WOODSTOCK, Ill. _ Prosecutors said Monday that they are trying to terminate parental rights to the younger brother of Andrew "AJ" Freund, the 5-year-old Crystal Lake, Ill., boy whose parents are charged with murder and other crimes in his death.
McHenry County Judge Christopher Harmon said the state would have to prove that JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund are unfit to be parents beyond a reasonable doubt.
The statements came at a hearing in juvenile court to determine wardship for the 4-year-old brother of AJ, whose body was found Wednesday in a shallow grave near Woodstock.
The parents are charged with murder, aggravated battery, aggravated domestic battery and failure to report a missing child in connection with their son's death.
Freund is also charged with concealment of the homicide. He and Cunningham are being held at McHenry County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail.
In a separate hearing Monday for their criminal cases, Cunningham asked for a public defender. Assistant Public Defender Rick Behof was appointed to represent her. A preliminary hearing, when defendants typically enter a plea, was set for May 10.
Cunningham came out of the court lockup with her head down. Judge Robert Wilbrandt asked if she had any income or owned any property. She said she had not worked in two years, and the judge acknowledged she owned property that was in foreclosure, a likely reference to the family home on Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake.
Freund appeared in court in handcuffs that appeared to be shackled to a waist belt. He asked for time to consider hiring a lawyer. The judge allowed him the extra time and set a status hearing on that matter for May 3.
Freund and Cunningham reported AJ missing April 18. They told police the boy was last seen at bedtime _ about 9 p.m. _ on April 17. When they woke up the next day, they said, they could not find him and called 911.
Police said an investigation led them to believe the boy had not been abducted. After AJ was reported missing, his younger brother was placed into a different home by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services under a safety plan.
His parents were charged with murder Wednesday, hours after authorities say they found the boy's body wrapped in plastic in a shallow grave near Woodstock.
Prosecutors said the parents forced the boy "to remain in a cold shower for an extended period of time" and beat him until he died, according to prosecutors. The boy was then buried April 15 _ three days before his father reported him missing.
The McHenry County coroner's office determined his cause of death was head trauma from multiple blunt-force injuries.
