Mother of Dead Boys Says Courts Failed

The deaths of two young boys from central Illinois who had been missing since their father failed to return
them after a custody visit are being investigated as a double murder-suicide, investigators said Monday. An emotional McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery choked up as he detailed efforts to find 9-year-old Duncan Connolly and his 7-year-old brother, Jack, who had been gone since a court-ordered visit with Michael Connolly about three weeks ago.
The boys' bodies were found in the back seat of a car parked a secluded area in rural Putnam County on Sunday. Their father, Connolly, 40, was found dead about 60 yards away. Putnam County is about 100 miles southwest of Chicago.
"Our hearts and prayers now are with Jack, Duncan and (their mother) Amy Leichtenberg," Emery said, his voice wavering. Autopsies were being conducted Monday afternoon, but Emery, whose agency investigated the boys' March 8 disappearance, and Putnam County Sheriff Kevin Doyle said the case was being investigated as a double homicide-suicide.
Neither would discuss many details of the case at a news conference, including how the boys and their father died or long they had been dead. The sheriffs said they would respect the family's wishes in withholding information.
Connolly was to have dropped the boys off at the police department in Leroy, a small central Illinois town about 60 miles south of Putnam and just outside Bloomington, where he lived. A court order had barred him from contact with Leichtenberg. The couple divorced in 2006.
"I feel that the judicial system failed me," Leichtenberg said in an e-mailed statement. "I pray that the courts listen to the warnings from other parents like me."
No parent should have to bury young children, Leichtenberg said. "Duncan and Jack, Mommy loves you to the heavens and back," she said.
The boys' family and local authorities launched a nationwide search and friends and neighbors had gathered for prayer vigils since the brothers went missing. Leichtenberg used a Facebook page to solicit tips and investigators have said they followed possible leads from as far away as Virginia.
Counselors were available at schools in Leroy on Monday.