A three-year-old boy was killed because he got in way of his father having a relationship with a teenage girlfriend, prosecutors have said.

David Creato Jr was arraigned on Tuesday for the murder of his son Brendan, whose body was found dumped in woodland in October, CBS reported.

Prosecutors claim the 22-year-old’s girlfriend resented Creato continuing to deal with the boy’s mother, with whom he had joint custody.

He was paranoid he might lose the 17-year-old girlfriend, assistant prosecutor Christine Shah told a court in Camden, New Jersey.

Prosecutors also allege that Creato most-likely killed his son by strangling, smothering, drowning or using a ligature, the Courier Post newspaper reported.

Ms Shah added that no one other than Creato and his son had been in the apartment where Brendan had been sleeping on the night he went missing.

He was charged with first degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Richard Fuschino Jr, Creato’s attorney, said he will “vigorously” defend his client as the prosecution’s case is “weak”.

David Creato Jr. Pic: CBS Philly

Brendon was reported missing from his home in Haddon Township, New Jersey, by his father on 13 October.

His body was found three hours later by a police dog in Cooper River Park, about half a mile away.

An initial autopsy was inconclusive and Brendan’s cause and manner of death were undetermined, Camden County prosecutor’s spokesman Andy McNeil said at the time.

Karri Anthony, a friend of the boy’s mother’s family, said Brendan had been staying at his father’s home when he disappeared.

Soon after the body was found, his mother, Samantha Denoto, described her heartbreak in a statement.

Source: Sky News US Team