On April 18, 2019, JoAnn Cunningham and Drew Freund called 911 to report their 5-year-old son, AJ, missing from the family’s home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Days later, police discovered AJ’s battered body in a shallow grave, and both JoAnn and Drew were charged with the murder of their little boy.

I’ve told AJ’s story in parts over the course of two regular episodes, a few update episodes, and multiple posts on Suffer the Little Children Blog. AJ was the first child I ever featured on both the blog and the podcast, and he holds a special place in my heart. Because I covered his story over two years ago and in such a fragmented way, in this episode, I’m pulling it all together into one “mega episode” comprising all of my previous coverage about AJ as well as any updates I’ve found that I haven’t yet covered. Some of it is newly recorded, but most of it is compiled from past episodes, making it easier to get the full picture of AJ’s story all in one place.

This is the tragic story of AJ Freund.

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This podcast is researched, written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine.

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Music for this episode is from Audio Jungle.

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