An Illinois woman was sentenced Friday to 35 years in prison in the beating death of her 5-year-old son who prosecutors said had endured years of abuse for most of his young life. JoAnn Cunningham pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year in the death of her son, Andrew "AJ" Freund Jr., who was found wrapped in plastic in a shallow grave near the family's Crystal Lake home. “I had the privilege of having AJ as my son,” Cunningham told a judge Thursday, during the first of a two-day sentencing hearing, according to FOX 32. A police officer who went to the family's home after AJ was reported missing described the stench of the garbage-strewn house. Freund Sr. admitted to storing his son's body in a plastic container in a basement with the intention of burying him later.

Source: Fox News July 17, 2020 22:41 UTC