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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.