Crime & Safety
JoAnn Cunningham Sentencing Set For This Week
The mother of AJ Freund will appear for a sentencing hearing in McHenry County Thursday. She faces between 20 and 60 years in prison.
MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — The mother of AJ Freund will appear for her sentencing hearing this week. JoAnn Cunningham, 37, faces between 20 and 60 years in prison after she entered a blind guilty plea in December to a first-degree murder charge in connection with her 5-year-old son's death.
Cunningham's hearing is set to start at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The AJ Freund case garnered national attention after the young boy, who was supposed to start kindergarten in Crystal Lake last fall, was reported missing by his parents only to be found dead days later. Authorities say the boy was beaten to death in April 2019 after lying about soiled underwear.
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His father, Andrew Freund Sr. is accused of burying AJ's body in a shallow grave near Woodstock two days after the boy was killed inside his home on Dole Avenue, according to police.
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McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt is overseeing Cunningham's sentencing and has cleared his calendar for the end of the week in case the Thursday hearing carries into Friday, the Northwest Herald is reporting. Both the defense and state's attorney's office can call witnesses during a sentencing hearing, and AJ's family will have the chance to speak prior to a sentence being issued.
Once the hearing is complete, Wilbrandt could issue a sentence that day or take the matter under advisement, which typically means the judge will set a new sentencing date to allow for more time to review the case, according to the newspaper.
Whatever her prison sentence ends up being, she must serve all of it and is not eligible for parole.
Cunningham is set to appear for a final hearing before the sentencing at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the McHenry County Courthouse in Woodstock. The 37-year-old woman remains held without bond at the McHenry County Jail.
Andrew Freund, who also remains behind bars at the McHenry County Jail, is next expected in court on July 30 where his trial date could be set, according to online court records. Freund has pleaded not guilty to murder, aggravated battery and concealment of a death charges.
The death of AJ Freund rocked the Crystal Lake community last year. In the week after the 5-year-old boy was originally reported missing, local authorities headed a widespread and exhaustive search efforts, and area residents walked their neighborhoods looking for the boy.
Initially, authorities were not sure if AJ walked away from the residence, was abducted, or if someone he knew was responsible for his disappearance. Police officers went door to door. Helicopters hovered overhead, and K-9 units and police officers went in and out of 94 Dole Ave. — AJ's home in an otherwise quiet neighborhood in Crystal Lake.
Days later, Andrew Freund was taken in for questioning and confessed and both Cunningham and Freund have been behind bars since murder charges were filed in early May 2019.
Also that May, thousands stopped out to pay their respects to AJ during a public visitation held at Davenport Funeral Home in Crystal Lake.
Related:
- Thousands Say Goodbye to AJ at Public Visitation
- 'AJ Belonged To All Of Us': Answers Sought After Boy's Death
One local group, ROAR for AJ, started in the months after AJ's death, continues to hold rallies in memory of the 5-year-old boy, which are meant to shine a light on DCFS procedures. Led by McHenry County resident Tracy Kotzman, the group aims to share ideas and resources "that will inspire and help others to know what we can do to help make an impact, while continuing to keep pressure on DCFS and the judicial system with the hopes of invoking change," according to the ROAR for AJ Facebook page.
The ROAR for AJ group will meet outside the McHenry County Circuit Courthouse starting at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.
In the months following AJ's death, Patch.com has detailed the encounters AJ's parents had with DCFS during his short life. AJ was placed in foster care with a relative after he was born with opiates and benzodiazepines in his system. After 18 months, AJ was returned to his parents care. and the Department of Children and Family Services made 26 subsequent visits to the home, where they reported no signs of abuse or neglect.
The family went almost two years without any contact with DCFS until calls started coming in again in March 2018 regarding "odd bruising" on AJ's face and dog feces on the floor at the home. AJ made the comment to a doctor examining him in December 2018 regarding "mommy not wanting to hurt me."
The problems at 94 Dole Ave. were not new. Before AJ was born, his older brother, who is now 18 years old, lived in squalor and witnessed violent acts between Andrew Freund Sr. and Joann Cunningham, according to court records. In 2012, Cunningham's mother filed for custody of AJ's older brother after JoAnn dropped him off with her in August 2012. Andrew Freund Sr. and JoAnn Cunningham reportedly met around that same time. Freund Sr., a lawyer, represented Cunningham during her divorce and soon after, Cunningham moved into his home on Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake.
Related:
- Court Records Show History Of Neglect, Drugs For Freund's Parents
- Police Reports Provide Glimpse Into Missing Boy's Home Life
Around the same time of the new DCFS reports, AJ's extended family says Cunningham cut off contact with them. In a May statement provided to Patch, AJ's family said Freund and Cunningham "prevented" them from having any further contact with AJ
"(We) want everyone to know that AJ was loved by us with all our hearts," the statement said. AJ was a "smart little boy" who loved having books read to him, doing puzzles, Thomas the Train, and playing with his fire trucks. Like other young boys, he also enjoyed bulldozers, cement mixers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "He was very curious and always wanted to learn about everything," according to his family.
"He was, and will always be, our loving and caring little boy," AJ's family said. "His life shall not be in vain. AJ will always be our little superhero."
AJ's death prompted many officials to call on DCFS to enact new policies.
In her annual report to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, acting Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Inspector General Meryl Paniak wrote that AJ Freund's case showed DCFS needed to provide more support for families and to "act decisively" to help children in families that "are broken," the Daily Herald reported.
She added that in the case, as well as in prior child deaths, DCFS ignored the family's overall history, and, in particular in AJ's case, overlooked his "parents' long history of addiction, the mother's recent relapse, and the parents' isolation of the children from caring relatives and day care providers."
Paniak also wrote in her annual report that AJ's death was comparable to the 1993 murder of 3-year-old Joseph Wallace, which lead to the creation of the DCFS inspector general's office, according to the Daily Herald.
In 2019, the inspector general's office investigated 123 child deaths, including 24 murders.
Inspector general investigations are required if the child who died had DCFS contact in the past 12 months, officials said.
Paniak's report, which was released earlier this year, calls for several changes, including better communication between caseworkers and supervisors involving intact family services cases, such as AJ's case. It also calls on the state to make sure caseworkers and supervisors aren't overload with cases.
In February, Rep. Tom Weber, R-Lake Villa, filed the AJ Freund Act — House Bill 5281. Under the act, any report received by the Department of Children and Family Services alleging the abuse or neglect of a child would be reported immediately to the appropriate local law enforcement agency. And once a report is filed, the law enforcement agency may, at its discretion, conduct a criminal investigation or other action based on the information contained within the report.
Weber noted during a February press conference announcing the bill that AJ was one of 123 children "who were failed by DCFS in 2019." That is the number of children who'd had contact with the department and later died.
"It makes me sick to my stomach to think about and I'm not alone in that feeling. We must change the course of a broken DCFS and that's why I've filed the AJ Freund Act to give local law enforcement the ability to investigate any allegation of child abuse or neglect," he said. "If local law enforcement had this investigative ability in December of 2018, when AJ told the ER doctor that his bruises might have been caused by his mother, he may still be alive today."
In addition, House Bill 4886, which would create a McHenry County-run DCFS, was introduced by members of the House Republican caucus and filed by Reb. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock.
Referred to as AJ's Law, the pilot program would establish a county children and family services agency in McHenry County, which would replace the operations of the state agency within the county for a 5-year period.
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