Crystal Lake

Illinois prosecutors are investigating a former child welfare agency employee who supervised an abuse claim involving a 5-year-old suburban Chicago boy later found beaten to death, documents show. Prosecutors are exploring whether to charge Andrew Polovin with child endangerment related to Andrew “A.J.” Freund, The Northwest Herald reported. McHenry County state’s attorney investigator Robert Diviacchi filed a search warrant affidavit this...

The demolition of the suburban Chicago home where 5-year-old AJ Freund was killed has begun in Crystal Lake.

The Illinois mother charged in the beating death of her 5-year-old son Andrew “AJ” Freund, a Crystal Lake boy who was reported missing before his body was found in a shallow grave in a far northwest suburb, will learn her fate on April 30. Joann Cunningham, 36, recently changed her plea to guilty and will face 20 to 60 years in prison….

Child pornography and sexual assault charges have been filed against a man arrested after barricading himself inside a bathroom with a knife Friday in northwest suburban Crystal Lake. Matthew Reder, 24, of McHenry, is charged with two felony counts each of predatory criminal sexual assault, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to a statement from Crystal…

A Crystal Lake Central High School student who came to the U.S. with her father as they escaped violence in Honduras was released on bond after being unexpectedly detained during an immigration hearing last year

A suburban Crystal Lake teen who spent four months in federal immigration custody was welcomed home by her suburban community Thursday. NBC 5’s Lexi Sutter reports.

A Crystal Lake Central High School student who came to the U.S. with her father as they escaped violence in Honduras was released on bond Thursday after being unexpectedly detained during an immigration hearing last year. “I’m really happy,” said Meydi Guzman Rivas in Chicago after four months in a detention facility in southern Illinois. “So thankful for all...

A Crystal Lake Central High School student who came to the U.S. with her father as they escaped violence in Honduras was released on bond Thursday after being unexpectedly detained during an immigration hearing last year. Chris Coffey reports.

A quick-thinking suburban teen saved a man’s life one recent Sunday afternoon while running errands for her parents on what started as a typical day. Calista Pollack, a student at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, drove her younger brother to a house to get a form signed and decided to wait in her car. All of the...

A quick-thinking suburban teen saved a man’s life one recent Sunday afternoon while running errands for her parents on what started as a typical day. NBC 5’s Lexi Sutter reports.

The Illinois mother charged in the beating death of her 5-year-old son Andrew “AJ” Freund, a Crystal Lake boy who was reported missing before his body was found in a shallow grave in a far northwest suburb, appeared in court Thursday morning. Joann Cunningham, 36, recently changed her plea to guilty and will face 20 to 60 years in prison. She...

The Illinois mother charged in the beating death of her 5-year-old son Andrew “AJ” Freund appeared in court Thursday morning, and she was nearly unrecognizable from when she appeared in public less than a year ago.

A 24-year-old man from Crystal Lake was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for a slew of sex abuse and child pornography charges involving several girls.

The father accused in the beating death of “AJ” Freund , a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy whose body was found in a shallow grave in a far northwest suburb last year, is expected to appear in court Tuesday.

The father accused in the beating death of “AJ” Freund , a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy whose body was found in a shallow grave in a far northwest suburb last year, appeared in court Tuesday.

A Crystal Lake man has been charged with trying to stab another man to death during a home invasion Thursday in an unincorporated area near the northwest suburb.

Two child welfare employees who oversaw AJ Freund’s case for months before his murder are no longer employed by the agency. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services confirmed Friday that Carlos Acosta and his supervisor Andrew Polovin left the agency after a lengthy internal investigation. “Following the heartbreaking death of AJ Freund, DCFS began a comprehensive review...

A Crystal Lake man was sentenced to seven years in prison for drug charges related to a fatal overdose earlier this year in the northwest suburb.

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details that may be difficult for some viewers to read. The Illinois mother charged in the beating death of her 5-year-old son Andrew “AJ” Freund, a Crystal Lake boy who was reported missing before his body was found in a shallow grave in a far northwest suburb, has pleaded guilty to murder.  Joann Cunningham, 36, had...

The mother of 5-year-old AJ Freund has pleaded guilty in his murder, and NBC 5’s Chris Hush has the story.