Free Republic

A veteran paramedic struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as he described finding the shrunken, emaciated body of 18-month-old James Fredrickson lying on the floor of the Streamwood condominium where the child starved to death. "It looked like somebody had taken tissue paper and put it over a skeleton," said Streamwood Fire Department paramedic Steve Beach, recalling how malnourished the boy appeared when rescue workers entered the family's home on Dec. 14, 2001, after receiving a 911 call. Beach's emotional testimony came as the murder trial of James' mother, 27-year-old Amanda Fredrickson, opened at the Cook County Courthouse in Rolling...