'Maybe Mommy didn't mean to hurt me,' 5-year-old told doctor of possible abuse months before he was killed

 

By Madeline Holcombe CNN

Sat April 27, 2019

 

(CNN)Four months before Andrew "AJ" Freund's parents were charged with his murder, the 5-year-old shared information on possible abuse with a doctor in Illinois.

Police responding to a hotline report found a large bruise on AJ's hip in December. At first, he told investigators the bruise came from the family dog.
But an emergency room physician noted that AJ later gave a different reason. "Maybe someone hit me with a belt. Maybe Mommy didn't mean to hurt me," he said, according to a Department of Children and Family Services summary of its report.
The doctor could not determine the cause of the bruise but said it could have resulted from "a dog, belt or football," according to DCFS. The case was closed a month later for lack of evidence.
AJ's body was found wrapped in plastic in a shallow grave Wednesday. His parents, Andrew Freund Sr., 60, and JoAnn Cunningham, 36, have been charged with murder. A pathologist found he died from head trauma due to blunt force injuries, according to a coroner's report.

 

Calls of neglect and abuse

 

JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew "Drew" Freund Sr
The DCFS released a summary of its records, reports and documents showing its interaction with AJ's family. It detailed numerous encounters with the family, including 17 unannounced visits between June 2015 and March 2016. At the time. The worker did not observe signs of abuse or neglect.
Last week, DCFS received another hotline call alleging neglect and inadequate supervision at the home. The call came on the same day AJ's parents reported him missing. Information from the couple ultimately led to the recovery of his body in Woodstock, about 10 miles from their home in Crystal Lake, police said.

 

The DCFS report Friday revealed a long history of child welfare hotline calls with reports of a troubled homelife, squalid living conditions and drug abuse by the parents. Some of those calls predate AJ's birth.
In 2012, DCFS was called on Cunningham twice: once on accusations of abusing prescription drugs and neglecting her foster child and a second time for "environmental neglect and injurious environment" for her eldest son. Both reports were found to be unfounded and expunged.
Two days after his birth, a hotline report was called on Cunningham. Both Cunningham and AJ tested positive for opiates and benzodiazepines. AJ was removed from her care, and DCFS took custody of the infant.
AJ was returned to the couple eight months later after both parents took parenting classes and entered a drug treatment program. Authorities have described dog feces and urine throughout the family home, with broken windows and a strong smell of feces where AJ and his younger brother slept.

His final days

 

Andrew "AJ" Freund.
Freund Sr. told a 911 dispatcher that he put AJ to bed on April 17 and by the next morning he was gone.

 

"I got back from the doctor's appointment and I checked in on him to say good morning and he wasn't there," Freund told 911. But police say AJ's parents forced him "to remain in a cold shower for an extended period of time and/or struck" AJ, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
A pathologist found he died from head trauma due to blunt force injuries, according to a coroner's report.
Cunningham's attorney, George Kililis, told CNN affiliate WLS last weekend that the mother didn't know what happened to AJ "and had nothing to do with his disappearance."

Protecting vulnerable children

Mourners gather for a vigil outside the home of Andrew "A.J." Freund.
AJ's younger sibling was in the home until this week, but is now living with another family, DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch said.
DCFS said it was reviewing its handling of cases involving AJ's family. A caseworker and supervisor have been placed on administrative duty with no casework responsibilities during the review. The agency said it will also review all cases handled by the two employees.
"As we move forward, we will be fully transparent with the public as we seek to address any possible shortcomings in this incident and understand how we can better serve the state's vulnerable children and families," DCFS said in the summary released Friday.
"Protecting vulnerable children who come to our attention is at the core of our mission at DCFS," acting director of DCFS Marc Smith said. "All of us feel this loss. Our priority is the care and safety of Andrew's younger sibling."

CNN's Ray Sanchez, Eric Levenson, Faith Karimi and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre

If you are in Canada's Most corrupt City, Ottawa Ontario, if you a father whose wife assaults children violently beyond comprension

you are likely to meet Detective Sgt. Peter Van Der Zander who will Fabricate evidence to NOT charge a violent female.

As does Const. W.S. Smith , and Tran etc. 

 

After that, these "rotten cops" will then charge the male complainant, with falsely reporting domestic violence, get a rotten Crown like

the political prosecutor of Mike Duffy, one Jason Neubeauer.

The crown and the Ottawa Children's Aid Society can't win a fair fight so they fight dirty.

Step one, The Children's Aid society of Ottawa gets overwhelming evidence that  the mother was violent is violent and the children continue to tell the child protection workers that the mother is still violent. Then the CAS to cover up, instruct the Ottawa Police

to Drop charges (despite overwhelming evidence) against the mother and charge the father... with "falsely reporting domestic violence"

 

It gets worse. The Crown then go to a corrupt trial coordinator who arranges for the most corrupt judge in Ottawa

"Dianne Lahaie" who is more commonly known in Ottawa by the criminal bar as "The Smiling Assassin" .

This is the kind of judge where a finding of guilt is a forgone conclusion.  A narcasistic corrupt psychopath, this particular judge

ensures that there will never be a fair trial.

 

The CAS and the Crown contact Legal Aid Ontario and have the accused person's legal aid cancelled, for both the Criminal Charges

and the Child Protection matter that frequently goes along with criminal charges laid by the Ottawa Police

at the request of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa where supervisors like Rob Godman, acts like the

God Father of Ottawa's largest Criminal Organization.

 

In Ottawa, if you are a  father there is no justice, there is no such thing as a fair trial.

The Judges of Ottawa at both the provincial and Superior Court level are a collection of political decision makers

who are devoid ethics and any determination to carry out fundamental justice.

 

When complaints are made to the Judicial council, judges choose to retire.

Who are these judges?

Lahaie is a former prosecutor, most of the worst judges known as "rubber stamps"

have one feature in common. They are generally former lawyers for the Children's Aid Socity

where being a corrupt criminal is why you get chosen to be a lawyer for the CAS and why

you get promoted from being a lawyer for the CAS to being a judge, so you too can get

to rubber stamp criminally corrupt decisions for the Children's Aid Society and the

other Nazis' of Ottawa, the Ottawa Police.

 

Ottawa Mens Centre