Constance Nicholson and her K-9 partner, Cowan,
10:07stopped short at the banks of Haddon Township's Cooper River.
10:12Approximately 20 feet from me, my sergeant said he's right here.
10:17So it was at the creek where we found them.
10:23Brendan was laying on a rock with his head kind of positioned on the rock, and most of his body submerged.
10:36It's one of the worst things you have to experience, and seeing Brendan in that water,
10:40that will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life.
10:45Normally, we reward our dogs when they complete a task.
10:53And, uh, we cheer them up, and we give them a toy, and we...
11:04Sorry.
11:06And we tell them they did a good job.
11:09And, uh, I didn't have it in me to do that.
11:12Brendan doesn't have any obvious injuries, and he's wearing gray and red sports pajamas like his father described.
11:26He was also wearing these neon socks, uh, and immediately I observed that his socks look clean.
11:37So, you know, you're looking at that, and you're thinking, really, two possibilities.
11:41The fall, so you're walking on leaves and dirt and grass.
11:46There's no way that someone could walk that way without collecting something on their socks.
11:51Well, then the only other possibility would be if they collected something on those socks,
11:55and then the water washed it away.
11:56But they were so pristine that there wasn't even kind of any residue.
11:59So, immediately, what you're thinking is it doesn't seem like he walked down to where he was ultimately laid to rest.
12:11Investigators scour the area looking for any clues a potential killer might have left behind.
12:18They don't find a thing.
12:19Meanwhile, patrol officers take Brendan's parents to the station so detectives can break the terrible news.
12:28At the top of the creek embankment, concerned friends and neighbors are trying to figure out what's going on below.
12:36The firemen began walking up the street, and when I looked at them, I knew they found them,
12:41because they all had their heads down.
12:43Some of them appeared to be crying.
12:45It was really horrible.
12:49It was.
12:50In any scenario, you know, a child death in the community is heart-wrenching and shocking.
12:58To have it be this kind of mysterious scenario in a place like Haddon Township, it's all the more.
13:05People immediately want to know what specifically happened here and how did it happen.
13:10The most horrific idea is that, as a parent, you lock your door at night and you go up and put your kids to bed and say goodnight,
13:19and you wake up in the morning and they're gone.
13:22So there was a real sense of fear and shock about the circumstances surrounding kind of Brendan's death immediately
13:30that kind of reverberated throughout the community.
13:32At the police station, detectives have two jobs.
13:41One, to inform Brendan's parents of his death, and the other, to make sure they had nothing to do with it.
13:48They place them in two different rooms so they can carefully monitor their reactions.
13:53I had that gut feeling before they even told me anything.
13:59You can tell when something tragic's happened without words being involved.
14:03You found your son.
14:19Mom, he's deceased.
14:21Oh, come on, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
14:24He was found on the shore.
14:27No, no.
14:29I'm sorry for your loss.
14:30No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
14:33No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
14:35He can't tell me this.
14:37I'm sorry, sir.
14:38My best friend.
14:39I love him so much.
14:41I...
14:41We failed him.
14:45Because he was only a kid.
14:47But...
14:48You know, kind of like when your child falls and, you know, whether they get hurt,
14:56you still, as a parent, you feel like it's your fault.
15:00So...
15:01Anything that happens to them, you know, you still take on that guilt.
15:14Samantha tells Detective Rhodes that she and DJ were no longer together, but co-parenting
15:19wasn't a problem for them.
15:21They lived just a mile apart in Haddon Township.
15:26Samantha and DJ had a shared custody agreement with Brendan, and they would alternate weekends.
15:33There's no court order demanding one person gets Brendan on certain days.
15:38It was just a mutual agreement that they had.
15:41So for the last year and a half of Brendan's life, he moved between the couple's two homes,
15:47knowing he was loved.
15:49Even if his parents didn't feel that way about each other anymore.
15:51I believe he first started our relationship eighth grade summer, right before going into high school.
16:00He was like a very sweet kid.
16:03We could talk about anything.
16:05Like, we just felt like we've known each other for our whole entire lives as teenagers.
16:09It was like a best friend relationship that just kind of turned into teenage dating.
16:19I had gotten pregnant very shortly after my 18th birthday, and that was only a few months
16:27after DJ and I had graduated high school.
16:30It was a shock, but we didn't have any doubt that we weren't going to follow through with the pregnancy.
16:43DJ was a very good father.
16:46He was honestly the best.
16:49His favorite thing to do was to read Brendan books at night to go to sleep.
16:54He did that from, I think, the day we came home.
16:58Samantha tells police both her and DJ are currently in new relationships.
17:04But DJ was the same devoted dad he always was to Brendan.
17:09Since Brendan was staying at DJ's apartment before he disappeared,
17:12detectives want to know how the night played out.
17:16DJ says he tucked the three-year-old in, locked up the apartment,
17:20then called his girlfriend, Julia, who was in college two hours away.
17:25What time did you talk to your girlfriend?
17:28I'm trying to remember that exactly.
17:30My girlfriend, I was talking to her probably around 8.30.
17:33We were just, like, texting, saying goodnight and stuff.
17:36She said she was going to bed early.
17:38She had a math test in the morning.
17:40Has your son ever left the house on his own cord?
17:43No.
17:44He always, every time we leave the house, he says to me,
17:46Daddy, can I open the door?
17:47Daddy, can I open the door?
17:48I'm like, no, wait till I'm ready to leave.
17:50He'll keep asking me till I'm ready.
17:51As soon as I'm ready, I'm like, now you can open the door.
17:53And then he'll open the door and we'll go out.
17:55Is there any other exits in the house besides?
17:58Like, it's just a bad exit.
18:00How about the windows?
18:00The windows go to the floor?
18:01Are they high up?
18:02They're high up.
18:03I'm on the second floor.
18:04When you got up this morning, were your windows open
18:07or are they closed?
18:07They were closed.
18:08They were closed?
18:09You can take a guess.
18:09I want to say he wandered off, but I can't see that.
18:15I just can't.
18:18Knowing your son, honestly.
18:19Yeah.
18:20Like, in the middle of the night, if he wakes up, he's coming.
18:26He goes straight to someone.
18:27He's afraid of the dark.
18:28Like, so for him to just up and leave, I can't see that.
18:40I don't see him just walking out the door and just leaving
18:44and going all the way down to Cooper.
18:46That sounds so unlikely to me.
18:47And I feel like that's where there's something wrong.
18:50Only eight hours into the investigation,
18:54cops have more questions than answers.
18:57And when the autopsy results come in,
19:00it only adds to the mystery of what really happened
19:03to the little boy in Haddon Township.
19:11In Haddon Township, authorities are quickly trying to get
19:15to the bottom of what happened to Brendan Criado.
19:17Just 10 hours after they find the three-year-old's body,
19:22his rushed autopsy results are in.
19:25The medical examiner ruled that Brendan's death was undetermined.
19:32There was no water in his lungs.
19:35Evidently, there was none in his ears either,
19:37which you would expect if one side was placed on the rock
19:41and you drowned there.
19:43The medical examiner wanted a second opinion
19:47on an autopsy of Brendan.
19:51A lot of times it's good to have another set of eyes
19:53look at the body, especially in this case
19:55when you don't have any answers of why this three-year-old
19:59is found in a waterway three-quarters of a mile
20:01from his residence.
20:03The deputy medical examiner conducts his own autopsy.
20:07Hours later, he reports back.
20:11His results are no different.
20:13Cause of death is inconclusive.
20:17Knowing in their guts that the little boy
20:19didn't somehow end up at the Cooper River
20:21and clean socks in the middle of the night by himself,
20:24veteran detectives kick it up
20:26to the New Jersey State Medical Examiner
20:28to do another autopsy.
20:36Meanwhile, residents of the quintessential American suburb
20:39do their best to cope with what's happened.
20:48A lot of people were hugging and crying
20:50and, you know, it was very sad.
20:53Very, very sad.
20:54In a strange way, it's a good feeling
20:58because, you know,
20:59the people in the community who had in township care.
21:02You know, they come together when,
21:04when they're needed.
21:06They show up.
21:10It's very confusing, especially, like, we're all young,
21:13so we're all just like,
21:15oh my God, what is happening?
21:19It was very hard for the town to process,
21:22like, something like this could happen
21:25while everyone's sleeping,
21:26while no one's usually around.
21:29And, yeah.
21:43While the community openly mourns,
21:47cops quietly investigate their
21:49this-was-no-accident theory.
21:51DJ said all the doors and windows were locked
21:55the night Brendan disappeared.
21:57The cops go back to his apartment
21:59looking for signs of forced entry
22:01he may have missed.
22:03There are none.
22:08They want to develop a timeline
22:10when he was last seen,
22:11what was his condition.
22:13At that time,
22:14detectives spoke to neighbors and tenants,
22:16and they did not hear anything
22:17out of the ordinary that night
22:19leading up to Brendan being reported missing.
22:22So, on October 14th,
22:26in the early morning hours,
22:28members of our crime scene unit
22:29and homicide unit
22:30did a video reenactment of the walk
22:34in the middle of the night
22:35to simulate the lighting conditions.
22:36The video is very compelling
22:39because it's basically black.
22:41You would have to have some familiarity
22:43with the woods itself
22:45in order to navigate down to the waterway.
22:47The sergeants in the crime scene unit
22:49wore socks to simulate
22:51a child wearing socks.
22:54If a child walked down,
22:56what condition would the socks be in?
22:58When the sergeant got down there,
23:01his socks were completely filthy.
23:02It's promising evidence,
23:06but detectives realized
23:07a good attorney could blow the theory up
23:09since a grown man
23:10weighs a lot more than a child
23:11and his feet would sink into the mud.
23:14It's time for another test.
23:16One of the prosecutors
23:17volunteered their child,
23:20who was three years old at the time,
23:21similar height, weight to Brendan,
23:24and we were able to locate
23:26the same socks
23:27that Brendan was wearing that night
23:29and we placed them over
23:30the child's sneakers
23:32and simulated a similar walk
23:35during the daytime
23:36from DJ's apartment
23:38down to the woods
23:40and the results of that test
23:42were the socks were filthy.
23:45But since Brendan was found
23:47partially in the water,
23:49detectives realize
23:50it could be argued in court
23:52that the river washed the dirt off his socks.
23:55We placed the socks in water
23:57at the same location
23:59where Brendan was found
24:00and we left them in the water
24:02for 12 hours
24:03and coincidentally that day
24:06it was raining a lot.
24:08At the end of the 12 hours,
24:11we pulled the socks out of the water
24:13and they were completely filthy.
24:17Based on those kind of series of experiments,
24:20we felt confident
24:22in making the determination
24:23that there wasn't any way, shape, or form
24:25a scenario in which Brendan
24:26walked down there by himself.
24:33Detectives are going door-to-door
24:35trying to locate CCTV cameras
24:37in close proximity to DJ's apartment
24:40or to the Cooper River.
24:42We unfortunately did not find any cameras
24:46that were like the smoking gun
24:48where we could track somebody
24:49that was either walking with Brendan
24:52or Brendan walking for that matter
24:53or a vehicle that was observed
24:56in the area of the park.
24:59But the cameras are fixed
25:01and offer limited coverage.
25:02That means someone could have slipped by
25:04carrying the little boy.
25:06And when the results
25:07from the New Jersey State Medical Examiner
25:09come in, there's proof
25:11that's exactly what happened.
25:2172 hours after Brendan Criotto
25:23was found on the banks
25:25of a local river,
25:26the third autopsy results are in.
25:29The state medical examiner found
25:31that Brendan had died of lack of oxygen.
25:35There were two small petechiae in the eyes.
25:38Petechiae are tiny, first blood vessels
25:41in the white part of your eye.
25:43And petechiae can be evidence
25:44of asphyxiation,
25:46of the deprivation of oxygen.
25:48And there was a bite
25:50on the inner cheek.
25:52The bite was something
25:54that a child would do
25:55when they're unable to gather air.
25:57And in kind of a moment of terror,
25:59they could be potentially
26:00biting their cheek.
26:03It was no longer
26:04an accidental drowning.
26:06It was no longer a natural death.
26:08It was a homicide.
26:11Police know there are
26:12only three possible scenarios.
26:16Either someone had a key
26:17to DJ's apartment
26:18and took Brendan out.
26:20Brendan wandered out on his own
26:22and was snatched up
26:23before his socks
26:24even had a chance to get dirty.
26:26Or, Brendan died
26:28before ever leaving
26:29his father's apartment.
26:32Police keep their theories quiet,
26:34but they released
26:35the shocking news
26:36to Haddon Township
26:37that the little boy
26:39was murdered.
26:41I think the community
26:43was probably stunned
26:44because it's an optimistic
26:46community
26:47that looks for
26:48happy endings.
26:50And I think it was
26:52a lightning bolt
26:54that,
26:56geez, this happened to
26:57somebody in our safe neighborhood.
26:59who else is out there?
27:02What else is going on?
27:05The townspeople
27:06put out blue ribbons
27:07and hung them
27:08on their houses
27:09and on trees
27:10and things
27:11in their yards,
27:12really kind of in solidarity
27:13in the memory of Brendan.
27:19It helps you remember
27:20what was happening
27:21and what had happened.
27:23Every time you walked
27:24out of the house,
27:25you'd see them.
27:26I know I lost mine
27:27a few times.
27:28A bad rainstorm,
27:31it blew away,
27:31but I hooked it back up
27:32and kept putting it back up
27:34and it stayed there
27:35for a long time.
27:39I recall
27:40one blue ribbon
27:41placed on the corner
27:42across from my house,
27:43so that was a daily reminder
27:45I had a job to do
27:46and that was to get,
27:47obviously,
27:47some answers
27:47for the family
27:48and the community
27:49as to what happened
27:50to Brendan that day.
27:53Residents take action, too.
27:54They call police,
27:57pointing fingers
27:57at anyone
27:58they've ever wondered about.
28:00For a week,
28:02detectives work day and night
28:03chasing down
28:04dozens of tips.
28:06Finally,
28:07one rises to the top.
28:10There was a tip
28:11about a man
28:12coming from the area
28:13where Brendan's body
28:14was found,
28:15rolling a black suitcase
28:17around the time
28:19that Brendan
28:20was reported missing.
28:21So the thought being
28:22that potentially
28:23that this man used
28:24this suitcase
28:25to carry Brendan's body
28:27down there
28:27and leave him.
28:29Police review
28:30all the security footage
28:31taken from the
28:32Criado's neighborhood
28:33the night Brendan
28:33disappeared.
28:35They finally find
28:36the suitcase man,
28:37but when they see
28:38his actual bag,
28:40the tip falls apart.
28:42There's no way
28:43Brendan could have been
28:44inside a bag so small.
28:45I think it spoke
28:49to the level
28:51of paranoia
28:52in the community
28:52that people
28:54were connecting dots
28:55that maybe
28:56didn't connect.
29:01Cops go back
29:02to square one
29:03and start looking
29:04at people
29:04who might have had
29:05keys to DJ's apartment.
29:07Family,
29:08friends,
29:08neighbors,
29:09and the building manager.
29:11We had to cast
29:12a wide net
29:13and rule out
29:14any possible
29:15individuals,
29:16whether it was
29:17a tenant
29:17in the apartment building
29:18or whether it was
29:20a stranger
29:21that somehow
29:22gained access
29:23to DJ's apartment.
29:25Everybody
29:25was a potential doer
29:27until we could
29:27rule them out.
29:30Everyone is cleared
29:31with one exception.
29:34The last person
29:35to see Brendan alive
29:36is father,
29:39DJ Criado.
29:39There's this chunk
29:42of time period
29:43where DJ's unable
29:44to account for
29:45what happened
29:46to Brendan.
29:47So here we have
29:48these question marks.
29:50He asked him
29:50for consent
29:51to perform
29:52what's called
29:53a phone extraction
29:53on his phone.
29:54He gave consent
29:55to allow us
29:56to do that.
29:57Police hope
29:58DJ's phone records
29:59will take him
30:00off the suspect list too.
30:02But when the data
30:03comes back,
30:04it looks like
30:05there was a lot
30:06more going on
30:07at DJ's apartment
30:08that night
30:08than a devoted dad
30:10reading his son
30:12bedtime stories.
30:22Twelve days
30:23after finding
30:24Brendan Criado's
30:25little body,
30:26he is finally
30:27laid to rest.
30:32I observed
30:34the viewing
30:35from across the street.
30:37There were lines
30:38of people
30:39trying to get in
30:40and pay their respects.
30:42I couldn't
30:45even count
30:47how many people
30:48showed up that day.
30:51It was
30:52extremely overwhelming
30:55to just try
30:56and process
30:57that day.
30:58I just,
30:59it's a lot to,
31:00a lot to,
31:01to process
31:02and handle.
31:02You're going
31:08through the motions
31:09basically trying
31:10to,
31:10you know,
31:11do the best
31:12you can
31:12to,
31:13you know,
31:13just be thankful
31:14for everybody
31:14who's,
31:15who's coming
31:16to pay their respects.
31:19While the town
31:20mourns,
31:21police combed
31:22through DJ Criado's
31:23cell phone records
31:24that have just
31:25come in.
31:26Right away,
31:27they noticed DJ
31:28was telling the truth
31:29about calling
31:29his girlfriend,
31:31Julia Stensky,
31:31the night Brendan died.
31:33But it was clearly
31:34more than a simple
31:35check-in.
31:37We noticed
31:37that there was
31:37nine calls
31:38placed to Julia
31:40Stensky that night.
31:41So,
31:42that was a little
31:43alarming.
31:44It was borderline
31:45obsessive,
31:47you know,
31:48paranoia
31:48when we,
31:49when you look at it.
31:51Investigators
31:52immediately reached
31:53out to Julia
31:54to find out
31:54what's really going
31:55on in the relationship.
31:58Julia
31:58described that
31:59they met
32:00on a dating app
32:01over the summertime
32:02and they were dating
32:03for five or six months
32:04and that they had
32:05some relationship issues.
32:08She didn't like
32:10the idea that he
32:10had this child
32:12with another woman,
32:13didn't like the idea
32:13that he still had to
32:14kind of negotiate
32:16and navigate
32:17the relationship
32:18with the other woman
32:19and, you know,
32:20thought that Brendan
32:21kind of slowed
32:22the two of them down.
32:23I remember
32:25on the second date
32:26who went to Wildwood,
32:27he told me
32:28he had a kid
32:28and I was like,
32:29great,
32:30I don't care.
32:31I told him
32:32I'm not a big kid person
32:33though.
32:34I'm not like,
32:35oh my God,
32:35a kid,
32:36I have to say hi to it.
32:37When I see this kid,
32:39it's not that
32:39I'm mean to him
32:41or I'm rude.
32:42Like, no,
32:43I'm more taken out
32:46on DJ the fact
32:47that I have to be
32:48around a kid.
32:50Immediately,
32:50what we are thinking
32:51is where was she
32:52that night
32:53that Brendan was killed?
32:55She advised us
32:56that she was up
32:57at school in Manhattan
32:58and that she was in bed
33:01at that time.
33:03We were able
33:03to corroborate
33:04that alibi
33:04with both dorm swipes
33:06and interviews
33:07with her roommates
33:08as to the time frame
33:10that she was
33:10not down in
33:11Haddon Township.
33:14Julia may be
33:15in the clear,
33:16but when cops
33:17continue sifting
33:17through DJ's
33:18phone records,
33:19they realize
33:20they're staring
33:21at a five-month-long
33:22electronic trail
33:23that could have
33:24led to murder.
33:26There was a significant
33:28number of text messages,
33:30over 9,000,
33:32between Julia Stensky
33:33and DJ Criado
33:34that really kind of
33:35told a story
33:36over the course
33:37of their relationship.
33:39The text messages,
33:40they started off,
33:42you know,
33:43positive.
33:51When she went
33:52back to school
33:53and she was seeing
33:54DJ less and less,
33:55the text messages
33:56steadily progressed
33:58to being more toxic.
33:59And then just one week
34:13before Brendan is killed,
34:16the relationship
34:16seems to be
34:17at a breaking point.
34:19They have
34:20a day-long fight
34:21over text messages
34:22going back and forth
34:23about Brendan
34:24being in his life
34:25and that she doesn't,
34:27you know,
34:27she doesn't want
34:28to be with a man
34:28who is tethered
34:30to have a relationship
34:30with this child,
34:32tethered with
34:32this other woman.
34:45That language signifies
34:47to me that,
34:47you know,
34:48potentially something
34:49could change here
34:50with this situation
34:51that you're so frustrated
34:52with,
34:53which is the presence
34:54on my son.
34:56And inside
34:57the text messages,
34:58cops find something else,
35:00a photo DJ sent Julia.
35:03On the surface,
35:05it looks like
35:05just another idyllic
35:07fall day
35:07in Haddon Township,
35:09but it's actually
35:10so much more.
35:12On DJ Criado's phone,
35:24police spot a photo
35:25that looks eerily familiar
35:27and the metadata
35:29confirms it.
35:32We were able
35:33to cross-reference
35:35the GPS coordinates
35:36and were able
35:37to determine
35:37that the photograph
35:38was taken
35:39a little over 24 hours
35:41prior to Brendan's death
35:43at almost the exact location
35:44where Brendan was found.
35:48That picture
35:49was significant
35:49because the person
35:51who was responsible
35:53was familiar
35:54with that area.
35:56And after we were able
35:57to establish
35:59a motive
36:00and the fact
36:01that Brendan
36:02didn't go under
36:03his own power
36:04to the water,
36:05we knew
36:06that this was a homicide
36:07and that DJ
36:08was the last person
36:09seen with his son alive.
36:11You know,
36:13for someone to think
36:14that someone else
36:15was responsible,
36:15that person
36:16would have to somehow
36:16get access to his apartment
36:17and take Brendan
36:18without him knowing.
36:22They asked DJ
36:23to come in
36:23for another chat.
36:25He lawyers up,
36:26but detectives know
36:28there's one person
36:29he'll still talk to,
36:31his ex,
36:31Samantha Donotto.
36:32It was like unfathomable
36:37to even think
36:39that someone
36:40that Brendan trusted
36:41would be capable
36:43of doing what he did
36:45and then hiding it
36:47and acting like
36:48everything is normal.
36:50But it was also
36:51the only logical idea
36:55that was sitting
36:56right in front of me.
36:57So when Detective Rhodes
36:59called me
37:00and asked me
37:00to basically
37:02do the wiretap,
37:03it wasn't a question
37:04of yes or no.
37:04I was on board
37:05with it
37:06because if there's
37:06any way that I could help,
37:08I was willing to help.
37:11Samantha had a smartphone
37:14with her
37:15that had software
37:17installed on it
37:18that we provided her
37:20and we could remotely
37:21monitor her conversation
37:23with DJ
37:24at his parents' residence.
37:44So then I asked DJ,
37:47well, you know,
37:47what do you think,
37:48what do you think happened
37:49since, you know,
37:50you claim that,
37:51you know,
37:51you went to bed,
37:53didn't wake up,
37:53and then he was gone?
38:19But cops listening
38:20know that's not
38:21what DJ told them
38:22doing the 911 call.
38:25The top door was locked
38:27and the bottom door was locked.
38:28If I saw the lock
38:28the doors was locked,
38:29I don't know what happened.
38:33The wire interview
38:34lasts a little over an hour.
38:37Police are no closer
38:38to a confession from DJ.
38:40But with the changed story
38:41about the locked doors,
38:43the text arguments
38:44about Brendan
38:45with his girlfriend,
38:46and the picture
38:47of the crime scene
38:48the day before
38:49Brendan was left there,
38:50cops think there's enough
38:52to prove DJ
38:53was responsible
38:54for his son's death.
39:00We were in the living room
39:01and we heard helicopters.
39:02We thought,
39:03what now?
39:04The helicopters
39:04are flying all over the house.
39:07And we put on
39:08the local news
39:08and we saw it on there.
39:10We found out
39:11that DJ was arrested,
39:13you know,
39:14for Brendan's murder.
39:16I hate even saying
39:20those words.
39:20I hate that word murder.
39:25It takes two years.
39:27Then finally,
39:28in April of 2017,
39:30DJ Criado goes on trial
39:32in front of a town
39:33that desperately wants justice
39:35for the little boy
39:36who loved pirates.
39:37But it doesn't happen.
39:41It was a mistrial.
39:43I was really shocked.
39:45You pour your heart
39:46and soul into this case
39:47because you want
39:48to go to that family
39:49and give them that closure
39:50that they deserve.
39:51And we couldn't give him that.
39:59If we weren't able
40:00to convict him at first,
40:01then it was going to be
40:02more difficult
40:02a second time around.
40:03We figured that,
40:05you know,
40:05it might be
40:05in our best interest
40:06to resolve the case.
40:09He was offered
40:10plead guilty
40:11to a lesser count
40:12of aggravated manslaughter
40:13for in exchange
40:16for a recommendation
40:16of 10 years,
40:17New Jersey State Prison
40:18served 85%
40:19without the possibility
40:20of parole.
40:24DJ refuses
40:25to make a public statement
40:27admitting guilt.
40:28But he takes
40:29the plea deal
40:30and silently signs
40:31the paperwork
40:32acknowledging
40:33he was responsible
40:34for what happened
40:35to his three-year-old son.
40:38In order for someone
40:39to plead guilty,
40:40you have to give facts
40:41that suggest why
40:42you are guilty of this.
40:44There was the
40:45petechiae in the eyes,
40:46the bite on the cheek,
40:47and I think we used
40:48the term that he
40:50deprived Brendan
40:51of oxygen
40:51and therefore
40:52recklessly
40:53caused
40:54his death.
41:02He had a whole life
41:03in front of him,
41:04and his father
41:05made the most
41:06disgusting decision
41:08anybody can make
41:10that is despicable,
41:12and I'll never
41:14get over that.
41:18It was just
41:19incredibly hard
41:20to process
41:21that anybody
41:22would murder
41:23their own child
41:23to this day.
41:30It's hard to talk about.
41:32You know?
41:32Too close to home.
41:38Wish I could go back
41:39and change
41:40how everything went,
41:43and we'd be
41:44living a happy life,
41:46and I'd almost
41:46have a ten-year-old.
41:51But that's...
41:52it's not how
41:55life worked out.
42:04To make sure
42:05Brendan Criato
42:06is never forgotten,
42:08Haddon Township
42:09friends place
42:10a memorial bench
42:11near the river
42:11where he was found.
42:14The inscription
42:14is inspired
42:15by the boy's
42:16favorite movie,
42:17Hook,
42:18directed by
42:19Haddon Township's
42:20former resident,
42:21Steven Spielberg.
42:23Captain Hook,
42:24you are my
42:25perfect storybook.
42:27Neverland,
42:27I love you so.
42:29You are now
42:30my home sweet home.
42:32not home.
42:38Not home.
42:39You are now
42:40my homegrown
42:52mother.
42:52I love you.
42:53I love you.
42:54I love you.