Photo: Crystal Lake Police Department
Freund and mother Joanne Cunningham face first-degree murder and other charges, Black said.
“A.J. is no longer suffering and his killers have been brought to justice,” Black said, adding that the boy’s cause of death has not yet been determined.
A.J.’s parents said they last saw him on April 17 at about 9 p.m. when he went to bed, police announced in a press release last week.
JoAnn Cunningham, 35, and Andrew Freund, Sr., 60.Crystal Lake Police Department (2)
His father reported him missing the next morning when he told police he woke up and couldn’t find the child.
Earlier this week, police released a recording of Freund’s 911 call,where he can be heard calmly telling the dispatcherthat he could not find his son, theChicago Tribunereports.
Andrew “AJ” Freund.Crystal Lake Police Department
“We have a missing child,” Freund tells the dispatcher, theTribunereports. “I have no idea where he would be.”
While the boy was missing, search and rescue dogspicked up the boy’s scent in the trunkof his parents’ car, CBS News reports.
On Friday, the boy’s father spoke to reporters and delivered a message to his son, saying, “A.J., please come home,” theLake and McHenry County Scannerreports. He added, “We love you very much. You’re not in any trouble. We’re just worried to death. Please, please come home.”
But as of Monday, police say both parents were not cooperating with police.
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On Friday, DCFS released a statement saying, “The department’s involvement with Andrew Freund began with his birth in 2013 and continued on and off through the end of 2018.”
Cunningham, who is 7 months pregnant, retained an attorney on Thursday who told her not to speak to police any longer, CBS News and theTribunereport.
“Ms. Cunningham doesn’t know what happened to A.J., and had nothing to do with the disappearance of A.J.,” her attorney George Kililis said, theTribuneand CBS report.
It was not immediately clear if Freund has retained an attorney.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Crystal Lake Police Department at 815-356-3620.
source: people.com
