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

Episode Date: September 15, 2020

The parents of 5-year-old AJ Freund report him missing. When confronted with forensic analysis on their cellphones and other information, they both reportedly provide details that lead to the little boy’s location. His body is later found wrapped in plastic in a shallow grave.AJ's parents are charged with murder, but what about the Illinois Department of Child and Family Service workers who repeatedly returned the child to his parent, finding no cause for concern? Now two DCFS workers have now been charged in Freund's death.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Randall Kessler - Defense Attorney & Family Law Specialist Dr. Daniel Bober - Forensic Psychiatrist, Chief of Psychiatry Memorial Regional Healthcare Systems, Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, follow on Instagram at drdanielbober Jennifer Shen, Forensic Scientist, Former San Diego Police Department Crime Lab Director Dr. Kendall Crowns - Deputy Medical Examiner Travis County, Texas (Austin) Nicole Partin - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Ashley Kelly - Licensed Clinical Social Worker - Expertise: Child Abuse National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4- A-Child (1-800-422-4453) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Bombshell right now in a very rare, rare move. DFACS, Department of Family and Children's Services, CPS, Child Protective Services, two workers have been criminally charged for neglect in a case that led to a brutal and repulsive death for a little boy.

Those are the words of the judge that heard the case. A brutal and repulsive death for this little boy, those are the words of the judge that heard the case. A brutal and repulsive death for this little boy. Why? Because D-Fax ignored everything the child tortured and killed. I want justice. And I hope you do, too. You know, at the very beginning, when I try to speak to juries. I try to sugarcoat, airbrush the horrible details of certain cases. Well, it didn't take me long. It was my very first trial and halfway through it,

I realized you cannot airbrush the truth. You can't sugarcoat the truth. In fact, as harsh as it is, we must confront it. Why? To seek justice. Why? So that it doesn't happen again. First of all, take a listen to this. 9-1-1, what's your address of your emergency? 94 Dole Avenue, Crystal Lake, Illinois. Okay, tell me exactly what happened. We have a missing child. He woke up this morning, and he wasn't... How old is the child? Yeah, missing child. Yeah, how old is he?

He's five. What was he last seen wearing? A Mario, like, blue long-sleeve sweatshirt and a black sweatpants. And is he a male white? Yes. And when was the last time you seen him? Last night, probably 9.30 when he went to bed. Okay. Are you the father?

Yes. Wow. He sure sounds calm, cool, and collected to have a little boy missing. A five-year-old little boy missing out of his own bed. Hasn't seen him since 9.30 the night before. You know, maybe it's just me, but I go in and check on the children all during the night. Every time I get up, I go peep at them. Sometimes if I'm especially worried, I make sure they're breathing.

He hasn't seen them since 930 the night before, and he's so calm on the phone. Maybe I'm projecting, but I don't like it. Joining me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. First of all, renowned family law specialist, Randy Kessler, joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Ashley Kelly, licensed clinical social worker, expertise child abuse, a former DFAX worker, and that is critical right now dr daniel bober chief of psychiatry memorial regional health care systems assistant clinical professor at yale school of medicine you can find

him on insta at dr daniel bober jennifer shen forensic scientist former san diego police shen forensics.com dr kendall Kendall Crowns, Deputy Medical Examiner, Travis County, Texas. That's Austin. But first to crimeonline.com, investigator, reporter and foster parent, Nicole Parton. Nicole, do we have any idea what time of the day or night it was that AJ's dad calls to report him missing? He called the following morning. So he claims that they saw him last at 930 in the evening. And it was the following morning, very early that he made that 911 call and reported him missing. Trying to figure out about what time of the morning. But I noticed his calm, cool, and collected demeanor.

Let's hear a little bit more of AJ's dad. Do you know where he might have went? No. We can't list the neighborhood. I went to the local park, local gas station down here where we sometimes take him to buy treats. I spoke with the assistant principal over there at the school where the park is, and they haven't seen Kim or any other child.

I have no idea where he would be. Okay. So you put him to bed last night so he was in his pajamas, and then when you tried to get him for school he wasn't there and then you looked around for a bit yes what time was he supposed to be at school well he didn't go to school but i had a doctor's appointment this morning when i got back from the doctor's appointment um and i checked in on him say good morning and he wasn't there so that would have been what time was that about between 815, 830.

Well, let me understand. He checked this morning and he wasn't there. This is 815. And he says to you, Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, who has been covering this case from the beginning, he says that he checks on him between 81515 and 8.30, that he wasn't going to school that day, that he had a doctor's appointment, and he had already gone to the gas station? Right. Canvas, the neighborhood, and the local park? That's what he's saying to the 911 operator? That's what he's saying. And he's making it sound like he had already been to the doctor, looked around everywhere, and was back home checking in on him 815, 830.

Randy Kessler joining me, a renowned defense attorney and family law specialist. If you're having to go to the gas station to look for your five-year-old child, didn't you skip something? Didn't you miss a beat calling 911 before you go to a gas station? It could be before H-E-L-L freezes over that I go to a gas station to look for one of my missing twins before I call 911. That doesn't even make sense, Kessler. 1,000%. And I winced when I heard you say that you sugarcoat things because it's been a long time, Anthony. You don't sugarcoat anything. And this is one that nobody can sugarcoat this.

This guy is full of it. There's no chance in a million years unless he just didn't love his child, didn't care for his child and sort of wanted him to be missing, which in hindsight looks like might be the case. What do you make of his demeanor? Because you're in the sorry situation of having to defend extremely calm, cool demeanors when a jury or me, I would expect them to be going crazy. I mean, I'm not going to recount in full when John David went missing at a big warehouse, Babies R Us place, because some mom put me on a guilt trip about her homemade organic sunscreen. So I'm on the bottom. The shells go from the floor up all the way down there looking for organic sunscreen. I turn around, John David's gone. Gone. And all I could think of was Adam Walsh,

John Walsh's son that went missing from a Sears and Roebuck. His mom was about two aisles over looking at lamps. I wasn't like that. I screamed bloody murder. I grabbed Lucy like a football and started running through the store, screaming for them to lock the doors. So what about that, Kessler? How do you defend that demeanor at trial?

Well, the demeanor is a problem for sure. Man, you're not kidding. We know people act all sorts of ways. Oh, here we go. People act all different ways. They do act all different ways, and nobody's the same, and nobody acts the same. And so that's not enough to convict. Did I ask you?

Was it enough to convict? Did I ask you that? I did not. I asked you what you made of it and how you defended it at trial. That's what I asked you. You say exactly what I said, which is who knows how any of us would act. None of you on the jury, thank goodness, have hopefully been through this. And I wouldn't judge you just based on your reaction.

I would have to have pure, good, convincing evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. And a reaction, a non-reaction, a bad reaction is not evidence enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are talking about a major, major departure from precedent. Two defects, Department of Family and Children's Services workers have been criminally charged because of their alleged neglect in the case of a little boy, five-year-old AJ, who is dead.

Now, Randy Kessler, a renowned defense attorney out of Atlanta, a family law specialist, says, well, you know what, you can't judge a scenario based on the parent being perfectly calm during the 911 call. Oh, hi, I can't find my son. Okay, well, you know what, take a listen to Charlie DeMar, WBBM CBS 2. AJ's mother, who's seven months pregnant, is not cooperating with police, even refusing to take a polygraph test. And new tonight, people here in Crystal Lake are being asked to take a closer look at their home surveillance cameras, starting last Monday around 7 a.m. all the way until last Thursday around 9, of course, the SAME DAY A.J. WAS REPORTED MISSING. THESE WOMEN DON'T KNOW ANDREW FRIEND PERSONALLY, BUT TONIGHT THEY'RE WRAPPING RIBBONS FOR HIS RETURN. WE WANT THEM TO THINK ABOUT A.J. AND, YOU KNOW, PRAY FOR WHATEVER OUTCOME, JUST MOST IMPORTANTLY, THAT HE'S FOUND. FIRST AND FOREMOST, IT'S A KID. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO'S KID OR WHY OR WHEN OR WHAT OR HOW. IT'S A CHILD.

A.J.'S MOTHER, JOANunningham, no longer cooperating with detectives. Her attorney says he advised her to stop talking. Once it became clear, Crystal Lake Police considered her a suspect. Her attorney saying in a statement, Joanne is emotionally, mentally and physically fragile after five days with no sign of A.J. and no information as to the progress of the search for her son. Well, if she is so fragile to you, Jennifer Shin, forensic scientist, why won't she take a polygraph?

If she's so upset about AJ being missing, then why won't she hook up and take a poly? I mean, could you explain to us, Jennifer Shin, what is a polygraph? How does it work? A polygraph is a way to test your body's responses to questions. And when we lie, our body responds. Even if we don't think it's great, we're sweating, everything reacts. So when you take a polygraph and you ask someone a question and they lie,

then we can measure those responses and tell that they're lying. And, you know, when we have these missing child cases, that's one of the very first things that always happens is that they ask the parents to take polygraphs so that they can put their suspicions about the parents aside and then focus on everything else. So it is a big red flag when someone doesn't want to do that and most defense attorneys don't want their clients to take polygraphs because oftentimes it doesn't go well for them. Dr. Daniel Bober, I gotta ask you a tough question and don't sling a lot of psychiatric mumbo-jumbo at me. I'm just a trial lawyer. Why do people abuse children? Why do you beat on a child? I will never forget. John David has only been spanked like once in his whole life. Turns out it was Lucy's fault, by the way.

Lucy, on the other hand, has gotten multiple swats on the booty. Now, this was when she was a little girl and would have on a big thick diaper, a pull-up, for things like trying to run out into the street or sneaking up behind John David with a wooden block and beating him about the head and face. But I'm talking about slapping them, beating them, denying food from them, belittling them. What mindset is it that you want to mistreat what I believe to be God's greatest gift to us? Nancy, very often these are very damaged people themselves. They have no coping skills. They have a low frustration tolerance.

And so a lot of times they'll just take it out on the kid because they can't manage the stress. I could see that. Not that I condone it, but I understand what you're saying. You have a bad reaction when you can't cope or you can't handle stress on your own. But for instance, when parents single out one child. And I don't mean just flying off the handle and swatting them. I mean, locking them in their closet, forcing them to urinate on the floor, starving them until they die. That's a more systematic abuse as opposed to losing your temper and hitting them. Not that I agree with that either, but, um, oh, and I'd like to point out that the few times Lucy, which is in a total three times in her life, she got swatted on her rear end. It made no difference by the way. It just nothing timeout worked a lot better for us

until I, she could get right out of timeout. So, you know, that's a conundrum wrapped in mystery. So why would there be systematic abuse? Bober, you're not just a psychiatrist, you're a forensic psychiatrist. So give me something specific. Why would you systematically torture a child? That's not a coping mechanism. mechanism well a lot of people who abuse obviously have been abused themselves so that sets up all kinds of things like different personality disorders so you know they some people although they might be in the minority actually derive

pleasure from doing it um in the way of dealing with their own trauma so i'm not excusing it or condoning it i'm just trying to explain it what do you okay what's the name of dealing with their own trauma. So I'm not excusing it or condoning it. I'm just trying to explain it. Okay. What's the name of the person that takes pleasure in torturing someone? A sadist? Someone who's sadistic. Yeah. And what about when you have a partner in it, when your wife or your husband goes along with you and doesn't say, stop, what are you doing? Well, very often those people in those situations are, you know, people themselves that have been abused and they feel like they have to go along with their partner because their self-esteem is so low and they're so beaten down that they don't feel like they have a voice or they can speak up for themselves.

You know, I'm just thinking about it. I want to go to Ashley Kelly, licensed clinical social worker, her expertise, child abuse, a former defects worker. Ashley, you know, the big bombshell is that defects workers have now, just now, in a rare departure from precedent, been criminally charged the way they handle AJ's case after years of systematic torture on this child. Multiple dozens of calls to defects and police, and they left the baby in the home. You know, the other day, Ashley, my husband jumped up and said a curse word

in front of the children. And I'll make no pretense about it. I tore him a brand new three-bedroom, three-bath butthole for cursing in front of the children. Okay? Okay. Long story short, how could one parent stand by and watch the other parent abuse and torture the child? I know you had to see that during your practice. I did. And it's difficult to answer. I've attributed it to similar to group mentality during criminal activity. I don't know what the

factor is or what that is. I know that when we've talked about other child abuse cases out of California and things like that, sometimes both adults find pleasure in that. I like what you said, Ashley, about group mentality, because Randy Kessler, I'll never forget the first case I had, we called it wilding, where a group of teens would rape, murder, just go wild. And some of them had never been in trouble before. When you're in a pack, pack mentality takes over. I wonder if one of these parents was not predisposed to this, but because they were together doing it, they did things they would never have done on their own. Have you ever seen that? As Ashley Kelly, social worker, just said, she said group mentality. I said PAC mentality, same thing. You ever seen that, Kessler? You know, I've seen parents that neither one wants to bring up the facts. And it is sort of

like a peer pressure in a horrible way, a horrible example of peer pressure. But I've seen it in our divorce cases where both parents know they've not been good at treating a child and you know i've had custody battles where you look at it and say thank goodness you're getting a divorce because now the court can look at what's going on with this family because there are a lot of very intact families that do horrible stuff but yes people provoke each other they're afraid to tattle they're afraid to tell for all sorts of reasons well you know what caster i know you're talking about a fray because I see you lining up a defense here. But it's not one parent cowering in fear as the other person tortures little AJ. They're both doing it.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace in a rare departure from preston everyone today is a major major victory for children all across the u.s because social workers defects department family children Social workers, DFACs, Department of Family, Children's Services workers have ignoring this boy's case. In a case that a judge, judges hardly ever say anything, called his murder repulsive. That's how bad it was. Listen to this. Take a listen to our friend Tara Molina, WBBM, CBS2. Last September, someone told police the family was living without power and bad living conditions. When police arrived to check it out, they found grass two feet high. Joanne Cunningham wouldn't let them in, but later admitted she and the boys

were living without power for some time. The latest visit, December. Police found dog feces and urine throughout the house, reporting it was cold and the windows were falling apart. The house, quote, cluttered, dirty, and in disrepair. But that's not all. An officer wrote, quote, in the room where the boys slept, the window was open and the smell of feces was overwhelming. And that one of the boys had, quote, a large bruise on his right hip. He said their mom stated it must have been from the dog. So why wasn't anything done then? We know the Department of Children and Family Services also made a visit to this home in December

for a second investigation into possible neglect. We're told the allegations were determined to be unfounded. To Dr. Kendall Crowns, Deputy Medical Examiner, Travis County, that's Austin, Texas. Dr. Crowns, I know you've had the sad occasion to autopsy children. What goes through your mind when you see them covered in bruises? The main thing that goes through your mind is that you want to determine the cause of death and get the best answer possible so as to help prevent something like that from occurring again. It's always difficult to see a child that's been killed that, you know, had it been put up for

adoption, someone would have taken that child and loved it and raised it as their own. So it's always very difficult to see a dead child, especially one that's been beaten to death. You know, I hear you, Dr. Crowns. There have been times in front of a jury that I wanted to cry. Well, I couldn't stop from crying. I did not cry in front of the jury, but I felt like I was going to. And to you, Randy Kessler, you're no stranger to the courtroom, veteran trial lawyer in multiple jurisdictions, joining us out of Atlanta today. The one time I teared up, I asked to be excused in the courtroom and left, got it together and came back. And it was a child abuse homicide case.

The girl was about two years old. She was a complete vegetable. And because of HIPAA, I had gotten a bundle of medical records late, of course. But the trial came, I had to go forward with what I had. And as I was just flipping through them, I couldn't use them because I hadn't given them but the trial came. I had to go forward with what I had. And as I was just flipping through them, I couldn't use them because I hadn't given them to the other side. I had a trial for discovery, but they, I was looking at them sitting in courtroom as the defense attorney was saying something. And I saw where this little girl, two years old in a coma, covered in bruises and cigarette burns, had been raped.

And I thought for that moment what this child's life had been like, and I was so overwhelmed. You know, Randy, teachers had to see bruises, cigarette burns, the little boy malnutritioned. I mean, they had to see it before he actually died a horrible death, Randy. Neighbors, they had to know. They're having a vigil. That's all well and good.

But why not say something in life, Randy? One thousand percent. We need more good Samaritans in this world. But, Nancy, will you come guest teach my law school trial practice class because there's nothing wrong with being authentic I mean you weren't crying

to try to make an effect on the jury you did the right thing to try to make that happen no I left the courtroom I did not cry in front of the jury like a weakling I did it in a bathroom stall yeah

but you know what you're authentic and they can see how it touched you and that's why you were effective and a great prosecutor and um if you had seen that on the side that's why you were effective and a great prosecutor. And if you had seen that on the side of the street, you would have said something. You saw it in the courtroom.

It affected you. Why doesn't it affect everybody like that? I have no idea. Let me ask you something, Ashley. Kelly, licensed clinical social worker, a great social worker. Her expertise, child abuse, former defects or CPS. Ashley, you know, that was an issue I had as a prosecutor. And even now, it still gets me very upset and distraught when I review or cover cases. But I believe some people have to become jaded or stoic so they can keep going, so they can go to work the next day. But in this line of business, if you become stoic or cold hearted, the children are done for.

Right. That definitely does happen. And I absolutely, at the end of my time there, was burnt out. And I knew that that was my time to leave. It's very easy to do, not just because of the content, but because of the overwhelm that happens in most of the states in our country. It just becomes a point that you're in survival mode and you're having to do whatever you need to do to get through the day. Okay, you're preaching to the choir, Ashley. I know it. I was so saturated with violent crime. I started off, I had an addiction to calm down to go to court.

I had to watch one hour of Little House on the Prairie in the mornings. Then it got so bad at the end, I would have to watch two hours of Little House on the Prairie. I'd have to get up at five o'clock in the morning to get a Little House on the Prairie fix to calm down, to go into court and put the a-holes behind bars. It's just, okay, you know how you were hearing about the house was filthy and it smelled like dog feces, they had to open a window in the cold in this little boy's room, so you couldn't smell the dog feces and urine.

Well, take a listen to Patrick Elwood, WGN9. There's a real turnaround. Listen. In the home, police soon found laundry that smelled of bleach and at least four bleach bottles and Drew's gym shoes with dripping wet mud. Under questioning from detectives, the couple tried to explain away the shopping list. Tape to be used for hanging pictures, bleach to clean the premises, at least one bottle a week they went through. Detectives were skeptical of that. Drew said perhaps she was searching CPR for babies

in anticipation of her coming child. Joanne is seven months pregnant, despite her already having two babies. Again, detectives were skeptical. Days later, on April 23rd, with the help of the FBI, investigators were able to recover a deleted video of Joanne's cell phone. A two-minute video of her berating AJ for urinating on his bed. In that video, AJ can be seen naked except for a few bandages around his wrists and hips. Hey Nicole, Nicole Parton, I just want to vomit. I just literally feel sick to my stomach. Little AJ, totally naked except bandaged around his hips and wrists as she berates her stepson horribly. And not only that, she videos it berating him for TTing. I mean, I think the bigger deal you make

out of bedwetting, the more nervous the child gets and wets the bed. I mean, every child is going to wet the bed up until a certain point. My husband was all about potty training. I said, David, trust me, they're not going to go off to college with a pull-up on. It'll happen. And sure enough, it did. Duct tape, bleach. What else is in the home, Nicole?

Right. And I listened to a portion of that audio of that cell phone recording, and you could hear little five-year-old AJ crying, saying, I just want a family. Heartbreaking. He's saying, I just want a family. And she's yelling back at him, screaming back at him. Police also found in that home the plastic, tape, bleach, those muddy tennis shoes of the father, all pointing to the tragic end of what had happened to little AJ. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Guys, social workers, CPS defects workers have just been charged criminally for turning the other way, refusing to act on the horrible abuse this little boy suffered his whole life at the hands of his stepmother and his father. I've got sound of her just berating him, and you can hear him in the background. It's just awful. Take a listen to Chief James Black with the Crystal Lake PD. It is with heavy heart that the Crystal Lake Police Department reports that we have located what we believe to be the body of Andrew A.J. Friend later this morning or earlier this morning.

During the overnight hours, investigators with the Crystal Lake Police Department and the FBI interviewed both the mother, Joanne Cunningham, and the father, Andrew Friend Sr., after information was obtained through a forensic analysis of cell phone data. Once presented with the evidence obtained by investigators, both Joanne and Andrew Sr. provided information that ultimately led to the recovery, what we led to the recovery, what we believe is the recovery of deceased subject A.J. Investigators located what they believe to be A.J.'s body,

buried in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic in a row area of Woodstock, Illinois. The McHenry County Coroner's Office is on scene with the FBI Evidence Recovery Unit right now as we speak. The cause of death is unknown at this time and will be determined at a later date by the McHenry County Coroner's Office. And it leads to today. Take a listen to Chris Hush, WMAQ. After more than a year of intense scrutiny over the abuse investigation of AJ Friend, two former DCFS workers now face felony charges. 54-year-old Carlos Acosta of Woodstock, a child protection specialist on the case, and a McHenry County board member. 48-year-old Andrew Pullivan of Island Lake, a supervisor at the time. Both facing two counts of endangering the life of a child and one count of reckless conduct.

The indictments citing their actions that would lead to a proximate cause of death. I would call it extremely unusual. During his entire 29-year career as an attorney in Cook County, Public Guardian Charles Goldberg can't recall a case like this one. I hope we're not scapegoating individual workers for issues that are systemic and the fault of much higher up bureaucrats. You know what? I can't believe they even said that. I'm looking at the back and forth with defects in this case. It goes all the way back to June 7, 2012, a hotline call that Joanne Cunningham was neglecting her child. No credible evidence, says DFAX. June 14, a neighbor calls.

Neglect. Complaint unfounded. August 2012, they remove a foster child from her care. Then the child goes back. Crystal Lake Police, October, they call the hotline after responding to a domestic abuse. Okay. D-Fax declines to investigate. December 24, a hospital worker in October calls D-Fax to report AJ's born with opiates in his system. Still, she has the baby.

The mom gets custody again, October 21. It just keeps going and going and going and going. What happened, Nicole Parton? It's completely unbelievable. Police were called to the home 17 times on allegations of drug use and child abuse. Doctors had called the hotline in reporting that they thought there was abuse happening to little AJ. DCFS visited the home two times. We had at least 10 hotline calls that were called in to report the abuse.

Joanne Cunningham was known by the Department of Children and Family Services. AJ was born with heroin in his system, so he suffered from day one, Nancy. This baby suffered from the very moment that he entered this life. When asked about bruises on AJ, remember the mom, the stepmom said it was from a dog. But when AJ was asked, he said, and I quote, maybe someone hit me with a belt. Caused defects 2012, 2018. A hospital social worker caused defects hotline after seeing odd bruising on AJ's face. You know, the other day, Lucy came home with a giant bruise on her leg. I'm like, what happened to you?

And she told me it's from a soccer ball at school. AJ taken to emergency room after the mom found asleep in a car on drugs. After more attempts, now we're at April, the investigator found the boys' defects says that they were, quote, clean, no maltreatment. It goes on and on. I mean, I can't even report them all. So, Ashley Kelly, former defects worker, licensed clinical social worker, expertise child abuse, what went wrong here? That is an excellent question. I did some research on Illinois in particular last night,

and it looks like there is at least 100 deaths a year with touch points with DCFS, as well as 222 incoming reports that subsequently go out to the different units to go investigate. I don't like making excuses. There's people that make poor decisions on the job all the time, but I can remember as a 22-year-old fresh out of college doing this job and leaving the department with 98 open investigations because of what we were given. And it's very difficult to, even with a history of reports, to remove children. It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Well, I wonder what the difference is in trying to remove a child or putting in your report no maltreatment.

I don't see any problem here. Because during a search of deleted files on stepmom's phone, police would find video after video of a badly injured AJ on a bare urine-soaked mattress, nude except for bandages. The bruises on his face and body still, D-Fact says, no need for investigation, no mistreatment. I just want you to hear one of the deleted cell phone videos recovered by the FBI of Stepmommy berating this little boy before he was murdered. So I take this to my trouble. For what?

With who? Who are you going to get me in trouble with? Who do you think you're going to get me in trouble with? Who do you think you're going to get me in trouble with? I think I'm going to get you in trouble if... AJ, remember. Yes? When you tell the truth, you don't have to pause to answer. Who do you think you're going to get me in trouble with? With you?

You think I'm going to get in trouble with you? Are you my boss? Are you my parent? Why would I get in trouble with you? You were hearing the parents berating AJ. It goes on and on because he had said, basically, if you don't quit beating me, I'm going to get you in trouble. Nicole Parton, what were the conditions of AJ's discovery? How was his body found? They found A.J. in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic where he had been buried hours and hours after his death because once he died, his father had placed him in a plastic container, left him in the house while he went to the grocery store to purchase tape and bleach and plastic, came back home and removed A.J.'s body, wrapped him in plastic, taped it up,

and drove out to an abandoned field where he buried him hours after his death. What are the charges, Nicole, against the defects workers? They're being charged with failure to protect A.J. Carlos Acosta, 54, was the supervisor of the case manager. He's also a McHenry County board member. And Andrew Povilene, 48, was the case manager in the case, and they both charged with failure to protect him. Let's see how far that goes with a county board member being charged.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, they can all rot in hell right along with the parents. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.