AJ’s voice filled Wilbrandt courtroom Thursday morning as prosecutors played multiple recordings of Cunningham berating and arguing with her young son, who told her he wanted bad people to do things to her so she and his brother would leave him alone with Freund. The boy told Cunningham he no longer wanted a family,
according to the Herald.
“You don’t have one,”
Cunningham responded in one tape. “Do you really think (your dad) would choose you over me and (your brother)? Shut up!”
Freund, who has pleaded not guilty, is awaiting trial on 21 charges, including multiple counts of first-degree murder. The 61-year-old former attorney is being held in the McHenry County Jail.
Cunningham is heard in the recording asking AJ why he wanted her to go away, the Herald reported.
“Why do you want those bad people to hurt me?” JoAnn said.
“So I don’t ever see you again,”
AJ responded.
Who would AJ tell to hurt her, Cunningham wanted to know.
“There’s no way we could get in trouble,” she told her son. “Who would you go tell on us to get us in trouble? What would you do? What is your grand plan? How would you get us in trouble? With who? With what people?”
“By bad people, really bad people,”
AJ said.
Court documents previously filed in Cunningham’s case indicate the recording, which had a date stamp of March 27, 2019, included video. In the video, AJ had visible cuts and bruises on his face and forehead.
As she interrogates the boy, she “grab(bed) him by the throat and pushe(d) him against the wall, insisting that he tell her who he is going to get her in trouble with, until AJ choke(d) for air,” the records said.
“After AJ says he loves his family, defendant Cunningham responds, ‘bull(expletive), you don’t show it,’”
prosecutors wrote.
wgntv.com
