AJ Freund

Carlos Acosta and Andrew Polovin face allegations that they “knowingly caused or permitted" 5-year-old AJ Freund "to be placed in circumstances" that endangered the boy's life or health, according to an indictment in the case. 

JoAnn Cunningham will serve between 20 and 60 years in prison, with no chance for early release.

Andrew Freund, the Illinois man accused of beating his 5-year-old son AJ to death, isn’t the father of his partner JoAnn Cunningham’s newborn daughter, who was born in prison weeks after the couple’s arrest.

JoAnn Cunningham has been charged with first degree murder after her son, AJ Freund, was killed.

Investigators have said the 5-year-old was beaten to death after being forced into a frigid shower as punishment for soiling his pants.

The death of Andrew "AJ" Freund, allegedly at the hands of his parents, has shined a light on the phenomenon of filicide.

Weeks before he was found beaten to death, Joann Cunningham allegedly recorded footage of her visibly hurt son as she berated him for wetting his bed.

Andrew Freund Sr. and JoAnn Cunningham became irate after the boy lied about soiling his underpants, leading to the deadly punishment, an investigator said in a sworn affidavit.

Craig Summerkamp says JoAnn Cunningham was a "decent person ...  but then she got hooked on pills and it all went downhill super fast.”

"His life shall not be in vain. AJ will always be our little superhero," AJ Freund's relatives say as his parents face murder charges in his death.