Visitation planned for 5-year-old AJ Freund of Crystal Lake, 'a smart kid who couldn’t wait to start kindergarten in the fall'

Family and friends are hosting a public visitation for 5-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund of Crystal Lake, whose mother and father face murder charges after his body was recovered from a shallow grave near Woodstock on Wednesday.

The event is planned for 1 to 8 p.m. May 3 at Davenport Family Funeral Home and Crematory, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave., Crystal Lake.

AJ loved to draw, make maps and quote the animated children’s television character Bob the Builder while playing with Legos, according to an obituary on the funeral home’s website.

“He was a smart kid and couldn’t wait to start kindergarten in the fall and make new friends,” the obituary said. “As difficult and tragic as this is, may AJ’s death bring awareness and hope to other children living under abusive conditions. No child deserves this. Let us rise up and make sure it does not happen to other innocent children.”

JoAnn Cuningham, 36, and Andrew Freund, 60, face murder and other charges in the death of their son and are being held in the McHenry County jail in lieu of $5 million bail. The parents reported the boy missing April 18, but prosecutors say the mother and father forced the boy to remain in a cold shower for an extended period and then beat him until he died. An autopsy Thursday determined he died of head trauma from multiple blunt-force injuries.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has had recurring contact with the family for years, including temporarily removing AJ after he was born with opiates and other drugs in his system in 2013. Officials with the state’s child welfare agency are conducting an internal probe of how the case was handled.

AJ’s younger brother is in DCFS custody, and a hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday in McHenry County.

A tribute wall on the funeral home’s website included more than a hundred condolences by Friday afternoon; many messages came from strangers, some from other countries.

“No more pain, (no) more tears, you are safe and loved sweet AJ,” one woman wrote. “May you now be at peace in heaven’s playground!”

Donations for funeral expenses and to help AJ’s younger brother can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/d62g4d-rest-in-peace-aj.

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eleventis@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @angie_leventis

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