Left: 5-year-old Andrew Freund. Right: Flowers, candles, toys and other items were placed in front of Andrew Freund’s Crystal Lake home | Photo by Alex Vucha.

The parents have been charged with first-degree murder after the body of missing 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy Andrew Freund was found Wednesday near Woodstock, police announced.

Crystal Lake Police Chief James Black and FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Sallet announced Wednesday during a press conference that the boy’s body had been found on private property near Gayle Drive and Dean Street in unincorporated Woodstock.

JoAnn Cunningham, the boy’s mother, and Andrew Freund Sr., the boy’s father, told police where the boy’s body was located after police obtained new information through cellphone analysis, Black said.

Crystal Lake police officers, McHenry County sheriff’s deputies, FBI agents and other law enforcement converged on the Woodstock property early Wednesday morning and located the body buried in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic, Black said.

Cunningham and Freund Sr. have both been charged with first-degree murder along with other felony charges in connection with his death.

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The FBI and police converge on a field near unincorporated Woodstock Wednesday morning where the body of missing 5-year-old Andrew Freund was found | Photo by Alex Vucha.

Investigators removed several items, including a dirt covered shovel, a mattress, two brown bags and a bin from the family home in Crystal Lake Wednesday morning. Animal control also seized the family dog around the same time.

Andrew’s parents reported the boy missing last Thursday morning. Andrew Freund Sr. told dispatchers during a 911 call that he last saw his son when he put him to bed around 9:30 p.m. April 17 at the family home on Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake.

The second day of the search, police said that they were confident Andrew had not been abducted and had not walked away on foot. They had focused their investigation on the family’s home and declared it a crime scene.

At least 15 police agencies along with the FBI were called in to help with the search and investigation. More than 373 acres were search by foot and more than 497 acres were covered by aerial search.

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The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had been involved with Andrew since he was born in 2013 with opiates in his system. DCFS ended contact with the family in December 2018.

After Andrew went missing, his younger brother had been taken into protective custody by DCFS.

On Tuesday, police released 63 pages of compiled police reports detailing their interactions with the family home and parents in the last five years. In those reports, police officers noted the dirty condition the family’s home was in, saying that the home had broken windows, no power, strong feces and urine odors, and other issues.

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5 replies on “Body of missing 5-year-old Andrew Freund found near Woodstock; parents charged with murder”

  1. May you rot in eternal hell and suffer your just rewards in prison, Joanne Cunningham and Andrew Freund, Sr. Run with the angels, sweet AJ. You didn’t deserve this.

  2. May you rest in heaven sweet A.J. You are now free from all the turmoil you apparently have suffered in your young life. I am so angry that it hurts my heart. God has you in his loving arms and will protect you for eternity.

  3. This just breaks my heart!!! Sham on his parents… I can’t wrap my head around this..I could just cry for this sweet title boy😥

  4. It’s heart breaking what that young boy(A.J.) went through. He is in a better place now. I hope the parents both rot away in prison. And that’s still enough justice…….

  5. This is so very sad. We should be very proud of our police force for all they for us. But this falls on the lawyers and the judges who keep giving these people the benefit of the doubt and everything will be okay. Even though we pay your salaries though tax money. So wish we could fire you without an election. You should be ashamed of yourself

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