Found Deceased IL - Andrew Freund, 5, Crystal Lake, 17 April 2019 *Arrests* - #2

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Plo_Koon said:
If the father's law license is currently suspended, he would still be able to represent himself in court proceedings, correct?
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Yes anyone can represent themselves but it is highly frowned upon by the courts. There is to many opportunities for a mistrial when this happens. I imagine they were both dope sick by this point. Somehow this plays a role in was the statement given under duress. Sorry l think the moment they confessed they should be hung. Those that prey on the children and the elderly are just evil and cowardly. I would rather they overdose and die. At least the child would have a fighting chance. I have investigated numerous child homicides and oddly theres rarely any true remorse. Sad world we live in
 
Whiteorchids said:
And then you get a parent like Chris Watts who always was a good father, beautiful home, beautiful wife and daughters whom many considered a super dad until he had an affair for 5 wks while wife and girls left to visit family out of state who wasn’t on drugs ate healthy choked and smothered his wife and two little girls to death with his own bare hands buries the wife in shallow grave and crammed the little girls in openings of crude oils tanks where he was employed. Yep happens in all walks of life.[

Your summary of the Chris Watts case is so spot on....go figure. I just do not get it. Horrible. All walks of life is so true.
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Timeline
Missing Since - Apr 17, 2019
Missing From - Crystal Lake, IL
DOB - Oct 14, 2013
Age Now - 5
Sex - Male
Race - White
Hair Color - Blonde
Eye Color - Brown
Height - 3'5"
Weight - 65 lbs

2012
  • AF was JC's divorce attorney.
2013-2018
  • Crystal Lake police said officers have been called to the home 17 times since the child was born five years ago. The Crystal Lake Police Department released reports detailing what they call "unacceptable" living conditions along with alleged drug abuse and concerns the Department of Children and Family Services had for the children's welfare. DCFS last had contact with the family in December of last year.
2013
  • JC involved in a legal dispute with her mother, involving JC’s eldest son. JC’s mother filed an order of protection petition accusing JC and AF of forcing JC’s eldest son to live in “constant fear, hunger and filth,” as well as denying him medical care, food, clean clothing and a healthy living environment.
  • JC battery charge - She negotiated a plea deal, paid a fine and got six months supervision, anger counseling and drug addiction treatment.
  • JC was charged with retail theft, took another plea and received more supervision and fines.
  • AF was charged with retail theft, and received one year supervision and drug and alcohol treatment.
October 2013
  • DCFS investigated an allegation of neglect by the mother and found there was credible evidence to substantiate the allegation. AJ was born with opiates in his body.
November 2013
  • DCFS took AJ into protective custody. He was placed into foster home.
October 13, 2015 - Tuesday
  • AF, who was licensed in 1984, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after ninety days by a two-year period of conditional probation. While representing his client in a dissolution of marriage case, AF was convicted of indirect criminal contempt after the judge found that he had violated court orders. Also, he appeared in court on behalf of a client after he had been removed from the Master Roll of Attorneys due to his failure to register or complete his mandatory continuing legal education requirements. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2015.
June 2015
  • AJ was returned home from foster care.
April 2016
  • DCFS closed AJ’s Protective Custody Case
March 2018
  • DCFS investigated allegations of neglect by JC and AF, but concluded they were unfounded. The mother agreed to re-enter treatment.
December 18, 2018 - Tuesday
  • DCFS investigated another allegation of abuse and neglect by JC. AJ was temporarily removed by police, but he was returned to the home after the allegations were ruled unfounded. There was no evidence to support allegations of deplorable conditions in the home, and bruising on AJ was attributed to the dog.
December 19, 2018 - Wednesday
  • Woodstock police arrested DN, after he allegedly kicked and hit two nurses and a security guard at Northwestern Medical Hospital. DN 36 yr old, is also reported to have lived at the home some time within the past year.
February 2019
  • The family home, owned by AF was foreclosed on and sold at auction in February.
April 4, 2019 - Thursday
  • Neighbors said the family was supposed to be out of the home by April 4.
April 17, 2019 - Wednesday
  • Last seen in bed at 9:30 pm
April 18, 2019 - Thursday
  • AF went to doctor appointment and returned home @ 8:30am
  • AJ reported missing by 911 call made by AF
  • JC’s attorney said JC had been questioned by police on Thursday.
  • JC was arrested at the LCPD on an arrest warrant for failure to appear on driving with a suspended DL. JC was released after paying the required $300 bond.
April 19, 2019 - Friday
  • Late Friday afternoon, a team of police in about seven vehicles pulled up to the house and went inside with a search warrant.
  • Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said it has had contact with the family of the boy, AJ since he was born in 2013 with opiates in his system. DCFS continued having contact off and on until late 2018.
  • A younger son was placed into DCFS custody.
  • Police said, “In reviewing all investigative information thus far, there is no indication that would lead police to believe that an abduction had taken place.” They also said: “Information obtained currently has police focusing on the residence.”
  • Canine teams that were used during the investigation “only picked up AJ’s scent within the residence indicating that Andrew had not walked away on foot,”
April 23, 2019 - Tuesday
  • JC - Court 8:30am driving with a suspended DL
  • Shelter Hearing for AJ’s younger brother
April 24, 2019 - Wednesday
  • Overnight police and FBI interviewed both JC and AF after information was obtained through a forensic analysis of cell phone data. Once presented with the information, the parents provided information about the location of the boy's body.
  • AJ’s body was found 7 miles from home - buried in shallow grave and wrapped in plastic.
  • Police were seen removing items from boy's home in Crystal Lake, including a small mattress, shovel caked with dirt, plastic storage totes and bags.
  • Family dog “Lucy” was removed from home by Animal Control.
  • JC - Charged
    • 5 counts of first degree murder
    • 4 counts aggravated battery
    • 2 counts of aggravated domestic battery
    • 1 count of failure to report a missing or child death
  • AF Sr. - Charged
    • 5 counts of first degree murder
    • 2 counts aggravated battery
    • 1 counts of aggravated domestic battery
    • 2 counts of concealment of homicidal death
    • 1 count of failure to report a missing or child death
JoAnn Cunningham
Andrew Freund

McHenry Co Sheriff Dept inmate search
McHenry County Sheriff
 
(Just sharing a thought & not meant as anything but that) Today has made me think about the people I have come into contact as a PO who I saw strung out on drugs and later saw after being in jail and clean. So night and day for some. As though they woke up from a haze and couldn't believe the things they had done or where their lives had gone because of drugs. Can't help but wonder if this will happen to the parents. Reality can and should hit pretty hard. To bad it's to late for AJ. He didn't die in vain. He saved his siblings when no one else did.
 
1&2&3 said:
Awful, just awful!

Having had AJ taken away as a baby for almost two years, it seems she wasn’t in too much of a hurry to get clean so he could come home. Her actions speak quite loudly to me,
she wasn’t ready to give the drugs up to get AJ back.IMO.

When was this second son born? Now that we’ve learned he is four, was he already born when AJ was retuned?

Can you imagine the nightmare in that house with a newborn and the return of AJ? The parents are strangers to AJ, everything he has known in his life has been taken away, the parents are adjusting to a whiny clingy toddler and a baby! Dependency on drugs probably was at an all time high! JMO.

And where was their money to live on coming from? Since Freund was in his fifties, he may have had a nice nest egg stashed away for retirement.

JC preferred her drugs over her first son, the one being raised by her mother. Why did she and AF think she would be a better mom the second time with AJ? Such a pity that a grown knowledgeable couple can bring three children into this world when they are so irresponsible for their own lives!
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Good points/questions and food for thought.
 
1&2&3 said:
Awful, just awful!

Having had AJ taken away as a baby for almost two years, it seems she wasn’t in too much of a hurry to get clean so he could come home. Her actions speak quite loudly to me,
she wasn’t ready to give the drugs up to get AJ back.IMO.

When was this second son born? Now that we’ve learned he is four, was he already born when AJ was retuned?

Can you imagine the nightmare in that house with a newborn and the return of AJ? The parents are strangers to AJ, everything he has known in his life has been taken away, the parents are adjusting to a whiny clingy toddler and a baby! Dependency on drugs probably was at an all time high! JMO.

And where was their money to live on coming from? Since Freund was in his fifties, he may have had a nice nest egg stashed away for retirement.

JC preferred her drugs over her first son, the one being raised by her mother. Why did she and AF think she would be a better mom the second time with AJ? Such a pity that a grown knowledgeable couple can bring three children into this world when they are so irresponsible for their own lives!
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My understanding is AJ’s younger brother is 4 years old, but I don’t know for sure?

November 2013
  • DCFS took AJ into protective custody. He was placed into foster home.
June 2015
  • AJ was returned home from foster care.
April 2016
  • DCFS closed AJ’s Protective Custody Case
 
This is my first opportunity to post here today.

Sometimes the sadness of these types of cases is utterly overwhelming. I can say I'm horrified and I'm saddened and I'm mad and all those things but it's never enough and it's never going to bring these poor children back.

I expected nothing less of these two. I knew from day 1 what the outcome was to be. Been here before and done that and it happens over and over again. I've become hardened (not immune) to these occurrences and that makes me take pause.

No child ever deserves this and yet, without even trying, I can name 10 children that I have followed here that have lived horribly abusive short lives and each case seems to be worse than the one before.

Hug your children tight. Tell them you love them and tell them they're worth it. That's what children deserve, hugs, love, self worth and joy. They're only little for so long.

MOO
 
Simply Southern said:
The goal is to protect child. We have a lot of lawyers that are good at proving the parents are reformed and use the LAW to their full advantage to get these kids back to their parents.

Look how her lawyer repeatedly stated she was innocent, she knew nothing, refused to let her talk to LE.
After the big daycare scandle in the 90s, where everyone lied and said kids were abused when they weren't, folks lobbied to change the laws, its hard to remove kids from their home, it takes a Judges protective order and you need proof. Proof is hard to get photos, medical records, etc.
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bbm

Oh, I do remember that scandal -- and as in so many situations like that, there was an outcry about laws being too strict, and the reaction to make the laws and judgements more evenly balanced. A bit of mass hysteria may have also colored the decisions that were made. And we'll still never know the whole story.
How many children have paid the price of this? We certainly don't want parents or other caregivers railroaded, but we don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water (almost literally here). And how much can a 5- or 4- or 3-year-old explain things to the authorities? His/her misery has probably been occurring since birth, so how does s/he know that what happened "yesterday" is abuse?
And as you said, there usually aren't any photos of the abuse -- be it burns or bruises or cuts or bite marks or screaming or slapping.
The littlest ones have the smallest voices.
 
BlinkOfAnI said:
" 'During the overnight hours, investigators with the Crystal Lake Police Department and the FBI interviewed both Joann Cunningham and Andrew 'Drew' Freund Sr. after information was obtained through a forensic analysis of cell phone data" said Crystal Lake police chief James Black.

Confronted with that cell phone data in the early morning hours, investigators say AJ's parents provided information that pointed police to the shallow grave containing the remains of their son.' "
How did Crystal Lake police crack the case of AJ Freund?
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They must have received the cell data yesterday, met overnight. That's 6 days to retrieve the cell data. I'm sure it would require a warrant.

More and more crimes are being solved/convictions with cell data.

Big Brother is definitely WATCHING.
 
Tealgrove said:
This is my first opportunity to post here today.

Sometimes the sadness of these types of cases is utterly overwhelming. I can say I'm horrified and I'm saddened and I'm mad and all those things but it's never enough and it's never going to bring these poor children back.

I expected nothing less of these two. I knew from day 1 what the outcome was to be. Been here before and done that and it happens over and over again. I've become hardened (not immune) to these occurrences and that makes me take pause.

No child ever deserves this and yet, without even trying, I can name 10 children that I have followed here that have lived horribly abusive short lives and each case seems to be worse than the one before.

Hug your children tight. Tell them you love them and tell them they're worth it. That's what children deserve, hugs, love, self worth and joy. They're only little for so long.

MOO
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I would also add that while we hug our own children tight, we should also look out for the kids in our community who don’t have anyone hugging them tight. I know it seems like it didn’t do much good in this case, but every report gets logged and many do make a huge difference. We all have to start looking out for these kids because this is just the start of this opioid epidemic.
 
Simply Southern said:
They must have received the cell data yesterday, met overnight. That's 6 days to retrieve the cell data. I'm sure it would require a warrant.

More and more crimes are being solved/convictions with cell data.

Big Brother is definitely WATCHING.
Click to expand...
Probably took some a couple days before they suspected and then attained enough info to back up a request for a warrant. Sometimes people will give permission to have their phone data searched but I highly doubt it in this case. I actually thought it was quick lol. The Supreme Court ruling in 2018 made it a little harder to obtain phone data but it doesn't take long to get a warrant or info like it did many years ago.
 
Snoopgal said:
McHenry County Sheriff

They are booked. JC looks even worse in the jail photo. Looks like arraignment in the morning.
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You're right. She looks at least 55 years old

As a sidenote, who is responsible for taking this mugshot?! She's not even looking at the camera...her head is barely up.
 
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