Demolition begins at Chicago-area house where boy was killed

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (AP) - The demolition of a suburban Chicago house where authorities say a couple beat their 5-year-old son to death began Wednesday.

Chicago-based Green Demolition Contractors Inc. is donating its services to demolish the the dilapidated Crystal Lake house where Andrew 'œAJ'ť Freund was killed last April.

In November, a judge gave the community of Crystal Lake permission to demolish the house that had sat boarded up for months.

Andrew Freund Sr. and the boy's mother, Joann Cunningham, were charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of the boy, whose body was found last April in a shallow grave near the home.

Police have said the parents killed the boy, wrapped his body in plastic, buried it and then reported him missing.

Cunningham pleaded guilty to murder in December and awaits sentencing. Andrew Freund Sr. requested a judge, not a jury, decide his fate when he stands trial.