Monster boyfriend and mom killed son, six, after stapling him to wall and laughing about torture in heinous texts, prosecutors say
A four-year-old boy is helping detectives piece together the final days of his six-year-old brother, who was beaten to death by his parents after a short life of barbaric abuse.
Giovanni “Chulo” Jennings was repeatedly beaten, shot with a BB gun and even stapled to the wall of their Madison Heights, Michigan, trailer before suffering the fatal attack that ruptured his intestines.
Mother Elaina Jennings, 25, and her boyfriend Daniel Giacchina, 32, were entertained by surveillance footage of the little boy trying to escape the barricaded fence, where he was sleeping on a 3-by-11-inch wooden plank.
The couple tried to blame his death on Chulo’s biological father, but the surviving son told police what happened in the hours after Giachinna’s final and fatal attack.
“Chulo was dead all day and Danny was there,” the four-year-old explained.
Stepfather Daniel Giacchina, 32, shot 6-year-old Giovanni “Chulo” Jenkins with a BB gun and struck him multiple times, prosecutors allege, before fatally attacking him
Mother Elaina Jennings, 25, allegedly encouraged Giachinna’s attacks on her son
Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald described the couple’s treatment of their son as “appalling.”
“An autopsy revealed that Chulo had bruises and cuts all over his body, including his scalp, temples, lips, inside of mouth, cheeks, forehead, chin, shoulder, forearms, fingers, thumbs, back, buttocks, inner thighs, knees and shins,” she told a news conference.
“Chulo was hit several times by Giacchina,” she added.
“Although the abuse sometimes occurred while Jennings was on the job, Jennings was aware of and condoned the physical attacks. At times, she even encouraged Giacchina to abuse Chulo.”
The couple had installed a security system to monitor what they called “the corner” where Chulo was locked up.
A black curtain was hung to prevent Chulo from seeing the light of day and the couple watched videos of the little boy trying to urinate, drink or escape.
A few days before his death, the boy’s head was wedged into a corner of the run and then stapled to the wall with his clothes by his stepfather as punishment for “looking out the window into the run,” McDonald said.
Giacchina then allegedly texted Jennings saying he had “solved the problem,” and attached a photo of her son on the wall.
An autopsy found that Chulo died of blunt force trauma to his abdomen and a perforated bowel “after an extended period of confinement and abuse,” prosecutors said.
“My office is committed to using every means available to seek a sentence that reflects the horror of his death,” said Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald
Jennings told police that Giacchina punched Chulo multiple times in the abdomen about three days before his death.
She said Chulo began vomiting and his condition worsened, but it wasn’t until 2:35 p.m. on July 30 that she called 911 when he stopped breathing.
Police searched the home where she lived with Giachinna and her two other children and found a staple gun, a BB gun, a 9mm ghost gun and bullet holes in the walls, McDonald said.
Photos inside the home show children playing with a gun as Giacchina watches, and two children pointing the gun at a third child.
The four-year-old told detectives that Giacchina had previously shot him and his older brother with the BB gun.
“He told them Danny shot him in the leg with a BB gun and showed them the wound,” Madison Heights Police Chief Brent LeMerise told reporters.
“He told the interviewer, ‘Danny shot Chulo in the buttocks.'”
Emergency services rushed Chulo to the nearest emergency room and he was later transferred to Stilson Specialty Center, a children’s hospital in Michigan, where he died at midnight on July 31.
An autopsy revealed he died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen and a perforated bowel, “after an extended period of confinement and abuse,” McDonald said.
‘He was seriously injured, but he was not taken to a doctor because his mother knew that a medical examination would reveal the abuse.’
Jennings and Giachinna have each been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and lying to a police officer.
An autopsy revealed that he had bruises and cuts all over his body, including his scalp, temples, lips, inside of his mouth, cheeks, forehead, chin, shoulder, forearms, fingers, thumbs, back, buttocks, inner thighs, knees and shins.
The little boy was locked in a barricaded enclosure where he slept on a 3-by-11-inch wooden plank in the Madison Heights, Michigan mobile home
Giacchina is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
“All children have the right to grow up in a home free from fear,” McDonald said.
‘This child and his siblings suffered unimaginable abuse and lived in fear every day.
“My office and the Madison Heights Police Department are committed to using all available resources to seek justice for Chulo, hold those responsible for his death accountable, and seek a sentence that reflects the horror of his death.”
The couple was denied bail and is being held in the Oakland County Jail pending an Aug. 21 hearing in the 43rd District Court.