An Illinois woman was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Friday for the beating of her 5-year-old son, who prosecutors say had suffered years of abuse for most of his young life.
JoAnn Cunningham pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year in the death of her son, Andrew “AJ” Freund Jr., who was found wrapped in plastic in a shallow grave near the family’s home in Crystal Lake.
“I had the privilege of having AJ as my son,” Cunningham told a judge Thursday during the first of a two-day sentencing hearing, according to FOX 32. “I loved him, I miss him.”
Initially he faced 20 to 60 years in prison. Prosecutors requested that McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt impose a 60-year sentence.
During his comments, Wilbrandt acknowledged Cunnigham’s life of drug addiction.
JoAnn Cunningham cries and wipes her nose during her sentencing hearing Thursday, July 16, 2020 in Woodstock, Illinois. Cunningham pleaded guilty in December to killing her five-year-old son Andrew “AJ” Freund in April 2019 at her Crystal Lake home. She was sentenced on Friday to 35 years in prison. (John Starks / Daily Herald via AP, Pool)
“She went back to living in what can only be described as drug crap: lying, cheating, and manipulating her life while terrorizing her young son,” he said. “While her addictions do not justify her egregious behavior towards her own son, perhaps they do help explain why she participated in … the course of inhuman, repulsive, and downright shocking behavior that ended her son’s young life.”
“Miss Cunningham was responsible for that life and must now be responsible for her death,” he added.
Family members expressed their disappointment with the sentence, according to a statement released by their lawyer.
“AJ was an innocent and precious child who had his life taken after he endured what we now know was a lot of pain and suffering,” the statement said. “We expected JoAnn to pay for that by spending his natural life in prison.”
The boy suffered years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his mother, prosecutors said. When he was born, tests revealed that he and Cunningham had opiates in their systems, prompting the state to stop the baby. It was returned 20 months later.
Child welfare workers visited the family’s home over the years, but found no reason to remove it.
A police officer who went to the family’s home after AJ was reported missing reported the stench of the trash-filled house.
A cell phone video of Cunningham’s phone showed AJ naked on a mattress with bruises and bandages on his body, according to Fox 32 reports.
You can hear a woman the police say is Cunningham yelling at her for wetting the bed.
The boy’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., took police to his son’s body when he faced the video. Court documents show that the boy died from blunt trauma and bruises that matched the marks on a detachable shower head.
McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt listens to the testimony during a sentencing hearing for JoAnn Cunningham in Woodstock, Ill. (John Starks / Daily Herald via AP, Pool)
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Prosecutors said the boy was forced to remain naked under ice water and that he was beaten in the bathroom. Freund Sr. admitted to storing his son’s body in a plastic container in a basement with the intention of burying it later.
He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is awaiting trial.
Fox News’s Vandana Rambaran and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
