JoAnn Cunningham

The Crystal Lake mother serving 35 years in prison for killing her 5-year-old son in April 2019 will receive evaluations completed by doctors who examined her in the months following the death.

Writing that JoAnn Cunningham’s constitutional rights were not violated, a McHenry County judge Wednesday dismissed the post-conviction petition filed by the former Crystal Lake mother serving 35 years in prison for killing her 5-year-old son.

A McHenry County judge said Friday he has 90 days to decide whether the post-conviction petition filed by a Crystal Lake woman serving 35 years in prison for killing her 5-year-old son has merit.

The former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employee accused of putting slain 5-year-old AJ Freund at risk by allowing the boy to remain with his parents will receive copies of the evidence prosecutors have collected so far, a judge ruled Thursday.

The Crystal Lake parents convicted of beating and killing their 5-year-old son could be called to testify in the trials of two former child welfare employees who had contact with the family in 2018, court records show

After 17 months of denying before a McHenry County judge any involvement in the death of his 5-year-old son, AJ Freund, Andrew Freund Sr. pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated battery of a child, involuntary manslaughter and concealment of a homicidal death.

Andrew Freund is scheduled to appear in court again next Friday for a status hearing. Eventually, one of these hearings is likely to announce a plea agreement.

The woman convicted of beating and killing her 5-year-old son, AJ Freund, was transferred Thursday to Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln to serve her 35-year prison sentence.

A plea deal between the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and the father of slain 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund could be on its way, the man’s attorney said in court Thursday.

In the past 15 months, the Crystal Lake home where a 5-year-old boy was beaten to death has been leveled, his mother has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for first-degree murder of her son and the boy’s father awaits trial.

Thirty-five years just isn’t enough. JoAnn Cunningham made her son AJ Freund's life hell from the start, born addicted to heroin. And she ended it in the most cruel and inhumane way imaginable.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing for JoAnn Cunningham, the Crystal Lake mother who admitted to killing her 5-year-old son, a foster parent said all that Cunningham had to do was ask for help and the boy would have been alive today.

The Northwest Herald will be providing live updates from Thursday's sentencing hearing for JoAnn Cunningham in the death of her son, AJ Freund. Reporters Amanda Marrazzo and Katie Smith, along with Editor Jon Styf, will update throughout the day.

Facing up to six decades in prison, JoAnn Cunningham – the mother who pleaded guilty to killing her 5-year-old son last year inside their Crystal Lake home – is expected to learn her fate this week.

A hearing to determine the prison sentence for a Crystal Lake mother who pleaded guilty to beating and killing her 5-year-old son, AJ Freund, is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Prosecutors are investigating whether they should charge a former Department of Children and Family Services worker with child endangerment related to his actions after a 2018 report of injury to Crystal Lake’s AJ Freund, who later was killed.

The construction equipment is ready, the yard is fenced and the Dole Avenue home where AJ Freund allegedly was killed by his parents is set to be demolished, starting at 7 a.m., Crystal Lake community development director Michelle Rentzsch said

An unshackled JoAnn Cunningham appeared in McHenry County Circuit Court accompanied by a correctional officer as she entered a guilty plea to an amended count of first-degree murder

The city of Crystal Lake is allowed to move forward with its plans to demolish the house where police say accused child murderers JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. killed their 5-year-old son.

The father of accused murderer JoAnn Cunningham’s baby girl has died.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors have received medical records and photographs taken by the Department of Children and Family Services as part of the investigation into the death of 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund.

A McHenry County judge has allowed prosecutors to subpoena for additional medical records belonging to a Crystal Lake mother accused of abusing and killing her 5-year-old son, AJ Freund.

Assistant State’s Attorney Randi Freese issued subpoenas for medical records from Northwestern Medicine – Centegra Physician Care in Woodstock from Oct. 14, 2013, the date of AJ Freund's birth.

As city employees work to restore the property where two parents allegedly beat and killed their son, AJ Freund, the Crystal Lake home's interior could be a health risk to anyone who enters.

The city of Crystal Lake has filed a complaint with McHenry County seeking to demolish the dilapidated home at 94 Dole Ave. in which a 5-year-old boy allegedly was beaten to death by his parents.

The white, two-story Crystal Lake house where AJ Freund once lived with his parents and younger brother remained in an unkempt condition Thursday, with boards and tarps covering the windows and doors.

Andrew Freund Sr., 60, and JoAnn Cunningham, 36, each are being held in the McHenry County Jail on $5 million bond, charged with the murder of their son, AJ Freund.

The newborn daughter of a Crystal Lake woman accused of slaying her 5-year-old son will remain in protective custody while a judge tries to determine who fathered the child.

“Maybe someone hit me with a belt,” 5-year-old AJ Freund told an emergency room physician Dec. 18. “Maybe mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.”

The parents accused of killing 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder charges and other allegations tied to the boy’s death.

On Thursday a grand jury, which has the ability to officially indict a person on the charges filed against them, indicted Andrew Freund and JoAnn Cunningham on charges accusing them of killing their 5-year-old son, AJ Freund.

Hundreds of people lined the sidewalk and wound through Davenport Family Funeral Home in Crystal Lake on Friday during a public visitation for 5-year-old AJ Freund.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally complained to the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services about the agency’s practices about a year before the death of 5-year-old AJ Freund of Crystal Lake.

AJ Freund’s father led investigators to the spot where he allegedly buried the 5-year-old boy’s body after storing him for days in a plastic tote in the family’s basement, McHenry County court records show.

Court documents for how McHenry County area police found AJ Freund's body

The parents of AJ Freund – JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. – defaulted on the mortgage for their 94 Dole Ave. home on March 1, 2018, court records show.

The Crystal Lake parents accused of killing 5-year-old AJ Freund have agreed to have the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services care for their younger son, while prosecutors attempt to revoke the former couple’s parental rights.

Facing criticism over its handling of Andrew “AJ” Freund’s case, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has placed two employees on paid administrative duty and offered an expanded timeline detailing its involvement with the boy’s family.

The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services had contact with AJ Freund on and off since 2013, when he was born with opiates in his system, according to DCFS reports, several of which were unfounded.

Days before law enforcement searched the fields and lakes of McHenry County for Andrew “AJ” Freund, the 5-year-old boy’s parents forced him into a cold shower, beat him, and buried his body in a shallow grave, court records show.

A complaint for charges against JoAnn Cunningham, accused of killing her son AJ Freund

Neighbors and community members gathered Wednesday evening outside of the house at 94 Dole Ave. and in the Woodstock Square to hold vigils for AJ Freund

A Tuesday afternoon shelter hearing involving the younger brother of missing Crystal Lake boy Andrew “AJ” Freund was continued.

In a petition for an order of protection that Lorelei Hughes filed against her daughter, JoAnn Cunningham, in 2013, the grandmother accused Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. of forcing Cunningham's oldest son to live in "constant fear, hunger and filth"

Andrew Freund and JoAnn Cunningham bought the mortgage for their Dole Avenue home from Home Sites LLC on March 14, 2017, court records show.

After Andrew “AJ” Freund was reported missing on Thursday, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took JoAnn Cunningham’s younger son into custody. The mother is seven months pregnant, her attorney said.

The mother of missing 5-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund is not cooperating with police as the search for the boy continues.