Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 5-y-o AJ Freund DEAD in shallow grave, wrapped in plastic. DCFS WORKERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES!

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5-y-o AJ Freund DEAD in shallow grave, wrapped in plastic. DCFS WORKERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES! · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace bombshell right now in a
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Speaker 1: very rare, rare moved Facts Department, Family Children's Services CPS
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Speaker 1: Child Protective Services, two workers have been criminally charged for
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Speaker 1: neglect in a case that led to a brutal and
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Speaker 1: repulsive death for a little boy. Those are the words
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Speaker 1: of the judge that heard the case. A brutal and
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Speaker 1: repulsive death for this little boy. Why because d facts
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Speaker 1: ignored everything? The child tortured and killed. I want justice
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Speaker 1: and I hope you do too. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 1: You know, at the very beginning, when I try to
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Speaker 1: speak to juries, I try to sugarcoat, airbrush the horrible
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Speaker 1: details of certain cases. Well it didn't take me long.
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Speaker 1: It was my very first trial, and halfway through it,
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Speaker 1: I realize you cannot airbrush the truth. You can't sugarcoat
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Speaker 1: the truth. In fact, as harsh as it is, we
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Speaker 1: must confront it. Why to seek justice? Why so that
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Speaker 1: it doesn't happen again? First of all, take a listen
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Speaker 1: to this one emergency doll Avenue, Crystal Like Illinois. Okay,
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Speaker 1: exactly what happened? Um? We uh mail a missing child?
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Speaker 1: Um boke up this morning and uh he wasn't He
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Speaker 1: wasn't the amercing child? Did he? He's five? What was
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Speaker 1: he asking? War? Um mario? Uh? Like blue Launchly sweatshirt
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Speaker 1: and a black sweat pant. Okay, and it is you
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Speaker 1: h male white? Yes? Um m m m m. When
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Speaker 1: was last seen him last night? Uh? Probably nine thirty
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Speaker 1: when he went to bed thing to father. Yes. Wow,
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Speaker 1: he's sure. Sounds calm, cool and collected to have a
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Speaker 1: little boy missing, a five year old little boy missing
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Speaker 1: out of his own bad. Hasn't seen in its nine
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Speaker 1: thirty the night before. You know, Maybe it's just me,
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Speaker 1: but I go in and check on the children all
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Speaker 1: during the night. Every time I get up, I go
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Speaker 1: peep at them. Sometimes, if I'm especially worried, I make
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Speaker 1: sure they're breathing. He hasn't seen since nine thirty the
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Speaker 1: night before, and he's so calm on the phone. Maybe
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Speaker 1: I'm projecting, but I don't like it. Joining me an
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Speaker 1: all star panel to break it down and put it
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Speaker 1: back together again. First of all, renowned family law specialist
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Speaker 1: Randy Kessler joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Ashley Kelly,
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Speaker 1: licensed clinical social worker expertise child abuse, a former Defacts
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Speaker 1: worker and that is critical right now. Daniel Bober, Chief
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Speaker 1: of Psychiatry, Memorial Regional Healthcare Systems, Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale
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Speaker 1: School of Madison. You can find him on insta at
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Speaker 1: doctor Daniel Bober, Jennifer Sen, forensics scientist, former San Diego
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Speaker 1: police Debrey Kraen Sen Forensics dot com, doctor Kendall Crown's
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Speaker 1: Deputy Medical Examder, Travis County, Texas. That's Austin. But first
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Speaker 1: to climb online dot com, investigate every reporter and foster
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Speaker 1: parent Nicole parton Nicole, do we have any idea what
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Speaker 1: time of the day or night it was that AJ's
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Speaker 1: dad calls to report him missing. He called the following morning,
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Speaker 1: so he claims that they saw him last at nine
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Speaker 1: thirty in the evening, And it was the following morning,
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Speaker 1: very early, that he'd made that nine one one call
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Speaker 1: and reported him missing. Trying to figure out about what
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Speaker 1: time of the morning. But I noticed his calm, cool
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Speaker 1: and collected demeanor. Let's hear a little bit more. Um
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Speaker 1: AJ's dad, I don't know where he might him went. No, Um,
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Speaker 1: Sweeve can't with the neighborhood where I went to the
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Speaker 1: local park, Um, the local gas station down here where
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Speaker 1: we sometimes take him to buy treats. Um. I spoke
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Speaker 1: with the assistant principle over there at the school where
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Speaker 1: the park is, and they haven't seen uh kid, him
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Speaker 1: or any other child. I have no idea where he
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Speaker 1: would be. Okay, So you put in the bed last night,
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Speaker 1: so he was in his pajamas, and then when you
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Speaker 1: get out of him for school, he wasn't there, and
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Speaker 1: then you left around for a bit. Yes, what time school? Well,
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Speaker 1: he didn't go to school, but I had a doctor's
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Speaker 1: appointment this morning. When I got back from the doctor's appointment. Um,
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Speaker 1: you know, I checked in on him, say good morning,
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Speaker 1: and he wasn't there, So that would have been him.
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Speaker 1: Was it about between eight fifteen eight thirty? Well, well,
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Speaker 1: let me understand, he checked this morning and he wasn't there.
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Speaker 1: This is eight fifteen, and he says to you Nicole
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Speaker 1: Parton Crime online dot Com investigative reporter who has been
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Speaker 1: covering this case from the beginning. He says that he
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Speaker 1: checks on between eight fifteen and eight thirty, that he
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Speaker 1: wasn't going to school that day, that he had a
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Speaker 1: doctor's appointment, and he had already gone to the gas station,
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Speaker 1: right canvas, the neighborhood, and the local park. That's what
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Speaker 1: he's saying to the nine on one operator. That's what
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Speaker 1: he's saying, and he's making it sound like he had
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Speaker 1: already been to the doctor, looked around everywhere, and was
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Speaker 1: back home checking in on him. Eight fifteen, eight thirty
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Speaker 1: Randy Kessler joining me, renowned defense attorney and family law specialist.
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Speaker 1: If you're having to go to the gas station to
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Speaker 1: look for your five year old child, didn't you skip something?
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Speaker 1: Didn't you miss a beat calling nine on one before
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Speaker 1: for you go to a gas station, be before HLL
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Speaker 1: freeze is over, that I go to a gas station
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Speaker 1: to look for an one of my missing twins before
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Speaker 1: I call nine one one. That doesn't even make sense.
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Speaker 1: Castler one thou percent. And I went when I heard
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Speaker 1: you say that your sugarcoat things because it's been a
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Speaker 1: long time, Manthy, you don't cread anything, and this is
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Speaker 1: one that nobody can sugarcoat this. This guy is full
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Speaker 1: of it. There's no chance in manion years unless he
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Speaker 1: just didn't love his child, didn't care for his child,
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Speaker 1: and should have warned him to be missing, which in
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Speaker 1: hindsight looks like might be the case, What do you
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Speaker 1: make of his demeanor? Because you're in the sorry situation
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Speaker 1: of having to defend extremely calm and cool demeanors when
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Speaker 1: a jury or me, I would expect them to be
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Speaker 1: going crazy. I mean, I'm not gonna account in full.
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Speaker 1: When John David went missing at a big warehouse, Baby's
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Speaker 1: there us place because some mom put me on a
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Speaker 1: gilt trip about her homemade organic sunscreen. So I'm on
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Speaker 1: the bottom. The shells go from the floor up all
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Speaker 1: the way down. They're looking for organic sunscreen. I turned around,
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Speaker 1: John Daves gone gone, and all I could think of
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Speaker 1: was Adam Walts, John Walsh's son that went missing from
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Speaker 1: a Sears and Roebuck. His mom was about two aisles
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Speaker 1: overlooking at lamps. Um. I wasn't like that. I screamed,
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Speaker 1: bloody murder. I grabbed Lucy like a football, started running
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Speaker 1: through the store, screaming for them to lock the doors.
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Speaker 1: So what about that, Kesser, how do you defend that
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Speaker 1: demeanor at trial? Well, the demeanor is a problem, for sure.
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Speaker 1: You're not kidding. We know people people who act all
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Speaker 1: sorts of ways and got in that situation. They do
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Speaker 1: act all different ways, and nobody is the same, and
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Speaker 1: nobody acts the same, and so that's not enough to convict.
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Speaker 1: But did I ask you was it enough to convict?
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Speaker 1: I ask you that I did not. I ask you
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Speaker 1: what you made of it and how you defended at trial.
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Speaker 1: That's what I asked you. You say exactly what I said,
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Speaker 1: which is who knows how many of us would act?
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Speaker 1: None of you on the jury, Thank goodness, have hopefully've
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Speaker 1: been to this. And I wouldn't judge you just based
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Speaker 1: on your action. I would have to have pure, good
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Speaker 1: commencing evidence beyond the reasonable doubt and the reaction and
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Speaker 1: a non reaction a bad reaction is not evident enough
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Speaker 1: to prove beyond the reasonable doubt that he was guilty.
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Speaker 1: Time Stories with Nancy Grace, we are talking about a major,
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Speaker 1: major departure from precedent. Two defects Apartment family Children's Services
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Speaker 1: workers have been criminally charged because of their alleged neglect
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Speaker 1: in the case of a little boy five year old
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Speaker 1: age who is dead now. Randy Kessler, a renowned defense
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Speaker 1: attorney out of Atlanta family law specialist, says, well, you
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Speaker 1: know what, you can't judge a scenario based on the
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Speaker 1: parent being perfectly calm, during the nine o one call,
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Speaker 1: Oh hi, I can't find my son. Okay, well you
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Speaker 1: know what. Take a listen to Charlie DeMar WBBMCBS two.
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Speaker 1: AJ's mother, who's seven months pregnant, is not cooperating with police,
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Speaker 1: even refusing to take a polygraph test, and new tonight,
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Speaker 1: people here in Christal Lake are being asked to take
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Speaker 1: a closer look at their home surveillance cameras, starting last
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Speaker 1: Monday around seven am, all the way until last Thursday
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Speaker 1: around nine of course, the same day AJ was reported missing.
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Speaker 1: These women don't know Andrew friend personally, but tonight they're
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Speaker 1: rapping ribbons for his return. We want them to think
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Speaker 1: about j and you know, pray for whatever outcome, just
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Speaker 1: most importantly that he's found. First and foremost, it's a
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Speaker 1: it's a kid. It doesn't matter who's kid, or why
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Speaker 1: or when or what or how it sits child. AJ's mother,
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Speaker 1: Joanne Cunningham, no longer cooperating with detectives. Her attorney says
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Speaker 1: he adviser to stop talking once it became clear Crystal
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Speaker 1: Lake police considered her suspect, her attorney sitting in a statement,
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Speaker 1: Joanne is emotionally, mentally and physically fragile after five days
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Speaker 1: with no sign of AJ and no information as to
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Speaker 1: the progress of the search for her son. Well, if
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Speaker 1: she is so fragile, to you, Jennifer Shann, forensic scientist,
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Speaker 1: why won't she take a polygraph? If she's so upset
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Speaker 1: about AJ being missing, then why won't she hook up
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Speaker 1: and take a polly? I mean, could you explain to us,
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Speaker 1: Jennifer Shann, what is a polygraph? How does it work? Well?
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Speaker 1: Polygraph is a way to test your body's responses to questions.
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Speaker 1: And when we lie, our body response, even if people
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Speaker 1: don't think it, grades are sweating, everything reacts. So when
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Speaker 1: you take a polygraphing, ask them on a question and
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Speaker 1: they lie, then we can measure those responses and tell
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Speaker 1: that they're lying. And you know, when we have these
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Speaker 1: missing child cases, that's one of the very first things
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Speaker 1: that always happens is that they ask the parents would
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Speaker 1: take polygraphs so that they can put, you know, put
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Speaker 1: their suspicions to go to the parents aside and then
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Speaker 1: to focus on everything else. So it is a big
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Speaker 1: red flag when some woman doesn't want to do that,
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Speaker 1: and those defense attorneys don't want their plans to take
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Speaker 1: polygraphs because oftentimes it doesn't go well for them. Doctor
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Speaker 1: Daniel Bober, I gotta ask a tough question, and don't
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Speaker 1: sling a lot of psychiatric mumbo jumbo at me. I'm
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Speaker 1: just a trial lawyer. Why do people abuse children? Why
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Speaker 1: do you beat on a child? I will never forget
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Speaker 1: John David has only been spent like once in his
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Speaker 1: whole life. Turns out it was Lucy's fault. By the way. Lucy,
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Speaker 1: on the other hand, has gotten multiple swats on the booty.
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Speaker 1: Now this was when she was a little girl and
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Speaker 1: would have on a big thick diaper a pull up
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Speaker 1: for things like trying to run out into the street
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Speaker 1: or sneaking up behind John David with a wooden block
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Speaker 1: and beating him a about the hidden face. But I'm
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Speaker 1: talking about slapping them, beating them, denying food from them,
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Speaker 1: belittling them. What mindset is it that you want to
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Speaker 1: mistreat what I believe to be God's the greatest gift
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Speaker 1: to us, Nancy. Very often these are very damaged people themselves.
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Speaker 1: They have no coping skills, they have a low frustration tolerance,
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Speaker 1: and so a lot of times they'll just take it
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Speaker 1: out on the kid. Because they can't manage it the stress.
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Speaker 1: I could see that. Not that I condone it, but
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Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying, that you have a bad
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Speaker 1: reaction when you can't cope or you can't handle stress
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Speaker 1: on your own. But for instance, when parents single out
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Speaker 1: one child, and I don't mean just flying off the
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Speaker 1: handle and swatting them, I mean locking them in their closet,
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Speaker 1: forcing them to urinate on the floor, starving them until
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Speaker 1: they die. That's a more systematic abuse as opposed to
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Speaker 1: losing your temper and hitting them. Not that I agree
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Speaker 1: with that either, but oh and I'd like to point
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Speaker 1: out that the few times Lucy, which is in a total,
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Speaker 1: three times in her life, she got swatted on her
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Speaker 1: rear end, it made no difference, by the way, it
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Speaker 1: just nothing. Time out works a lot better for us
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Speaker 1: until she could get right out of time out. So
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Speaker 1: you know, that's a conundrum wrapped in mystery. So why
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Speaker 1: would there be systematic abuse? Bober? You're not just a psychiatrist,
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Speaker 1: you're a forensic psychiatrist. So give me something specific. Why
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Speaker 1: would you systematically torture a child that's not a coping mechanism. Well,
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Speaker 1: a lot of people who abuse obviously have been abused themselves,
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Speaker 1: so that sets up all kinds of things like different
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Speaker 1: personality disorders. So you know, they some people, although they
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Speaker 1: might be in the minority, actually derive pleasure from doing
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Speaker 1: it as a way of dealing with their own trauma.
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Speaker 1: So I'm not excusing it or condoning it. I'm just
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Speaker 1: trying to explain it. Okay, what's the name of the
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Speaker 1: person that takes pleasure in torturing someone? A sadist, someone
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Speaker 1: who's sadistic? Yeah, and what about when you have a
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Speaker 1: partner in it, when your wife or your husband goes
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Speaker 1: along with you and doesn't say stop, what are you doing? Well,
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Speaker 1: very often those people in those situations are you know,
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Speaker 1: people themselves that have been abused and they feel like
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Speaker 1: they have to go along with their partner because their
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Speaker 1: self esteem is so low and they're so beaten down.
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Speaker 1: They don't feel like they have a voice or they
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Speaker 1: can speak up for themselves. You know, I'm just thinking
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Speaker 1: about it. I want to go to Ashi Kelly and
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Speaker 1: Licensed Clinical social Work or her expertise child abuse former
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Speaker 1: defects were Ashley. You know, the big bobshell is that
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Speaker 1: defects workers have now just now and a rare departure
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Speaker 1: from precedent being criminally charged the way they handle AJ's case.
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Speaker 1: After years of systematic torture on this child, multiple dozens
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Speaker 1: of calls to defects and police, and they left the
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Speaker 1: baby in the home. You know, the other day, Ashley,
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Speaker 1: my husband jumped up and set a curse word in
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Speaker 1: front of the children. And I'll make no pretense about it.
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Speaker 1: I tore him a brand new three bedroom, three bath
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Speaker 1: butthole for cursing in front of the children. Okay, okay,
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Speaker 1: long story short. How could one parents stand by and
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Speaker 1: watch the other parent abuse and torture the child. I
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Speaker 1: know you had to see that during your practice. I
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Speaker 1: did it, and it's difficult to answer. I've attributed it
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Speaker 1: to similar to group mentality during criminal activity. I don't
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Speaker 1: know what the factor is or what that is. I
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Speaker 1: know that when we've talked about other child abuse cases
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Speaker 1: out of California and things like that, sometimes both adults
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Speaker 1: find pleasure in that. I like what you said, Ashley
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Speaker 1: about group mentality because Randy Kesser, I will never forget
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Speaker 1: the first case I had. We called it wilding, where
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Speaker 1: a group of teens would rape, murder, just go wild,
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Speaker 1: and some of them had never been in trouble before.
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Speaker 1: When you're in a pack, pack mentality, take server. I
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Speaker 1: wonder if one of these parents was not predisposed to this,
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Speaker 1: but because they were together doing it, they did things
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Speaker 1: they would never have done all their own. Have you
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Speaker 1: ever seen that, as Ashley Kelly, social worker just said,
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Speaker 1: she said group mentality, I said, pact mentality, same thing.
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Speaker 1: Have you ever seen that, Kessler? You know, I've seen
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Speaker 1: parents that neither one wants to bring up the fact
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Speaker 1: and it is sort of like a peer pressure in
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Speaker 1: a horrible way, a horrible example of peer pressure. But
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Speaker 1: I've seen it in our divorce cases where both parents
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Speaker 1: know they've not been good at treating a child. And
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Speaker 1: you know, I've had crustody battles where you look at
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Speaker 1: him and say, thank goodness, you're getting a divorce because
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Speaker 1: now the court can look at what's going on with
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Speaker 1: this family. Because there are a lot of very intact
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Speaker 1: families that do horrible stuff that, yes, people provoke each other.
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Speaker 1: They're afraid to tattle, they're afraid to tell for all
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Speaker 1: sorts of reasons. Well, you know what, Castler, I know
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Speaker 1: you're talking about a fray because I see a lining
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Speaker 1: up at defense here, but it's not one parent carrying
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Speaker 1: in fear. Is the other person tortures little aj They're
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Speaker 1: both doing it. Prime Stories with Nancy Grace and a
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Speaker 1: rare departure from Preston. Everyone today is a major, major
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Speaker 1: victory for children all across the US because Social Workers
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Speaker 1: de Facts Department, Family Children's Services workers have ignoring this
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Speaker 1: boy's case in a case that a judge who judges
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Speaker 1: don't only ever say anything, called his murder repulsive. That's
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Speaker 1: how bad it was. Listen to this, take a listen
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Speaker 1: to our friend Terry Melina WBBM, CBS two. Last September,
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Speaker 1: someone told police the family was living without power and
19:42
Speaker 1: bad living conditions. When police arrived to check it out,
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Speaker 1: they found grass two feet high. Joanne Cunningham wouldn't let
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Speaker 1: them in, but later admitted she and the boys were
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Speaker 1: living without power for some time. The latest visit December,
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Speaker 1: police found dog feces and urine through out the house,
20:01
Speaker 1: reporting it was cold and the windows were falling apart.
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Speaker 1: The house quote cluttered, dirty and in disrepair. But that's
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Speaker 1: not all, an officer wrote. Quote in the room where
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Speaker 1: the boys slept, the window was open and the smell
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Speaker 1: of feces was overwhelming, and that one of the boys
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Speaker 1: had quote a large bruise on his right hip. He said.
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Speaker 1: Their moms stated it must have been from the dog.
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Speaker 1: So why wasn't anything done? Then? We know? The Department
20:31
Speaker 1: of Children and Family Services also made a visit to
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Speaker 1: this home in December for a second investigation into possible neglect,
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Speaker 1: were told the allegations were determined to be unfounded. To
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Speaker 1: doctor Kendall Crowns, Deputy Medical Examina, Travis County, that's Austin, Texas,
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Speaker 1: Doctor Crowns, I know you've had the sad occasion to
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Speaker 1: autopsy children. What goes through your mind when you see
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Speaker 1: them covered in bruises, Well, the main thing that goes
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Speaker 1: through your mind is that you wanted to determine the
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Speaker 1: cause of death and get the best answer possible so
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Speaker 1: as to help prevent something like that from occurring again.
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Speaker 1: It's always difficult to see a child that's been killed
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Speaker 1: that you know head had been put up for adoption.
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Speaker 1: Someone would have taken that child and loved it and
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Speaker 1: raised it as their own. So it's always very difficult
21:28
Speaker 1: to see a dead child, especially one that's been beaten
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Speaker 1: to death. You know, I hear you, doctor Crowns. There
21:33
Speaker 1: have been times in front of a jury I wanted
21:35
Speaker 1: to cry. Well, I couldn't stop from crying. I did
21:39
Speaker 1: not cry in front of the jury, but I felt
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Speaker 1: like I was going to and to you. Randy Kessler,
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Speaker 1: You're no stranger to the courtroom. Veteran child lawyer in
21:49
Speaker 1: multiple jurisdictions, joining side of Atlanta today. The one time
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Speaker 1: I teared up, I asked to be excusing the courtroom
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Speaker 1: and left, got it together and came back. And it
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Speaker 1: was a child abused homicide case. The girl was about
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Speaker 1: two years old. She was a complete vegetable, and because
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Speaker 1: of HIPPA, I had gotten a bundle of medical records late,
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Speaker 1: of course, but the trial came, I had to go
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Speaker 1: forward with what I had, and as I was just
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Speaker 1: flipping through them, I couldn't use them because I hadn't
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Speaker 1: given them to the other side. I had a trial
22:25
Speaker 1: for discovery, but they I was looking at them sitting
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Speaker 1: in courtroom as the defense attorney was saying something, and
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Speaker 1: I saw with this little girl two years old in
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Speaker 1: a coma, had covered in bruises and cigarette burns, had
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Speaker 1: been raped, and I thought for that moment what this
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Speaker 1: child's life had been like, and I was so overwhelmed.
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Speaker 1: You know, Randy, teachers had to see bruises, cigarette burns,
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Speaker 1: the little boy malnutritioned. I mean they had to see
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Speaker 1: it before he actually died a horrible death. Randy, neighbors,
23:08
Speaker 1: they had to know. They're having a vigil. That's all
23:11
Speaker 1: will and good, But why not say something in life?
23:15
Speaker 1: Randy one thousand percent? We need more good Samaritans in
23:18
Speaker 1: this world. But Nancy, will you come guests teach my
23:21
Speaker 1: law school Trial practice OSCT. There's nothing wrong with being authentic.
23:24
Speaker 1: I mean, you weren't crying to try to make an
23:26
Speaker 1: effect on the jury. You did the right thing to try.
23:28
Speaker 1: I left the courtroom and not cry in front of
23:30
Speaker 1: the jury like a weakling. I did it in a
23:33
Speaker 1: bathroom stall. Yeah. But you know what, you're authentic and
23:36
Speaker 1: they can see how it touched you. And that's why
23:38
Speaker 1: you were effective and a great prosecutor. And if you
23:41
Speaker 1: had seen that on the side of the street, you
23:43
Speaker 1: would have said something. You saw it in the courtroom.
23:45
Speaker 1: It affected you. Why doesn't it affect everybody like that?
23:48
Speaker 1: I have no idea. I'm let me ask you something
23:51
Speaker 1: Ashley Kelly licensed clinical social work or a great social
23:55
Speaker 1: work or her expertise child abuse former defact source CPS. Ashley,
24:03
Speaker 1: you know that was an issue I had as a prosecutor,
24:07
Speaker 1: and even now it still gets me very upset and
24:11
Speaker 1: distraught when I review or cover cases. But I believe
24:16
Speaker 1: some people have to become jaded or stoic so they
24:20
Speaker 1: can keep going, so they can go to work the
24:24
Speaker 1: next day. But in this line of business, if you
24:27
Speaker 1: become stoic or cold hearted, the children are done for right.
24:33
Speaker 1: That definitely does happen. And I absolutely at the end
24:37
Speaker 1: of my time there was burnt out, and I knew
24:40
Speaker 1: that that was my time to leave. It's very easy
24:43
Speaker 1: to do, not just because of the content, but because
24:46
Speaker 1: of the overwhelmed to happen in most of the things
24:49
Speaker 1: in our country. It just becomes a point that you're
24:54
Speaker 1: in survival mode and you're having to do whatever you
24:58
Speaker 1: need to do to get through the day. Okay, you're
25:00
Speaker 1: you're preaching to the choir, Ashley. I was so saturated
25:05
Speaker 1: with violent crime I started off. I had an addiction
25:10
Speaker 1: to calm down to go to court. I had to
25:11
Speaker 1: watch one hour A Little House on the prairie in
25:14
Speaker 1: the mornings. Then it got so bad at the end,
25:18
Speaker 1: I would have to watch two hours a little house
25:21
Speaker 1: on the prairie. I'd have to get up at five
25:22
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning to get a little house in
25:24
Speaker 1: the prairie. Fix to calm down, to go into court
25:28
Speaker 1: and put the a holes behind bars. It's just okay,
25:32
Speaker 1: you know how you were hearing about. The house was
25:35
Speaker 1: filthy and smell like dog feces. Had to open a
25:38
Speaker 1: window in the cold, and this little boy's room so
25:42
Speaker 1: you can't smell the dog feces and urine. Well, take
25:46
Speaker 1: a listen to Patrick Elwood w g N nine. There's
25:48
Speaker 1: a real turnaround. Listen. In the home, police soon found
25:52
Speaker 1: laundry that smelled a bleach and at least four bleach
25:56
Speaker 1: bottles and Drew's gym shoes with dripping wet mud. Under
26:00
Speaker 1: questioning from detectives, the couple tried to explain away the
26:04
Speaker 1: shopping list tape to be used for hanging pictures bleached
26:08
Speaker 1: to clean the premises at least one bottle a week
26:11
Speaker 1: they went through. Detectives were skeptical of night. Drew said
26:15
Speaker 1: perhaps she was searching CPR for babies in anticipation of
26:19
Speaker 1: her coming child. Joanna is seven months pregnant, despite her
26:23
Speaker 1: already having two babies again, detectives were skeptical. Days later,
26:28
Speaker 1: on April twenty third, with the help of the FBI,
26:31
Speaker 1: investigators were able to recover a deleted video of Joanne's
26:35
Speaker 1: cell phone, a two minute video of her berating AJ
26:39
Speaker 1: for urinating on his bed. In that video, Aj can
26:43
Speaker 1: be seen naked except for a few bandages around his
26:46
Speaker 1: wrists and hips. Nicole part and I just want to vomit.
26:52
Speaker 1: I just literally feel sick to my stomach. Little Aj
26:56
Speaker 1: totally naked except bandage around us hips and wrists as
27:02
Speaker 1: she braates her stepson horribly. And not only that, she
27:09
Speaker 1: videos it, berating him for teteing. I mean, I think
27:16
Speaker 1: the bigger deal you make out of bed wedding, the
27:19
Speaker 1: more nervous the child gets. And what's the bed? I mean,
27:23
Speaker 1: every child's gonna wet the bed up Until a certain point,
27:27
Speaker 1: my husband was all about potty train. If I said, David,
27:30
Speaker 1: trust me, they're not going to go off to college
27:32
Speaker 1: with a pull up on. All right, it'll happen, And
27:35
Speaker 1: sure enough it did. Dut tape bleach. What else is
27:41
Speaker 1: in the home, Nicole right, and I listened to a
27:44
Speaker 1: portion of that audio of that cell phone recording, and
27:47
Speaker 1: you could hear a little five year old AJ crying
27:51
Speaker 1: saying I just want a family. Heartbreaking. He's saying, I
27:55
Speaker 1: just want a family, and she's yelling back at him,
27:58
Speaker 1: screaming back at him. Police also found in that home
28:02
Speaker 1: the plastic tape bleach, those muddy tennis shoes of the father,
28:08
Speaker 1: all pointing to the tragic end of what had happened
28:11
Speaker 1: to little AJ. Crime stories with Nancy Grace Guys social
28:31
Speaker 1: workers CPS defects workers have just been charged criminally for
28:36
Speaker 1: turning the other way, refusing to act on the horrible
28:42
Speaker 1: abuse this little boy suffered his whole life at the
28:47
Speaker 1: hands of his stepmother as father. I've got sound of
28:52
Speaker 1: her just braiding him and you can hear him in
28:57
Speaker 1: the background. It's just awful. Take a listen to Chief
29:03
Speaker 1: James Blatt with a Crystal Lake PD is with heavy
29:07
Speaker 1: heart that the Chris Lake the Police Department reports that
29:10
Speaker 1: we've located what we believe to be the body of
29:12
Speaker 1: Andrew AJ Friend later this morning or earlier this morning
29:17
Speaker 1: during the overnight hours, investigators with Chris Lake Police Department
29:20
Speaker 1: and the FBI interviewed both the mother, Joey and Cunningham,
29:24
Speaker 1: and the father, Andrew Friend Senior, after information was obtained
29:28
Speaker 1: through forensic analysis as cell phone data. Once presented with
29:32
Speaker 1: the evidence obtained by investigators, both Joanne and Andrew Senior
29:37
Speaker 1: provided information that ultimately led to the recovery what we
29:41
Speaker 1: believe is the recovery of decease subject AJ. Investigators located
29:46
Speaker 1: what they believed to be AJ's body buried in a
29:49
Speaker 1: shallow grave wrapped in plastic in a area of Woodstock, Illinois.
29:54
Speaker 1: The mckenry County Corner's Office is on scene with the
29:58
Speaker 1: FBI Evidence Recovery Unit now as we speak. The cause
30:02
Speaker 1: of death is unknown at this time and it will
30:05
Speaker 1: be determined at a later date by the McHenry County
30:07
Speaker 1: Corners Office. And it leads to today take a listen
30:13
Speaker 1: to Chris hush WMAQ. After more than a year of
30:18
Speaker 1: intense scrutiny over the abuse investigation of AJ Friend, two
30:21
Speaker 1: former DCFS workers now face felony charges. Fifty four year
30:26
Speaker 1: old Carlos Acosta of Woodstock, a child protection specialist on
30:29
Speaker 1: the case, and a McHenry County board member forty eight
30:32
Speaker 1: year old Andrew Pullovin of Island Lake, a supervisor at
30:36
Speaker 1: the time, both facing two counts of endangering the life
30:39
Speaker 1: of a child and one count of reckless conduct. The
30:42
Speaker 1: indictments citing their actions that would lead to a proximant
30:46
Speaker 1: cause of death. I would call it extremely unusual. During
30:50
Speaker 1: his entire twenty nine year career as an attorney in
30:53
Speaker 1: Cook County, Public gulready in Charles Goldbert can't recall a
30:57
Speaker 1: case like this one. I hope we're not scapegold being
31:00
Speaker 1: individual workers for issues that are systemic and the fault
31:05
Speaker 1: of much higher up on bureaucrats. You know what, I
31:08
Speaker 1: can't believe they've even said that. I'm looking at the
31:11
Speaker 1: back and forth with defects in this case. He goes
31:14
Speaker 1: all the way back to June sevent twenty twelve, a
31:16
Speaker 1: hotline call that Joe and Huntingham was neglecting her child.
31:24
Speaker 1: No credible evidence, says defacts June fourteen, and neighbor calls
31:28
Speaker 1: neglect complaint unfounded. August twenty twelve, they remove a foster
31:34
Speaker 1: child from her care, then the child goes back Crystal
31:40
Speaker 1: late police October. They call the hot line after responding
31:44
Speaker 1: to a domestic abuse okay, DFACTS declines to investigate. December
31:51
Speaker 1: twenty four. A hospital worker on October calls defects to
31:56
Speaker 1: report AJ's born with Opie's in his system. Still she
32:04
Speaker 1: has the baby. The mom gets custody again October twenty one.
32:10
Speaker 1: It just keeps going and going and going and going.
32:14
Speaker 1: What happened, Nicole Pardon? It's completely unbelievable. Police were called
32:20
Speaker 1: to the home seventeen times on allegations of drug use
32:24
Speaker 1: and child abuse. Doctors had called the hotline in reporting
32:29
Speaker 1: that they thought there was abuse happening to little AJ.
32:32
Speaker 1: DCFS visited the home two times. We had at least
32:36
Speaker 1: ten Hot Loans hotline calls that were called in to
32:40
Speaker 1: report the abuse. Joe N. Cunningham was known by the
32:44
Speaker 1: Department of Children and Family Services. AJ was born with
32:47
Speaker 1: heroin in his system, so he suffered from day one, Nancy,
32:51
Speaker 1: this baby suffered from the very moment that he entered
32:54
Speaker 1: this life. When asked about bruises on AJ, remember the
32:58
Speaker 1: mom the stepmother said is from a dog. But when
33:03
Speaker 1: Aj was asked, he said an I quote, maybe someone
33:06
Speaker 1: hit me with a belt. Calls to Defacts twenty twelve,
33:09
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, a hospital social worker calls Defacts hotline after
33:15
Speaker 1: seeing odd bruising on AJ's face. You know the other
33:19
Speaker 1: day Lucy came home with a giant bruise on it, Like,
33:22
Speaker 1: I'm like, what happened to you? And she told me
33:24
Speaker 1: that's from a soccer ball at school. AJ take into
33:28
Speaker 1: emergency room after the mom found asleep in a car
33:33
Speaker 1: on drugs. After more attempts, now we're at April. The
33:37
Speaker 1: investigator I found the boys defacts says that they were
33:42
Speaker 1: quote clean, no mal treatment. It goes on and on.
33:47
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't even report them all. So Ashley Kelly,
33:51
Speaker 1: former defacts worker, licensed clinical social worker expertise child abuse,
33:58
Speaker 1: What went wrong year? That is an excellent question. UM.
34:04
Speaker 1: I did some research on Illinois in particular last night, UM,
34:08
Speaker 1: and it looks like there is at least one hundred
34:11
Speaker 1: deaths a year with touch points with dcfs, as well
34:18
Speaker 1: as two hundred and twenty two incoming reports that that
34:23
Speaker 1: subsequently go out to the different units to go investigate.
34:28
Speaker 1: I don't like making excuses. There's people that make poor
34:33
Speaker 1: decisions on a job all the time. But I can
34:36
Speaker 1: remember as a twenty two year old fresh out of
34:38
Speaker 1: college doing this job and leaving the department with ninety
34:43
Speaker 1: eight ninety eight open investigations because of what um, what
34:51
Speaker 1: we were given, and it's it's very difficult to even
34:55
Speaker 1: with a history of reports to rem of children. Um,
35:01
Speaker 1: it's kind of a damn. I wonder what the differences
35:05
Speaker 1: in trying to remove a trial at a child at
35:08
Speaker 1: or putting in your report no maltreatment. I don't see
35:13
Speaker 1: any any problem here because during a search of deleted
35:17
Speaker 1: files on Stepmom's phone, police would find video after a
35:21
Speaker 1: video of a badly injured AJ on a bare urine
35:25
Speaker 1: soaked mattress, nude except for bandages. Um, the bruises on
35:32
Speaker 1: his face and body still defects, says, no need for investigation,
35:38
Speaker 1: no mistreatment. I just want you to hear one of
35:42
Speaker 1: the deleted cell phone videos recovered by the FBI of
35:46
Speaker 1: Stepmommy berating this little boy before he was murdered. Oh,
36:00
Speaker 1: your able. I think I'm getting more in trouble with Adrian. Remember, yes,
36:11
Speaker 1: when you tell the truth, you have to causitive answer.
36:20
Speaker 1: Who do you think you're gonna get me in trouble with?
36:25
Speaker 1: Were you think I'm gonna get in trouble with you?
36:34
Speaker 1: Are you my mos? Are you my parents? Oh? Are
36:38
Speaker 1: you already in trouble with you? You were hearing the
36:42
Speaker 1: parents braiding Aja. It goes on and on because he
36:47
Speaker 1: had said, basically, if you don't quit beating me, I'm
36:49
Speaker 1: gonna get you in trouble. Nicole parton what were the
36:55
Speaker 1: conditions of AJ's discovery? How was his body fund? They
37:00
Speaker 1: found Aj in a shallow grave, wrapped in plastic, where
37:05
Speaker 1: he had been buried hours and hours after his death,
37:09
Speaker 1: because once he died, his father had placed him in
37:12
Speaker 1: a plastic container, left him in the house while he
37:15
Speaker 1: went to the grocery store to purchase tape and bleach
37:19
Speaker 1: and plastic, came back home and removed Aj. Fody, wrapped
37:22
Speaker 1: him in plastic, taped it up, and drove out to
37:26
Speaker 1: an abandoned field where he buried him hours after his death.
37:31
Speaker 1: What are the charges, Nicole against the defacts workers. They're
37:35
Speaker 1: being charged with failure to protect AJ. Carlos Acosta fifty
37:40
Speaker 1: four was the supervisor of the case manager. He's also
37:44
Speaker 1: a McHenry County board member. And Andrew Poveline, forty eight
37:48
Speaker 1: was the case manager in the case, and they've both
37:50
Speaker 1: charged with failure to protect him. Let's see how far
37:54
Speaker 1: that goes with a county board member being charged. Well,
37:59
Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned, they can all rot in
38:01
Speaker 1: hell right along with the parents. We wait as justice unfals.
38:06
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace crime stories, hunning off, Goodbye friend,