The Heartbreaking Story of a Young Boy Tortured by His Parents

Horrific Abuse Allegations

A four-year-old boy has helped inves­ti­ga­tors piece togeth­er the trag­ic last days of his six-year-old broth­er, Chu­lo, who was bat­tered to death by his par­ents after suf­fer­ing a child­hood of sav­age abuse. 

The par­ents, Elaina Jen­nings (25) and her boyfriend Daniel Giacchi­na (32), are accused of rou­tine­ly beat­ing, shoot­ing with a BB gun, and even sta­pling Chu­lo to the wall of their trail­er in Madi­son Heights, Michigan.

Prosecutors’ Chilling Account

Oak­land Coun­ty Pros­e­cu­tor Karen McDon­ald described the cou­ple’s treat­ment of their son as “hor­rif­ic.”

An autop­sy revealed that Chu­lo had bruis­ing and lac­er­a­tions on his entire body, includ­ing his scalp, tem­ples, lips, inner mouth, cheeks, fore­head, chin, shoul­der, fore­arms, fin­gers, thumbs, back, but­tocks, inner thighs, knees, and shins. 

Pros­e­cu­tors allege that Giacchi­na beat Chu­lo on mul­ti­ple occa­sions, and Jen­nings was aware of the abuse and even encour­aged it at times.

Horrifying Confinement and Torture

The cou­ple had installed a home secu­ri­ty sys­tem to mon­i­tor what they called “the cor­ner” where Chu­lo was con­fined. A black cur­tain was fit­ted to pre­vent Chu­lo from see­ing day­light, and the cou­ple would watch videos of the lit­tle boy try­ing to uri­nate, drink, or break free. 

Days before his death, Chu­lo had his head wedged into a cor­ner of the pen before being sta­pled in his clothes to the wall by his step­fa­ther as a pun­ish­ment for “look­ing out the win­dow in the pen area.”

Tragic Death and Charges

Chu­lo died from blunt force trau­ma to his abdomen and a per­fo­rat­ed bow­el “after a lengthy peri­od of con­fine­ment and abuse,” pros­e­cu­tors said.

Jen­nings and Giachin­na have been charged with one count each of first-degree mur­der, child abuse, and lying to a police officer.

Giachin­na is also charged with being a felon unlaw­ful­ly in pos­ses­sion of a firearm and ammunition.