AJ Freund

McHenry County’s top prosecutors were recognized as “heroes” recently by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the prosecution of the Crystal Lake parents who killed 5-year-old AJ Freund in 2019.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ reports and medical records pertaining to the life of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019 could be presented during the criminal trials of the social workers in charge of his case.

The 19 police reports that Department of Children and Family Services employees did not request during an investigation into whether AJ Freund, the 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy later killed by his mother, was being abused can be admitted as evidence, a judge ruled.

Opinion: The Illinois legislature has given DCFS a combined additional $150 million in the past two state budgets to fix this mess.

An out-of-county judge will be brought into the McHenry County courthouse to preside over the cases of two case workers charged criminally in connection with the death of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019.

McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt dismissed JoAnn Cunningham’s post-conviction petition Wednesday, saying her constitutional rights were not violated. Here is a timeline of events from when AJ Freund was first reported missing through Cunningham’s plea deal.

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 child welfare advocacy group created a display of children’s shoes in the Illinois Statehouse on Thursday to bring awareness of child abuse to legislators.

Members of the Roar for AJ group will rally Thursday at the state Capitol to call attention to what members consider ongoing failures by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

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 Crystal Lake mother serving a 35-year prison term for killing her 5-year-old son AJ Freund in 2019 claims she suffered postpartum psychosis and was “seeing demons” when she killed her son.

The Crystal Lake mother who pleaded guilty to murdering her 5-year-old son is seeking post-conviction relief. Read the petition she filed here.

The former Department of Child and Family Services case investigator charged in connection with the death of Crystal Lake’s 5-year-old AJ Freund is asking to have his case separated from his old supervisor’s.

The Cook County Public Guardian's Office argues DCFS is not doing enough to place kids in proper care settings and has pushed the court to find the director in contempt in homes of causing action

The motion, and the evidence the prosecution wants to admit at trial, are not being made available to the public to view, as they have been impounded.