AJ's Case Solved, Sema'j's Unsolved 2 Years Later: Ferak Column

JOLIET, IL — About 70 miles northwest of Joliet, we've witnessed some amazing and terrific police detective work concerning the awful tragedy of 5-year-old AJ Freund. The parents reported AJ vanished from their Crystal Lake home after he climbed in bed April 17, but the story smelled rotten from the beginning.

Now, one week later, Crystal Lake's Police Department, with critical help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, got to the bottom of what had happened. AJ Freund did not sneak out of his family's house or just vanish as his parents claimed. AJ was buried in a field near Woodstock. On Wednesday, the boy's parents were charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder. On Thursday, authorities revealed that AJ Freund had been dead for at least three days before he was reported missing.

Crystal Lake Police Chief James Black and FBI Special Agent Colin McGuire deserve to be commended for the great work they have done so far uncovering the truth, as disturbing as that truth is to stomach.

AJ's tragedy — as some Joliet Patch readers have also recognized — has lots of parallels to another missing child's case.

This Saturday, April 27, will mark the two-year anniversary since Sema'j Crosby's body was found inside her family's deplorable rental house. The 16-month-old's body was found underneath a couch inside the filthy house on Louis Road in Joliet Township.

The total number of people who have been brought to justice by the Will County Sheriff's Office to answer for Sema'j Crosby's death or hiding her dead body underneath a couch, to conceal her death and obstruct justice from law enforcement, remains the same as it was in 2017 and 2018: zero.

The primary reason why Sema'j Crosby's homicide remains unsolved is because the Will County Sheriff's Department of Sheriff Mike Kelley has assigned a less than competent investigator to solve the case and the agency has kept him there.

Mike Kelley has been employed at the Will County Sheriff's Office since the late 1980s but he has no significant expertise and special skills investigating murder cases, which is probably why so many high-profile murders keep going unsolved under Kelley's leadership as sheriff.

Last year, Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes made these comments about Sheriff Kelley that are still true to this day:

"I've called him the absent-minded sheriff; they have an absent sheriff who is rarely in ... With Sema'j, where's the sheriff? I think a big part of the problem is the failure of him taking a leadership role. I think it's a lack of experience on his part."

If you review how the Crystal Lake Police Department utilized the public's help in solving AJ's disappearance and how the Will County Sheriff's Department shunned the public help's during the early stages of the Sema'jcase, it's no wonder why one child murder was solved in quick fashion while Sema'j Crosby's death in Joliet Township remains unsolved — and will likely stay that way as long as Mike Kelley remains our sheriff, which will be another three years.

Within days of AJ's disappearance, the Crystal Lake Police Department released the 911 call made by AJ's father to the news media.

The Will County Sheriff's Department refused to make public the 911 call made by Sema'j Crosby's mother, Sheri Gordon.

The 911 tapes were first released in August 2018 — only after a Chicago radio station beat the Will County Sheriff's Department in a FOIA case and forced Sheriff Kelley and the rest of the Will County Sheriff's Office to start being accountable to the public and the press.

Back on May 5, 2017, the Will County Sheriff's Department issued a press release that contained the following information: "The Sema'j Crosby case remains an open and active investigation. The case is still considered a 'suspicious death' investigation. Several news agencies and reporters have recently FOIA's (Freedom of Information Act) information/reports surrounding this case. The Sheriff's Office has responded to those requests and most of the information has been denied."

That May 5, 2017 press release went on to state, "Finally, please be patient and allow law enforcement to do their jobs. We are asking news agencies, reporters and the public to be aware that rumors, distorted acts and incorrect information can have a negative effect on an investigation. All pertinent information surrounding this tragic death will be released from the Sheriff's Office."

May 2017 came and went. Then, Lead Will County Sheriff's Investigator RJ Austin showed up at a Joliet church and participated in a bizarre question and answer session that has been posted on YouTube and subsequently reported by multiple news outlets including Joliet Patch.

At the church, Austin publicly identified four people as his persons of interest in the young girl's case.

A member of the Joliet Police Department told me afterward that Austin's actions at the church, publicly identifying four people in connection with Sema'j Crosby's death, was a bonehead move. This person did not see how Austin's actions would lead to a breakthrough in solving the crime.

After all, it's more likely that only one person was responsible for Sema'j Crosby's death and one person put Sema'j underneath the couch.

To recap, the person who made the 911 call to report Sema'j missing was her mother, Sheri Gordon. In November 2017, Darlene Crosby, Sema'j Crosby's grandmother, spoke at a press conference in Chicago, suggesting Sheri Gordon was responsible for her own child's death.

"Because I feel as though she did this," Darlene Crosby responded. "I don't have anything to say to her. I gotta deal with this every day ... Do I want to see Sheri? No. Do I believe Sheri did this? Yes, I do. Can I say I seen her do something? No, I can't. But in my heart I feel as though she did do this ... Will I speak to Sheri? No. For what?"

As the two-year anniversary of Sema'j Crosby's unsolved homicide approached, I left multiple messages with Investigator Austin seeking to interview him about the case.

Austin did not return my phone calls, which is OK. That's his prerogative.

He's under no obligation to talk to me, just like none of the four women he identified as persons of interest have any obligation of being interviewed by him.

In any event, I am not in a position to solve the Sema'j case. I am not a police detective.

But, with your interest, perhaps with more public pressure, we can convince Sheriff Kelley, Will County's so-called absentee sheriff, that it's time to pass the dusty cold case files in the Sema'jCrosby homicide to someone with a little energy, someone who is a more competent investigator than RJ Austin.

Austin had two entire years to solve one of the most important high-profile murder cases in all of Will County: the horrible death of an innocent, harmless little child.

He didn't get the job done.

It's time to let somebody else at the Will County Sheriff's Department have a crack at bringing justice to Sema'j. Austin is not the guy for the job. He wasn't the right person for the job in 2017 and 2018 either.

If the sheriff's office doesn't agree with my suggestion, then maybe one of you can start a public petition drive. Perhaps you can get the FBI to take the case or, in the alternative, the Will County-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force.

The Crystal Lake Police Department was able to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of 5-year-old AJ Freund in less than 10 days. The Will County Sheriff's Department on Laraway Road in Joliet is still chasing its tail in circles when it comes to solving the Sema'j Crosby case after two entire years.

A Joliet native and former investigative reporter and editor with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, John Ferak is Patch Editor for Joliet and Patch coverage for Shorewood and Channahon-Minooka.