This is so disgusting. The 17 year old...Can he also get slapped with a statutory rape charge??
No. I immediately wondered same so I researched but age of consent in NJ is 16, and NY is 17. Tinder's minimum age is 13. Supposedly the 13-17 members are not supposed to communicate with 18+ users, but not sure what if any enforcement (if any) there is, and tinder's FAQ even tells users how to circumvent this restriction (by changing the age on your FB acct, your tinder will update your supposed age automatically)
-I do not subscribe to tumblr, and I understand the girlfriend's posts were there long enough to be noticed by journalists and possibly LE, then were taken down. Has anyone here seen screenshots or known the extent of the social media, or seen the sister's video? I've only seen the news articles which reference these, but the original source eluded me. Perhaps she was too scared to talk to police or a family member but wanted to seek advice from behind a keyboard. Reports are that the girlfriend has a lawyer and is not working with the prosecution but it would seem her testimony would be key to the murder and I wonder if she will sign some kind of immunity deal or if she hasn't already.
-In one of the news articles, DJ is said to have gone to scene of crime with some friends to look for evidence, seemingly frustrated by the lack of answers.
The detectives who went back to the site three weeks later, could they have just been looking for any kind of other evidence that could have been left during DJ's return trip(s)?
-While the prosecution spent months in silence, we only ever heard that DJ's sister was facing grand jury testimony. I find it odd that no one mentioned DJ grand jury testimony and arraignment until while it was happening. He wasn't even called a suspect. However, most of the media info has been from the defense, while the prosecution's silence has apparently been strategic in order to not set off any alarms while they observed their suspect. Then after weeks of no news, NBC anchor tweeted of DJ's arrest as it was occurring.
-Family all had lawyers before anyone was named a suspect. DJ's lawyer is the vocal one, expressing disdain for the behavior of the investigation. The lawyers for the family and the girlfriend have not been talking to the media.
-Rumor mill in area has long been telling "I know one of the detectives - well guess what they're looking at the father!" I myself heard more than two different people tell me this from the beginning. If there's any truth to these anecdotes, and it's not just typical speculation on the part of local residents who wanted to pick a scapegoat, I'd REALLY hope whoever this "detective" is gets sent back to some job training. Did they really want to put a rumor out there to make DJ talk? Or are they (or their close family members) behaving unprofessionally? Total breach of the otherwise strict police protocol, I suspect it would be. I don't have the detective(s)' names. I really wanted to stick a sock in their mouths, but I didn't
-DJ Creato's public FB account memorializes his dead white rat, very recently (January). In one of the pics Brendan is seen playing with the rat. In another, the rat is pictured next to a pet cat. A caption says RIP and the pet rat's name. How awful to think that the rat may rest in peace while Brendan's killer has not even been brought to justice.
-The 911 call was strange because in it the dad introduces several alibis without being prompted. "I just woke up and" & "he must have wandered." When the police get there, it would be interesting to know if he tipped them off to go to the river, or if he sent them on any wild goose chases with any "clues" or evidence of his supposed innocence.
-Recently defense lawyer complains that on the morning of the discovery, the investigators didn't even tell DJ his son had been found dead for "several hours" afterward (or late morning). They're trying the defense that the lack of an arrest to date has put mounting pressure on investigators to blame anybody for the death
-Investigators had closed the intersection in front of the apartment for the better part of the day, either to preserve evidence, keep the media at arm's length, or both, I'm not sure, and they had DJ in for questioning "all day"
-Creato family business has received bad reviews from consumers. On their FB page a potential client indicates that someone made a 1K down payment in Sept and has seen no work done and no refund for 3.5 months.