New Details About Who Put Boy's Body in Freezer at Barona Reservation Home

A newly obtained court document may shed light on why a woman has not been charged after her son was found dead in a freezer and her boyfriend shot to death.

The awful event unfolded on Jan. 16 when security was called out to a home on the Barona Indian Reservation.

According to a Jan.21 search warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 7 Thursday, the first Barona security officer to arrive saw a man — 32-year-old Julio Ricardo Moggiotti — outside with “an ax in his hand and was using it on the ground.” The officer asked if the woman inside the house was OK, and Moggiotti said yes.

Moggiotti went back inside, and a few seconds later, the officer heard one gunshot. Moggiotti appeared for a moment, holding his stomach and saying he had been shot. He then turned back inside, and his girlfriend, 32-year-old Elaina Welch, emerged from the home with a shotgun, the affidavit says.

Welch told the security officer, “He’s in the house. I shot him. I’m so scared,” according to the document. She asked to be taken somewhere else and believed she shot Moggiotti in the hand.

Saying she was 3-months pregnant with Moggiotti’s baby, Welch told the officer “she had recently been beaten by Julio and he had been forcing her to stay against her will.” However, Moggiotti’s mother told investigators Welch had used a bat to hit her boyfriend.

According to the document, Welch told investigators Moggiotti had been acting weird lately and was taking medicine for psychological issues, saying things that did not make sense.

“Elaina said Julio made her beat her own child,” the affidavit says. She said Moggiotti killed her 3-year-old son Roland, taped him up, put him in the freezer and zip-tied the freezer.

On Jan. 16, Welch claimed she unplugged the house phone so Moggiotti could not hear 911 dispatchers try to call her back after she reported Roland’s death. 

After Moggiotti was found dead in the house, Welch was taken into custody. When deputies obtained a search warrant for the property, they found Roland's body buried under frozen food in the freezer. 

However, Welch was released from jail days later with no explanation from the district attorney’s office. A spokesperson just said the case is still under investigation. There is no word on if Welch is cleared or if she will face charges in the future.

Another search warrant obtained by NBC 7 details items found in the house during a search by deputies shortly after the alleged crime was reported. Among the 54 pieces of potential evidence seized by investigators were a Mossberg shotgun and shells, a .22 caliber rifle, a  box of ammuniton, a knife, marijuana, prescription medicines, $600 cash, pepper spray, a knife and an ax.

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