Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 5-year-old boy A.J. Freund body found in shallow grave, wrapped in plastic

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5-year-old boy A.J. Freund body found in shallow grave, wrapped in plastic · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and one would you adjust
0:11
Speaker 1: of your emergency of ninety four Dole Avenue, Crystal like Illinois.
0:18
Speaker 1: Um we uh feel a missing child? Um book up
0:23
Speaker 1: this morning? And uh he wasn't wasn't the evenescing child? Howard?
0:31
Speaker 1: Is he he's five? What would you last king warn?
0:39
Speaker 1: Um Mario like blues launch from sweatshirt and a black
0:46
Speaker 1: sweat pant. Okay, right there. I don't like it. I
0:50
Speaker 1: don't like it because it's like he's reading from a script.
0:54
Speaker 1: There's no emotion, he's not rushing through it. Now my
0:58
Speaker 1: defense attorney with me today or now defense attorney. As
1:01
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, Randy Kessler Emory Law School trial
1:06
Speaker 1: professor will probably say that means nothing, but it means
1:11
Speaker 1: a lot to me. I mean, see, Grace, this is
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Speaker 1: crime Stories and I'm talking about a missing five year
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Speaker 1: old little boy. Aj friend. Take a listen to the
1:22
Speaker 1: rest of that nine on one call mail Wait yes,
1:28
Speaker 1: Hella and wa last night? Uh probably nine thirty. What
1:43
Speaker 1: do you want to bother? Thank you an your father? Yes? Yes?
1:52
Speaker 1: An't no way about him? Why no? Um, we can't
1:56
Speaker 1: with the neighborhood. I want to look hard if there's
2:02
Speaker 1: a local gas station down here where we sometimes take
2:06
Speaker 1: them to my treats. I spoke with the assistant principle
2:10
Speaker 1: over there at the school and the park is they
2:13
Speaker 1: haven't seen kid or any other child. I have no
2:18
Speaker 1: idea where he would be, no idea where he would
2:24
Speaker 1: be a five year old child. You know what, After
2:31
Speaker 1: reading about this story and five year old aj, I
2:34
Speaker 1: was so beside myself. I slept in the room where
2:37
Speaker 1: the twins woke up all during the night, just making
2:39
Speaker 1: sure they were there. I'm beside myself, what is this
2:43
Speaker 1: dad saying? And you hear the mom in the background,
2:47
Speaker 1: or let me rephrase that, you don't hear her saying
2:50
Speaker 1: a thing? Before I go to crime online dot Com
2:53
Speaker 1: investigative reporter John Limley, I want to go to the
2:56
Speaker 1: founder of Class Kids Foundation, Mark Class. Their demeanor is
3:04
Speaker 1: it's just all wrong. Now. I know Randy Kessler is
3:08
Speaker 1: going to attack me on that and tell me it
3:10
Speaker 1: means absolutely nothing. But I think it means a lot
3:13
Speaker 1: because I have read everything I can get my hands on.
3:17
Speaker 1: I've talked to a million times about when your daughter
3:20
Speaker 1: Polly went missing. You were like a wild animal. You
3:26
Speaker 1: are practically lying on the police headquarters steps, going, take
3:31
Speaker 1: my fingerprints, take my DNA, take anything, search my place,
3:35
Speaker 1: search my car, so you can start looking for whoever
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Speaker 1: took Polly. I'm not hearing that from Andrew friend, the father.
3:42
Speaker 1: I'm not hearing at Mark Class. Well, you know that
3:46
Speaker 1: what he's doing right now, Nacy is facing a parent's
3:49
Speaker 1: worst nightmare. He's come to the realization that his child
3:52
Speaker 1: is missing, and there should be some sense of urgency.
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Speaker 1: He should want the police to be there, to do something,
3:59
Speaker 1: to to be on the ball, and the mother should
4:01
Speaker 1: be somewhere in the background, you would think. But none
4:04
Speaker 1: of that, None of that is happening. As you mentioned,
4:07
Speaker 1: he's calm, he's cool. He seems to be reading from
4:10
Speaker 1: a script. There are red flag allows nine one one
4:13
Speaker 1: called smart class. I don't always do this, but I
4:18
Speaker 1: want you to explain to the listeners when you were
4:22
Speaker 1: first told beautiful Polly was missing, What happened? What went
4:28
Speaker 1: through your body, your mind, your heart. It's called you know.
4:32
Speaker 1: Paully didn't live with me. She lived with her mother
4:34
Speaker 1: in Pedaluma, California, which is thirty miles north of where
4:38
Speaker 1: I lived. And I got a phone call at eleven
4:40
Speaker 1: thirty in the evening telling me that Polly had been kidnapped.
4:44
Speaker 1: The call came from Polly's stepfather. He said, don't come
4:49
Speaker 1: to Pedalouma and the police don't want somebody trampling evidence. Well,
4:55
Speaker 1: I didn't go to Pedaluma, but what I did do
4:58
Speaker 1: is I called the Pedaluma police immediately. I did everything
5:02
Speaker 1: I could to convinced them that I was real and
5:04
Speaker 1: that they needed to talk to me. I finally was
5:08
Speaker 1: able to confirm that my daughter had been kidnapped. So
5:11
Speaker 1: I immediately contacted the FBI, and we then spent the
5:15
Speaker 1: entire evening up. We didn't sleep for probably two or
5:18
Speaker 1: three days after that, and immediately started interacting with the authorities,
5:22
Speaker 1: immediately started interacting with the media, and we're really trying
5:27
Speaker 1: to rally anybody around us that we could to help
5:33
Speaker 1: us find our daughters. We were coming to this realization
5:36
Speaker 1: that she was just the next and a long line
5:39
Speaker 1: of abductions in the San Francisco Bay area, abductions, mind you,
5:43
Speaker 1: which had never been solved. So I was in a
5:46
Speaker 1: complete frenzy, as you mentioned, Nancy, and that continued on
5:50
Speaker 1: for the next sixty five days. Oh, dear Lord, in
5:54
Speaker 1: heaven Now, John Linley Crime online dot Com investigative reporter,
5:58
Speaker 1: where you can see the latest on this and all
6:00
Speaker 1: other breaking crime news. I know that you and doctor
6:04
Speaker 1: Bober and Randy Kessler are just got morgan to mark
6:07
Speaker 1: class are tired of hearing this story. But just in
6:10
Speaker 1: a thirty second SoundBite, I will never forget that charge
6:15
Speaker 1: that went through my body when John David went missing
6:19
Speaker 1: in a superstore of Babies are Us superstore, And that
6:25
Speaker 1: that feeling of running up and down the aisles, looking
6:30
Speaker 1: screaming out his name, screaming to lock the doors, dragging Lucy,
6:34
Speaker 1: carrying her like a sack of potatoes under my arms,
6:37
Speaker 1: looking for John David, that feeling of utter panic, Where
6:43
Speaker 1: is he? What happened is somebody driving away at sixty
6:46
Speaker 1: mph with him? Right now, I'm not hearing that, you know,
6:51
Speaker 1: to you, Randy Kestler, I'm not hearing that from Andrew Friend. No,
6:55
Speaker 1: you're not good, you know what? And I'm not going
6:57
Speaker 1: to contradict, And no one could Darege, not Dick Hagittic,
7:00
Speaker 1: Mark Kless. He has been through unbelievable pain. But the
7:04
Speaker 1: bottom line is, no one knows how we would react
7:06
Speaker 1: if we were in that situation. You know what, you
7:08
Speaker 1: know what, I don't think I don't think he really
7:10
Speaker 1: meant that, Cassler, because it just rolled off your tugue. Yeah,
7:13
Speaker 1: he's been through unbelievable pain, but you just blurted it out,
7:18
Speaker 1: are you? Hey? Hey, I'm not one of your juries
7:21
Speaker 1: that are about to fall for everything you say hook
7:23
Speaker 1: Line is singer just because you're having a two thousand
7:25
Speaker 1: dollars suit, I'm not buying into it. So what do
7:28
Speaker 1: you say? What's your defense when parents act like they
7:31
Speaker 1: really don't give a fig. I don't think that's the evidence.
7:33
Speaker 1: I don't think Mark would even want the parent convicted
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Speaker 1: based on the way he's talking to the police. That's
7:37
Speaker 1: not what we base our facts, and that's not what
7:39
Speaker 1: we base our rule of lawn. You gotta have the evidence.
7:42
Speaker 1: You've got to prove it. You've got to have DNA,
7:43
Speaker 1: you've got to have witnesses, you've got to have hard
7:46
Speaker 1: solid evidence because there was a terrible crime here. But
7:49
Speaker 1: the next first thing would be to convict the wrong person. Well,
7:52
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, Randy Cassler, would you consider
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Speaker 1: the fact that we have just discovered this far your
8:00
Speaker 1: o little boy's body was just found in a shallow grave?
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Speaker 1: Would that be evidence? That is evidence that a horrible
8:11
Speaker 1: crime happened. Something horrible happened. But the next worst thing
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Speaker 1: would be to convict the wrong person. So I'm not
8:16
Speaker 1: saying they're innocent and guilty. I don't know, but I'm
8:18
Speaker 1: not going to jump to a conclusion to convict them
8:20
Speaker 1: based on the tone of their voice and what they
8:22
Speaker 1: told the police in a recording that you have on
8:24
Speaker 1: your show. That's not enough. With somebody in jail the
8:27
Speaker 1: rest of your life, or to give them the death
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Speaker 1: penalty for once, for once, I agree with you that
8:31
Speaker 1: that's certainly not enough. John Lumley AJ's little body has
8:39
Speaker 1: been found in a shallow grave. We are learning how
8:44
Speaker 1: was the body found and what was the condition of
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Speaker 1: the body. The body was found after an exhaustive, extensive
8:52
Speaker 1: missing child search, one of the greatest in Illinois or
8:56
Speaker 1: even US history, and the body was found thanks to
9:02
Speaker 1: cell phone records and the parents. The body was found
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Speaker 1: in a shallow grave. The body wrapped in plastic. You
9:10
Speaker 1: know what With that as the background, the body wrapped
9:15
Speaker 1: in plastic, buried in a shallow grave. I can tell
9:18
Speaker 1: you right now that is not a random killing. So
9:26
Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's take a listen to more
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Speaker 1: of that nine one one call you put in the
9:31
Speaker 1: bed last night. So he was in his pajamas and
9:33
Speaker 1: then school he wasn't there, and he looked around for
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Speaker 1: a bit. Yes, what time was the supports to be
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Speaker 1: at school? Well, he doesn't go to school. But I
9:45
Speaker 1: have a doctor's appointment this morning when I got back
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Speaker 1: from the docks, he's appointment. Um, and I'll checked in,
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Speaker 1: I say good morning, and he wasn't there, So that
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Speaker 1: would have put in with it about between eight fifteen
9:58
Speaker 1: eight thirty. Climb Stories with Nancy Grace. I had a
10:15
Speaker 1: doctor's appointment this morning. When I got back from the
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Speaker 1: doctor's appointment, Um, and I checked in out and say
10:21
Speaker 1: good morning, and he wasn't there, So that would have
10:23
Speaker 1: been in with that about between eight fifteen eight thirty.
10:33
Speaker 1: But have you checked everywhere like under tables or two
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Speaker 1: crist posits, the basement, the garage, everywhere? Was any in
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Speaker 1: the doors open? No? I mean then you know the
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Speaker 1: outside doors or anything like that. Doors and windows? No? Okay, yeah,
11:07
Speaker 1: I see, welcome back, I Meancy Grace, this is crime stories.
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Speaker 1: You are hearing the father of aj friend. That's Andrew
11:15
Speaker 1: Frim with the mother Joe and Cunningham piping in in
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Speaker 1: the background, outlining what they say is the timeline for
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Speaker 1: their five year old little boy disappearing. Joining me an
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Speaker 1: all Star panel. Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonal State University,
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Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, Mark Class,
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Speaker 1: founder of Class Kids Foundation, Randy Kessler, renowned defense attorney,
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Speaker 1: doctor Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, and John Limley Crime online
11:43
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter to Mark Class the timeline that
11:47
Speaker 1: what he just said doesn't make sense. Didn't he say
11:49
Speaker 1: it in doctor's appointment and then he checked in on
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Speaker 1: his son when he got back at eight fifteen to
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Speaker 1: eight thirty. You know, Nancy, either one of those times,
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Speaker 1: any family in anyhow US holding America with two little
12:01
Speaker 1: children and it is going to be up and running
12:04
Speaker 1: at full speed. I mean, these you know, their children
12:08
Speaker 1: get up early. There's things that have to be done,
12:11
Speaker 1: moms are preparing breakfast, All kinds of activity is going on.
12:14
Speaker 1: And there was no activity in this house at all.
12:17
Speaker 1: It was completely flatlined. And I think we have to
12:20
Speaker 1: realize that in these types of situations where little children disappear,
12:25
Speaker 1: obviously people are immediately going to look at the family,
12:29
Speaker 1: not only because they live in the home with the child,
12:32
Speaker 1: but because the statistics point to families and they were
12:36
Speaker 1: certainly the last people to see little Aj alive. I mean,
12:39
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't make sense to me too. Jesse's
12:43
Speaker 1: goot Morgan by at that time in the morning, the
12:46
Speaker 1: children are already at school. I've already claimed the guinea
12:49
Speaker 1: pig cage, fed to guineas, a cat, a dog, a
12:52
Speaker 1: grandma too, children, a husband, and packed the car. So
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Speaker 1: I don't understand. It's just showing up at eight thirty
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Speaker 1: in the morning and then just notices the boy's gone,
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Speaker 1: the five year old little Aj. Yeah, it's very curious, Nancy.
13:08
Speaker 1: I you know, I sit there and I wonder, I
13:10
Speaker 1: listened to what this man is saying, and I don't
13:14
Speaker 1: find it very compelling relative to a level of passion
13:19
Speaker 1: that's involved with this. Also, you had mentioned the mother
13:22
Speaker 1: just a second ago. Let me tell you something, if
13:25
Speaker 1: that was my wife, you couldn't hear me talking on
13:27
Speaker 1: the phone because the roof would be coming down from
13:30
Speaker 1: her screaming in the background. Wanting to know what had
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Speaker 1: happened to her baby. You know, let me understand something.
13:37
Speaker 1: Was this a work day, John Line? Exactly what day
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Speaker 1: did AJ go missing? Thursday? And according to that dad,
13:47
Speaker 1: the timeline was that he and his wife had last
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Speaker 1: seen AJ the night before Wednesday night, when they helped
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Speaker 1: him into his pj's and put him into bed around
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Speaker 1: nine thirty pm. Now Andrew's senior tells the operator that
14:03
Speaker 1: he the dad had a doctor appointment that morning and
14:07
Speaker 1: that when he returned from that appointment, he checked in
14:11
Speaker 1: with the boy to say good morning, wake him up
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Speaker 1: for school, and he wasn't there. And of course, within
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Speaker 1: an hour what we now know as one of the
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Speaker 1: most just non stop investigations began with the Crystal Lake
14:27
Speaker 1: Police and eventually the FBI. Take a listen to this.
14:31
Speaker 1: You're hearing from our friend at WGN, Megan Dwyer, talking
14:36
Speaker 1: about the neighborhood and the family and what the neighbors
14:39
Speaker 1: say they saw. Saturday afternoon, after four hours at the
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Speaker 1: Crystal Lake Police station, the father of five year old
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Speaker 1: AJ friend walked home by himself. Where we're all working
14:49
Speaker 1: continued leads and you know, to the extent that I
14:54
Speaker 1: know something, you know, I convey to them. It's a
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Speaker 1: continuing process. So anybody that's out there that is inclined
15:03
Speaker 1: to pray, please pray for the return of my son safely. Okay,
15:07
Speaker 1: he says. The last forty eight hours have been hell
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Speaker 1: on earth between sobs Friday, aj Friend's mother, Joanne Cunningham,
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Speaker 1: trying to show photos of her little boy to the media.
15:22
Speaker 1: This is a small town where people walk their dogs
15:25
Speaker 1: literally around the clock. Some most things don't go unseeing,
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Speaker 1: like a child out by themselves. Detectives have searched nearly
15:35
Speaker 1: a thousand acres of land so far and have scanned
15:39
Speaker 1: the waters of Crystal Lake. As missing child posters hang
15:42
Speaker 1: on trees downtown, drones fly above a community trying to
15:47
Speaker 1: figure out what happened to five year old aj Friend.
15:51
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just sick when I hear that, and
15:54
Speaker 1: to hear the dad's steal. So calm. I want to
15:59
Speaker 1: talk about how the body was found, where the body
16:04
Speaker 1: was found, But first of doctor Daniel Bober forensic psychiatrists
16:08
Speaker 1: joining us, I guess you're going to agree with Randy
16:10
Speaker 1: Kessler that the parents demeanor is totally okay and expected
16:14
Speaker 1: and normal. You know, Nancy. It's suggestive, but it's not
16:17
Speaker 1: necessarily proof. It definitely seems very very suspicious. And as
16:23
Speaker 1: mister Class said, over fifty percent of the time when
16:26
Speaker 1: a child is murdered, it's the parents and the more
16:29
Speaker 1: often than not actually in high income areas. So I
16:32
Speaker 1: actually do agree with you. Right now, we are trying
16:34
Speaker 1: to make sense of the disappearance of little AJ. But
16:38
Speaker 1: then this stunning revelation by Christal Lake Police Chief James
16:43
Speaker 1: Black is with heavy heart that the Christa Lake the
16:45
Speaker 1: Police Department reports that we've located will we believe to
16:48
Speaker 1: be the body of Andrew AJ Friend later this morning
16:52
Speaker 1: or earlier this morning. During the overnight hours, investigators with
16:56
Speaker 1: Chris Lake Police Department and the FBI interviewed both the mother,
16:59
Speaker 1: Joe and Cunningham, and the father, Andrew Friend Senior, after
17:04
Speaker 1: information was obtained through forensic analysis as cell phone data.
17:09
Speaker 1: Once presented with the evidence obtained by investigators, both Joanne
17:12
Speaker 1: and Andrew Senior provided information that ultimately led to the
17:17
Speaker 1: recovery what we believe is the recovery of deceased subject AJ.
17:23
Speaker 1: Investigators located what they believed to be AJ's body buried
17:26
Speaker 1: in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic in a area
17:30
Speaker 1: of Woodstock, Illinois. The mckenry Country Corner's Office is on
17:35
Speaker 1: scene with the FBI Evidence Recovery Unit right now as
17:38
Speaker 1: we speak. The cause of death is unknown at this
17:42
Speaker 1: time and it will be determined at a later date
17:45
Speaker 1: by the McHenry County Corners Office. Shout out to Joseph
17:47
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, forensics expert. Why don't they know the cause
17:50
Speaker 1: of death? Shouldn't it be obvious? They're taking their time
17:52
Speaker 1: with this case, Nancy. They're not going to release anything yet.
17:56
Speaker 1: They want to go over everything with a fine toothcomb.
17:59
Speaker 1: And let me go back to this. You know who
18:03
Speaker 1: has the motivation to kill and bury a little kid? Okay?
18:08
Speaker 1: And we have to look at intimates. I think, as
18:12
Speaker 1: doctor Bober had mentioned just a few moments ago, we
18:15
Speaker 1: have to look at intimates those individuals in that circle.
18:18
Speaker 1: And they want to make sure that they get every
18:20
Speaker 1: thing right before they release this information. And new tonight,
18:24
Speaker 1: people here in Crystal Lake are being asked to take
18:26
Speaker 1: a closer look at their home surveillance cameras starting last
18:30
Speaker 1: Monday around seven am all the way until last Thursday
18:34
Speaker 1: around nine. Of course, the same day AJ was reported missing.
18:38
Speaker 1: These women don't know Andrew friend personally, but tonight they're
18:42
Speaker 1: rapping ribbons for his return. We want them to think
18:45
Speaker 1: about Ja and you know, pray for whatever outcome, just
18:50
Speaker 1: most importantly that he's found. First and foremost, it's a
18:53
Speaker 1: it's a kid. It doesn't matter who's kid, or why
18:56
Speaker 1: or when or what or how it says a child.
18:59
Speaker 1: AJ's mother, Joanne Cunningham, no longer cooperating with detectives. Her
19:03
Speaker 1: attorney says he advised her to stop talking once it
19:06
Speaker 1: became clear Crystal Lake Police considered her suspect. Her attorney
19:11
Speaker 1: sitting in a statement, Joanne is emotionally, mentally and physically fragile.
19:16
Speaker 1: After five days with no sign of Aj and no
19:19
Speaker 1: information as to the progress of the search for her son.
19:23
Speaker 1: In the last hours, the body of a five year
19:26
Speaker 1: old little boy has been found in a shallow grave,
19:32
Speaker 1: the body wrapped in plastic. That is not a random killing.
19:39
Speaker 1: With random killings? Would you agree or disagree? Jes Scott Morgan,
19:42
Speaker 1: the molestation or the attack or the robbery occurs, the
19:48
Speaker 1: killing happens, and tries to get away from the scene
19:53
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible. You don't secret the body out
19:57
Speaker 1: of the home and wrap it up and take it
20:00
Speaker 1: to a remote area and bury it. All right, You
20:03
Speaker 1: don't have time. We're trying to get away from the crime,
20:05
Speaker 1: saying Joe Scott, Yeah, you're absolutely right. And so that's
20:09
Speaker 1: why this what I refer to as cocooning of the body,
20:13
Speaker 1: where a body is wrapped, you take time to dig
20:16
Speaker 1: this whole out in this dis isolated area. Why do that?
20:22
Speaker 1: That shows to me. That shows to me that there
20:25
Speaker 1: is an intimacy, a connection to this even in death.
20:30
Speaker 1: They're trying to, you know, show some kind of respect
20:34
Speaker 1: for the body, which is really odd in this case.
20:37
Speaker 1: If it was just one of these stranger on stranger
20:39
Speaker 1: type of events. Those types of people just discard humans
20:45
Speaker 1: as if there's something other than human. That's not what
20:48
Speaker 1: we're looking at here, Nancy too, Andy Kessler, defense attorney,
20:52
Speaker 1: you have handled plenty of homicides, and I know you're
20:56
Speaker 1: not spouting statistics, but in your anecdotal memory, how often
21:02
Speaker 1: do random killers take the body away from the scene,
21:06
Speaker 1: stage a location, another a secondary or tertiary crime scene,
21:12
Speaker 1: wrap the body in plastic, hermetically sealed and put the
21:17
Speaker 1: body in a shallow grave in a remote area. That's
21:21
Speaker 1: just not random, Randy. So that's a good point. I
21:23
Speaker 1: don't think the defense here would be random killer. This
21:26
Speaker 1: is absolutely intentional. Defense has to be, like you like
21:29
Speaker 1: to say, sod, some other dude did it. It can't.
21:32
Speaker 1: It's got to be you've got to identify, you've got
21:33
Speaker 1: to hold them to the burden of proof and prove
21:35
Speaker 1: that they actually the ones that did it. But I
21:37
Speaker 1: agree with you, we cannot say this was random. It
21:40
Speaker 1: has to be that it was intentional, but intentional by
21:42
Speaker 1: somebody else. Prove that they did it, or you can't
21:45
Speaker 1: get a conviction. Well, that's a very good point, Randy,
21:48
Speaker 1: and the other person. The SOD defense is always called
21:52
Speaker 1: some of the dude did it. In this case, you've
21:56
Speaker 1: got this little boy who is being home schooled. It's
22:00
Speaker 1: narrowing down who he comes in contact with. So pointing
22:05
Speaker 1: the finger at somebody can't point to a coach or
22:08
Speaker 1: a scout leader, somebody at school, a teacher, or the
22:14
Speaker 1: janitor at the school. That's not going to work because
22:17
Speaker 1: he is home schooled. To doctor Daniel Bober, what does
22:20
Speaker 1: it say to you that the child is wrapped up
22:23
Speaker 1: in plastic almost like a mummy, you know, Nancy. It's
22:26
Speaker 1: almost it's interesting, you know. And Joe touched upon it.
22:29
Speaker 1: It's almost as if to say, yes, we did this,
22:32
Speaker 1: we did this horrible thing, but we're showing a degree
22:34
Speaker 1: of respect by putting his body in plastic. So I agree.
22:38
Speaker 1: It almost indicates that there is a must be a
22:40
Speaker 1: close connection there. I agree with Joe Mark Class, founder
22:44
Speaker 1: of Class Kids Foundation. I find it hard to put
22:47
Speaker 1: respect for the child in this scenario, especially now that
22:51
Speaker 1: we are learning defacts. Department Family Children's Services have been
22:54
Speaker 1: called on the home seveneen times that we know of. Now. See,
23:00
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree with you more. You don't respect in
23:04
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form, somebody a little, tiny child
23:07
Speaker 1: who depends on you that you have just murdered. But
23:10
Speaker 1: there's a bigger point here that I really want to make.
23:14
Speaker 1: And I see this happen all the time, that the
23:18
Speaker 1: parents of missing children will higher on an attorney, and
23:24
Speaker 1: the attorney will start doing all of the talking for them,
23:27
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, responsibility for recovering the child
23:31
Speaker 1: rests on the shoulders of somebody who had never met
23:35
Speaker 1: the child, and somebody who has the parents' best interest
23:39
Speaker 1: at heart as opposed to the child's best interests at heart.
23:42
Speaker 1: And for the last twenty five years, I've told every
23:45
Speaker 1: parent that I've met who has a missing child, to
23:49
Speaker 1: keep the attorneys out of it, that if you didn't
23:51
Speaker 1: do anything, you're not going to be arrested. You're not
23:54
Speaker 1: going to be charged. But you need to be upfront
23:58
Speaker 1: because you were the best folks person that missing child
24:01
Speaker 1: could ever have and they need you now more than
24:04
Speaker 1: they've ever needed you before. Well. Speaking of parents helping
24:09
Speaker 1: and not helping, take a listen to CBS to Chicago
24:12
Speaker 1: Charlie Demarrow tonight, police returning to the Crystal Lake home
24:15
Speaker 1: of missing five year old Andrew aj Friend, Investigators carrying
24:20
Speaker 1: large evidence boxes inside, photographing the outside of the rundown house. Yes. Absolutely.
24:26
Speaker 1: Earlier in the day, AJ's father, Andrew Friends, speaking for
24:30
Speaker 1: the first time since his son disappeared. If anybody knows
24:33
Speaker 1: anything about where Andrew Junior is, please please contact the
24:37
Speaker 1: Crystal Lake Police Department. Let's get them home. While we
24:40
Speaker 1: were there, investigators asked Friend to talk at the police station.
24:44
Speaker 1: You come with us right now. I'm gonna go get
24:47
Speaker 1: a phone, but Friend declined. Apparently more concerned about his phones.
24:52
Speaker 1: I have no phone. I have no way of communicating
24:54
Speaker 1: if somebody's trying to get a hold of me, I
24:56
Speaker 1: need to be able to receive calls. AJ's mom, Joanne Cunningham,
25:02
Speaker 1: standing by her newly retained defense attorney, who indicated police
25:07
Speaker 1: maybe looking at her as a suspect. Miss Cunningham doesn't
25:11
Speaker 1: know what happened to Aj and had nothing to do
25:14
Speaker 1: with the disappearance of AJ's parents reported him missing Thursday morning,
25:19
Speaker 1: last seen the previous night around nine pm. In all
25:23
Speaker 1: out search of the neighborhood and nearby lake has come
25:26
Speaker 1: up empty. Dogs have only traced the boy sent around
25:29
Speaker 1: the home a sign he didn't walk away. Aj, please
25:33
Speaker 1: come home. We love you very much. You're not in
25:36
Speaker 1: any trouble. We're just worried. Clime stories with Nancy Grace
25:51
Speaker 1: police reports and notes detailing the horrible conditions witnessed during
25:56
Speaker 1: police calls to the home before Andrew was reported missing.
26:00
Speaker 1: According to reports, they showed up for everything from requests
26:03
Speaker 1: for orders of protection to a dog off the leash
26:07
Speaker 1: and a hacked cell phone. Here's some of what we
26:10
Speaker 1: found in those reports. Last September, someone told police the
26:13
Speaker 1: family was living without power and bad living conditions. When
26:17
Speaker 1: police arrived to check it out, they found grass two
26:20
Speaker 1: feet high. Joanne Cunningham wouldn't let them in, but later
26:24
Speaker 1: admitted she and the boys were living without power for
26:27
Speaker 1: some time. The latest visit December, police found dog feces
26:32
Speaker 1: and urine throughout the house, reporting it was cold and
26:36
Speaker 1: the windows were falling apart. The house quote cluttered, dirty
26:40
Speaker 1: and in disrepair. But that's not all, an officer wrote.
26:45
Speaker 1: Quote in the room where the boys slept, the window
26:47
Speaker 1: was open and the smell of feces was overwhelming, and
26:52
Speaker 1: that one of the boys had quote a large bruise
26:55
Speaker 1: on his right hit. He said. Their moms stated it
26:58
Speaker 1: must have been from the dog. The dog did it.
27:02
Speaker 1: The dog did it. A bruise on the boy's hip,
27:06
Speaker 1: and the dog did it. You're hearing our friend at
27:09
Speaker 1: CBS to Tara Molina describing the interior of the home.
27:14
Speaker 1: And now we are learning d facts who really are
27:18
Speaker 1: not worth the salt that goes in their bread. Had
27:21
Speaker 1: been called to this home seventeen times. And you know what,
27:27
Speaker 1: I remember trying cases and now reporting on cases, and
27:31
Speaker 1: I don't let myself think deeply about it. You know why,
27:36
Speaker 1: because I can't stand it. I can't stand to think
27:39
Speaker 1: about it, Mark Klass. When I think about a five
27:43
Speaker 1: year old little child, like my children when they were
27:45
Speaker 1: age five, completely defenseless, living in a home where they
27:50
Speaker 1: are systematically starved, beaten, nobody cleans up there, there's dog
27:57
Speaker 1: feces in Urine. This past weekend, I went back to
28:03
Speaker 1: my hometown of Macon. You know, Mark, my mom lives
28:07
Speaker 1: with me now. After my dad went to Heaven. We
28:09
Speaker 1: went back and the water heater wasn't working and the
28:14
Speaker 1: heat wasn't working, and there was a cold snap out
28:16
Speaker 1: of the blue for Easter. We had to take polar
28:20
Speaker 1: bear showers, as I laughingly call them to the twins,
28:24
Speaker 1: who finally resorted to wet white baths. It was freezing cold,
28:28
Speaker 1: no heat, and I would just bundle up with the
28:32
Speaker 1: twins under the covers to try to stay warm, because
28:36
Speaker 1: you know, she's here and the house is in Macon,
28:40
Speaker 1: And for some reason, the pilot went out on the
28:44
Speaker 1: gas light and I just could not make it light.
28:47
Speaker 1: And nobody would come out on Easter weekend, all right,
28:50
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking about this five year old little boy
28:53
Speaker 1: and the little brother seventeen times defects has been called
28:58
Speaker 1: Mark class. They're living in an ice cold in an
29:01
Speaker 1: ice cold house, freezing water, with feces and urine on
29:06
Speaker 1: the floor, the window open. But even worse, the boys
29:10
Speaker 1: covered in bruises and de facts. Leaves them there, Mark
29:13
Speaker 1: class leaves them there, a five year old to get
29:17
Speaker 1: tortured every day. Well, Nancy, they were living in a
29:20
Speaker 1: torture chamber, and they were living in squalor. They were
29:23
Speaker 1: living with two parents who couldn't have cared less about them,
29:26
Speaker 1: who may even have been sadistic in their approaches to
29:29
Speaker 1: raising their children. And quite frankly, little Aja has escaped,
29:36
Speaker 1: escaped that that lifestyle, and he will never be heard again.
29:40
Speaker 1: And I would say the same for his little brother's
29:43
Speaker 1: been He's been removed from that family and he now
29:46
Speaker 1: has an opportunity to grow up into a productive citizen.
29:51
Speaker 1: But nobody, no human being should ever have to live
29:54
Speaker 1: in squalor. Just thinking about a five year old little
29:57
Speaker 1: child and a little brother who don't know anything different
30:02
Speaker 1: than a life of pain, starvation, being beaten and yelled
30:08
Speaker 1: at every day. That's what their life is. You know,
30:14
Speaker 1: I was just thinking, Randy Kessler, you know my twins
30:19
Speaker 1: very well this morning when I was trying to I
30:23
Speaker 1: had made them a fruit smoothies last night, put them
30:26
Speaker 1: in the fridge and a cheese toast to eat on
30:29
Speaker 1: the way to school, and I was just so beside
30:31
Speaker 1: myself that they didn't finish their smoothie and their cheese toast.
30:34
Speaker 1: That was my big concern. Okay, And I'm just thinking
30:38
Speaker 1: about all the moms and dads that I know, or
30:41
Speaker 1: at least I think I know them, care so much,
30:44
Speaker 1: and I think about these little children getting tweated like
30:47
Speaker 1: this every day. What does it mean when I say
30:50
Speaker 1: defacts has been called on them at least seventeen times?
30:53
Speaker 1: Explain what that means? We look and not to defend
30:58
Speaker 1: the fact facts. I'm not dear lawyers, but are overwork
31:01
Speaker 1: and underpaident. Society doesn't realize how we need to have better, more,
31:04
Speaker 1: better funding for defects. These are the people charged with
31:07
Speaker 1: protecting children from the families they live with, and who
31:10
Speaker 1: wants to do that kind of job. People that have
31:12
Speaker 1: good souls usually are the ones who apply for it,
31:14
Speaker 1: but they just don't have the time of resource. What
31:16
Speaker 1: that means, Nancy, is the state defects has been sent
31:20
Speaker 1: out numerous times because somebody was brave enough to save
31:23
Speaker 1: there's a problem in this house, and one or two
31:25
Speaker 1: times should be enough. But if they've gone seventeen times,
31:28
Speaker 1: you know there are cliches for a reason. Where there's smoke,
31:30
Speaker 1: there's fire. Well, there was a ton of ton a
31:32
Speaker 1: ton of smoke there and it's just a shame that
31:34
Speaker 1: defects didn't take the children out and protect them from
31:37
Speaker 1: this situation. Unfortunate. I think they should all be fired,
31:41
Speaker 1: and I think they should be facing criminal charges for
31:45
Speaker 1: knowingly leaving a child in a home where they're not
31:48
Speaker 1: getting fed, they're being beaten, there's feces and urine everywhere
31:52
Speaker 1: is freezing cold, and that is the tip of the iceberg,
31:57
Speaker 1: the tip of theburg, when right now there is growing anger,
32:04
Speaker 1: growing anger, protests over why this five year old little
32:08
Speaker 1: boy was left with parents in the first place, in
32:12
Speaker 1: a filthy home. We know that his lawyer father, lawyer father,
32:22
Speaker 1: his dad, a lawyer, had his license revoked for a
32:26
Speaker 1: cocaine abuse conviction. Okay, his dad is a lawyer. Don't
32:32
Speaker 1: tell me that he can't make a living and afford
32:35
Speaker 1: to take care of his family, even if he's disbarred.
32:38
Speaker 1: He can work in another capacity. But no, and this
32:42
Speaker 1: is what it has boiled down to, John Limley, is
32:47
Speaker 1: my understanding. A mattress was taken out of the home,
32:51
Speaker 1: a shovel was taken out of the home. That's not good, John, No.
32:55
Speaker 1: A lot of evidence was removed from that home in
32:59
Speaker 1: the years after the investigation began. Also removed from the
33:03
Speaker 1: home the very first day of the investigation was AJ's
33:09
Speaker 1: younger brother as well. And talking of AJ's timeline and
33:14
Speaker 1: his short life, it was a tragic life to be
33:18
Speaker 1: so short. Misery and mistreatment, much of it told in
33:23
Speaker 1: vivid detail, not only in those Defacts records, but also
33:26
Speaker 1: in sixty pages of police reports. Aj, this is a
33:31
Speaker 1: staggering fact, was actually born born with opioids in his system.
33:37
Speaker 1: He was taken into protective custody by Defacts less than
33:41
Speaker 1: a month after he was born, and he spent the
33:44
Speaker 1: first seven months of his life in a foster home
33:47
Speaker 1: before he was finally returned to his mother. Joe and Cunningham,
33:51
Speaker 1: you know, it just breaks my heart. It breaks my
33:54
Speaker 1: heart to you, Mark Class, you know better than anyone,
33:59
Speaker 1: having voted your life to saving children, finding children, what
34:05
Speaker 1: this child lived through the hell he and his little
34:08
Speaker 1: brother endured. And now Mark, I'm looking at video pictures
34:14
Speaker 1: of his little body wrapped in plastic being loaded into
34:19
Speaker 1: a minivan to take to the Morgue for processing. I'm
34:25
Speaker 1: almost speakuous at this point, Nancy, because that little boy
34:28
Speaker 1: deserved a good life and his parents should have provided it.
34:32
Speaker 1: You know, it's been said many times. You need you
34:35
Speaker 1: need a license to fish, you need a license to drive,
34:38
Speaker 1: but you don't need a license to have children. And
34:44
Speaker 1: some people just shouldn't have children because mother is seven
34:48
Speaker 1: months pregnant right now. I understand that defies logic as
34:52
Speaker 1: to why somebody would keep having babies from they don't
34:55
Speaker 1: even like them. And now now his body's being processed
35:00
Speaker 1: at the Morgue. We wait as justice unfolds crime stories.
35:07
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend,