The System Failed AJ Freund

Five years.

Five years is nothing. It’s less than vapor, such a short time in the life of a child. At five years old, a child is only just beginning to form their personality, make friends, or discover the world around them.

At five years old, parents should be nurturing and loving their child. He should feel secure in knowing that while he bounds off to conquer imaginary sea creatures in the back yard, or should he fall and skin his knee, he has someone there to watch over him and make it all better.

He should have a support system that he can rely on.

Little Andrew “AJ” Freund did not have that.

In fact, AJ’s short life was marked with the failure of his parents to actually be parents, a failure of the neighborhood to notice that something was very wrong, and a failure of the government agency put in place to protect kids like him.

I’ve worked for five years as a Guardian Ad Litem volunteer in my county. In that time, I’ve seen families with their emotions heightened. I’ve seen moms in tears, and some who could not have cared less.

I’ve seen one “repeat performer” so indifferent to one child after another being removed from her care, that she said the words, “I just don’t have time for kids, right now.”

You’d think after the third or fourth, she would have figured that part out.

I’ve seen parents, moms and dads, desperate, willing to do whatever was necessary to get their kids back, once the county determined that the children were to be removed from the home, for their safety.

The circumstances share a single, core theme: The parents had ceased to carry on the duties of a parent.

The goal of the Guardian Ad Litem program is to work with the courts in assuring the children remain in good care, as their parents work through a plan designed for reunification.

Sometimes they succeed.

Sometimes they fail.

The courts and those family programs are supposed to make that determination, then act within the best interests of the child.

In the case of AJ Freund, he was born with opiates in his system.

His mother, JoAnn Cunningham didn’t feel her pregnancy was a big enough impetus to lay off the drugs.

As a result, AJ was taken from her care by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. From 2013 to 2015 he was with someone else.

The usual time frame for parents to comply with a parenting plan is one year. For AJ to be out of Cunningham’s care for 2 years means there was a problem with compliance, on some level.

In 2018, child welfare services were called to investigate several allegations in the home of Cunningham and AJ’s father, Andrew Freund, Sr.

The first was in March, and involved an allegation of neglect.

The second was in December, and included allegations of neglect and abuse.

Child welfare services deemed the allegations as “not credible,” and it was dismissed.

Four months later, AJ would be found wrapped in plastic, and buried in a shallow grave.

According to a timeline of events released by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the child told a doctor in December that a bruise on his hip came from being hit with a belt, and even said, “Maybe Mommy didn’t mean to hurt me.”

The bruise was initially discovered by the police. They’d arrested his mom in December for driving with a suspended license. The officer visited the home and found it in what he called “deplorable” conditions.

He saw the bruise on AJ, as the five year old ran around in nothing but a pull-up. He claimed it to be from the dog jumping on him.

Last year, a neighbor in the Chicago suburb called police to check on the children because the home had been without power for weeks, according to a police report.

At the time, an officer wrote that two children appeared “healthy and happy.” And child welfare services said the lack of electricity did not warrant their investigation.

But months later, authorities were called to the family’s home again. This time, they saw more signs of neglect.

One officer found dog feces and urine scattered in the home in December, according to a police report.

There were also broken windows to go along with the stench of dog feces and urine. One officer called Crystal Lake Building and Zoning, in order to have the home inspected.

They were denied entry to the home.

When the doctor could not determine what had caused the bruise, they dropped the case, but told his father to stay close to home, out of an abundance of caution.

Apparently, there was concern about the mother’s behavior.

It was a failure to follow through.

There were enough red flags there to warrant a closer look. At a minimum, there should have been someone assigned to do regular home visits and report back to the court.

AJ’s father reported him missing on April 18. He said that he put the child to bed on April 17, and after a morning doctor visit the next day, he popped his head into the room to speak, and his son was not there.

From the beginning, authorities noted that the mother was unwilling to cooperate.

Cunningham’s attorney, George Kililis, told CNN affiliate WLS last weekend that the mother didn’t know what happened to AJ “and had nothing to do with his disappearance.”

Sonar teams scoured Crystal Lake, but found nothing. Canine teams “only picked up Andrew’s ‘scent’ within the residence, indicating that Andrew had not walked away on foot,” police said.

He was found a week later in the town of Woodstock, 10 miles away from home.

Forensic analysis of the cell phones of both parents tipped authorities off that Cunningham and Freund were not being truthful, and through questioning, they led them to the body.

I try hard not to let myself dwell on the last hours of a child in these situations, but the heartbreak and terror must have been overwhelming.

According to reports, he was put in a cold shower and forced to stay in for an “extended period of time.” His parents then beat him until he was dead. His autopsy showed cause of death to be head trauma, as a result of “multiple” blunt force injuries.

They weren’t just angry with the child. They weren’t punishing him. They wanted him to suffer.

This was their child and they wanted to inflict as much cruelty and anguish on him in his last moments as they possibly could.

According to prosecutors, AJ’s body was buried on April 15, three days before the monsters that bore him reported him missing.

So where were the concerned neighbors who didn’t see the child for three days? Shouldn’t there have been some alarm? Maybe they didn’t want to appear as “nosy neighbors.”

Maybe they didn’t care.

In the meantime, AJ’s younger brother has entered the system and no matter where he is, it can’t be worse than what he left.

JoAnn Cunningham is pregnant now, and if there is justice, she will never lay eyes on that child. It will be whisked away to a foster home and put up for adoption, shortly after.

Both Cunningham and Freund face charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, aggravated domestic battery and failure to report a missing child or child death, Crystal Lake Police Chief Jim Black said.

Freund, the father, also faces a charge of concealment of homicidal death, police said. It’s not immediately clear whether Freund has retained an attorney.

They both sit in jail under a $5 million bond, each. They face, for the murder charges, somewhere between 20 to 60 years in prison. Depending on the circumstances, that could mean life in prison.

I’d say these circumstances warrant life behind bars.

Crystal Lake Police Chief Jim Black gave a statement to the community now in mourning for this little boy:

“We know you are at peace playing in heaven’s playground, and are happy you no longer have to suffer.”

Just imagine if this outpouring of concern and support had come before he was murdered.