Photo: Crystal Lake Police Department
The 5-year-old Illinois boy whose parents allegedly murdered him after beating him and forcing him to stand in a cold shower “for an extended” amount of time died of multiple blunt force injuries to the head, recently released autopsy results show.
On Thursday, McHenry County Interim Coroner David Devane identified thebody that was found buried in a shallow grave and wrapped in plastic in Woodstockon Wednesday as Andrew “A.J.” Freund from Crystal Lake, local ABC affiliate WLS, theChicago Sun Timesand other outlets report.
Devane listed the child’s cause of death as“craniocerebral trauma as a consequence of multiple blunt force injuries,” WLS reports.
Police arrested Cunningham and Freund on Wednesday after showing them “forensic analysis of cell phone data,” which allegedly led the pair to divulge “information that ultimately led to the recovery” of A.J.’s body, Crystal Lake Police Chief James Black said at a press conference Wednesday.Both face a slew of charges including first-degree murder, aggravated battery and failure to report the death of a child, according to the criminal complaint.
They are being held on a $5 million bond and will be arraigned Monday.
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Their attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“A.J. is no longer suffering and his killers have been brought to justice,” Black said at the press conference.
Andrew Freund, Sr., of Crystal Lake, Illinois.
The boy was returned to his family when he was 18 months old.
DCFSvisited the family’s home 17 timesover the years, WLS, theSun-Times, theTribune,and other outlets report.
Officials had found the home severely dilapidated, with broken windows and, at times, no electricity for weeks, theSun-Timesreports.
The room where A.J. and his sibling slept smelled like feces and urine, theSun-Timesreports.
source: people.com
