1,000 Acres Searched In Ongoing Hunt For Missing Crystal Lake Boy

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — The search for missing Crystal Lake 5-year-old Andrew Freund entered its fifth day Monday, after new information came to light over the weekend in the investigation into the child's disappearance. According to several reports, including WGN, detectives in the case have searched nearly 1,000 acres of land and scanned nearby Crystal Lake waters.

According to the news report, Freund's parents — JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund — were living together, but not linked romantically, when he disappeared. Freund was Cunningham's divorce attorney in 2002, WGN added.

Cunningham and Freund have a younger son, who was taken into protective custody by the state Thursday, the same day Andrew was reported missing. Cunningham is also seven months pregnant. According to WGN, Cunningham plans to fight to regain custody of her younger child Tuesday at a court hearing.

Freund was seen at the Crystal Lake Police Department on Saturday, when he reportedly spent five hours talking with detectives.

However, both he and Cunningham have stopped cooperating with police, authorities said Saturday.

The Department of Children and Family Services confirmed to Patch that they took Andre Freund's younger brother into custody, and the agency also detailed a long history of interactions with the child's family. DCFS' contact with the family dates back to Oct. 16, 2013, when Andrew was born with opiates in his system. A month later, he was placed in foster care.

Andrew did not return home for nearly two years, returning to his family in June 2015. That case was closed on April 21, 2016. Allegations of neglect against both parents were found to be unfounded in March 2018, when Cunningham agreed to reenter drug treatment, DCFS said. Allegations of neglect against the mother were again determined to be unfounded on Dec. 12, 2018, according to DCFS.

Cunningham's attorney, George Kililis, spoke to reporters outside the Freund family home Friday afternoon and said she stopped cooperating with police when she began to feel she was being treated as a suspect.

"Ms. Cunningham had nothing to do with the disappearance," attorney George Kililis told reporters.

"The fact that both parents have stopped cooperating with us certainly raises our suspicions," Crystal Lake police Chief Jim Black told the Chicago Tribune.

On Saturday, Freund was escorted away from his home by plainclothes police officers in an unmarked police car, according to the Chicago Tribune. He was not in handcuffs. Freund left the police department around 5 p.m., lit a cigarette and walked toward his home, which is not far from the police department.

When a reporter questioned him on what happened at the police department, he said, "nothing definitive, yet." When asked how he'd been getting through the days since Andrew went missing, he said, "Hell. It's been hell. Hell on earth."

ABC 7 reported Thursday the area around the Crystal Lake home was considered a crime scene on Thursday. Kotlowski told Patch early Thursday evening he could not confirm that information.

"We are still searching for Andrew," he wrote in an email response. "No one is in custody."

Authorities initially said Andrew was last seen at around 9 p.m. Wednesday night. His parents told police they put him to bed Wednesday and could not find him in the home when they woke up Thursday morning, according to a news release from the Crystal Lake Police Department. Andrew's parents reported him missing on Thursday morning.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are assisting local authorities in the ongoing investigation, police said.

On Friday night, several police search and rescue canine units, trained specifically to locate people, were used to try to locate Andrew, Kotlowski said. The canine teams only picked up Andrew's scent within the residence, indicating the 5-year-old did not walk away on foot.

The scene at the Freund family home Friday. Amie Schaenzer/Patch Staff

An AMBER alert was never issued, police said. Police did send out updates to media and on their Facebook page throughout the day regarding Andrew after he was reported missing.

>> Patch has live video from the scene along Dole Avenue Friday evening on the Crystal Lake-Cary Facebook page.

#MISSING! ALERT!
Both photos shown are of Andrew. He was last seen at his home on April 17, 2019 in Crystal Lake, #Illinois. Andrew was last seen wearing a Blue Mario sweatshirt and black sweatpants.
Poster: https://t.co/DPVmziPWCT pic.twitter.com/n8jyHkYNLl
— NCMEC (@MissingKids) April 18, 2019

Police encourage anyone with information related to this case to contact the Crystal Lake Police Department at 815-356-3620. Anyone with a cell phone can send an anonymous tip to the Crystal Lake Police Department by texting the word CLPDTIP along with the tip information to 847411 (tip411). Normal text messaging rates do apply.

• More details of the search and time frame of Andrew's disappearance

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