Inserts, top to bottom: Elaina Rose Jennings (Oakland County Prosecutor), Giovanni “Chulo” Jennings (WDIV), and Daniel John Giacchina (Oakland County Prosecutor). Background: The mobile home where the couple allegedly beat Chulo to death (WDIV).
A 25-year-old mother in Michigan and her 32-year-old boyfriend have been arrested and accused of torturing and killing her 6-year-old son, who was kept in a pen, stapled to the wall, and repeatedly shot with a BB gun, among other things.
Elaina Rose Jennings and Daniel John Giacchina were taken into custody last week and charged with one count each of first-degree murder, child abuse, and lying to a police officer in the horrific slaying of young Giovanni “Chulo” Jennings, authorities announced.
Giacchina is facing additional charges of being a felon unlawfully in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to a news release from the Oakland County District Attorney’s Office, officers with the Madison Heights Police Department and emergency medical personnel at about 2:34 p.m. on July 30, responded to the family’s home in the Ackels mobile home community off Dequindre Road after Jennings called 911 and reported that her 6-year-old son was not breathing. The community is about 13 miles north of Detroit.
Once there, first responders said they located young Chulo, describing the victim as being “unresponsive” and having suffered “multiple injuries.” Medics rushed the child to Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital for treatment.
Due to the severity of his condition, Chulo was subsequently transported to Children’s Hospital of Michigan Stilson Specialty Center, where he died on July 31.
Authorities said that Chulo was “severely abused” and beaten “regularly” at the hands of both Jennings and Giacchina. They further alleged that Jennings and Giacchina conspired to concoct a false story for police, claiming it was another person who was with Chulo when he suffered his fatal injuries “when in fact the victim was left in the care of defendant Giacchina.”
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said that the circumstances surrounding Chulo’s death were some of the worst to ever come through her office.
“After spending hundreds of hours carefully sifting through the evidence in this case, what we found can only be described as horrific,” she said in a statement. “Chulo was confined, beaten, and bound to the wall using a staple gun. He was badly injured, but he was not taken for medical treatment because his mother knew that a medical examination would reveal the abuse.”
In a news conference announcing the charges, McDonald said that the couple would restrain Chulo, forcing him to sleep on a wooden slat in the pen that was 3 feet long and 11 inches wide. He was also allegedly beaten regularly and had abrasions, lacerations, and bruising from the top of his head down to his shins, including on his fingers.
“Photos taken during autopsy in Wayne County revealed Chulo had bruising and laceration on his entire body,” McDonald said.
Chulo’s manner of death was ruled a homicide, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his abdomen along with a perforated bowel “after a lengthy period of confinement and abuse,” she continued.
McDonald said investigators also uncovered a trove of incriminating material on the couples’ electronic devices, including videos of the victim being shot with a BB gun and stuck to the wall using a staple gun.
“Both Jennings and Giacchina laughed about the photo and Giacchina’s use of the staple gun to solve quote ‘the problem,”” McDonald said.
The couple is being held without bond. They are scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 21, 2024.
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