CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. _ The nearly weeklong search for missing 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy Andrew "AJ" Freund ended Wednesday morning with the discovery of his body in an unincorporated area miles away, according to a source close to the case.
The discovery came as police again talked to his mother, JoAnn Cunningham, and officers returned to the family home, where they removed a shovel, a mattress and other items.
The body was found near on farmland bounded by woods and a small stream. A neighbor who watches the property for the owner said McHenry County sheriff's deputies knocked on his door early Wednesday and said they were going to begin a search along with other agencies, including the FBI.
Luis Maldonado described the area as fairly isolated. "It's very quiet," he said. "If they found a body here, I don't know how they found this place."
Earlier, around 6 a.m., Cunningham and her lawyer, George Kililis, were at the Crystal Lake police station. About two hours later, Kililis walked out by himself and drove away.
Around the same time, an evidence technician and other officers went to the family home and were seen removing a large tub, paper bags, a shovel and a small mattress. Handlers took a dog out of the house. A neighbor said it was Lucy, the family's brown boxer.
Blue ribbons remained tied on poles in the neighborhood in support of the missing boy and a sign hung at a neighboring house said "pray for A.J."
The boy's parents, Andrew Freund and Cunningham, reported AJ missing on Thursday. They told police that AJ was last seen at bedtime _ about 9 p.m. _ last Wednesday. When they woke up Thursday, they could not find him and reported it.
An attorney for Cunningham said over the weekend that Cunningham had cooperated with police and "willingly submitted" to a complete body search. Later, however, her attorneys acknowledged they had urged her to stop communication with police when it appeared to them she had become a suspect. Police have called Cunningham "uncooperative" while noting that the boy's father did speak with police detectives.
In a recording of AJ's father calling 911 to report the boy missing, Freund speaks calmly as he tells police that he returned home from a doctor's appointment early Thursday morning and found his son missing after he went to check on him.
Before calling police, he said he searched the neighborhood, a local gas station "where we sometimes take him to buy treats" and a nearby school, where he talked to the principal. He also said he searched "everywhere" inside the family home.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has had involvement with AJ and his family since he was born with opiates in his system in 2013, and the contact has continued on and off through the end of 2018. Until last week, the last contact between DCFS child protection staff and AJ's family was in December 2018.
AJ's younger brother was placed in the care of DCFS last week after AJ was reported missing.
