Al Stauch was on deployment with the National Guard when his 11-year-old son Gannon vanished from their family home in Colorado in January 2020.
By the time he returned home, his wife Letecia Stauch had already reported Gannon, her stepson, missing, and a desperate search was underway. But despite efforts by authorities and hundreds of volunteers who combed through the vast woods near El Paso County, Gannon’s tragic fate would remain unknown for two months.
During that time, Ms Stauch’s account of what happened continued to change. She first claimed Gannon had failed to return home after saying he was going to visit a friend. Then she said that a Mexican man raped her and abducted the boy. Prosecutors later learned that Gannon likely died on the same day Ms Stauch contacted investigators, after finding his blood on her shoes and her DNA on a gun linked to Gannon’s death.
She was arrested in March 2020 after the boy was presumed dead, and his remains were found later that month inside a suitcase near the Florida Panhandle. Gannon had 18 stab wounds all over his chest, a gunshot to the head, a fractured skull and cuts on his extremities, according to The Gazette.
More than three years later, Ms Stauch is facing trial for murder. During opening arguments this week, her defence claimed she suffered a “major psychotic crack” during the brutal killing. But the state has argued that her attempts to cover up the murder and hamper the investigation prove she knew right from wrong.
In gut-wrenching testimony on Tuesday (4 April), father Al Stauch remembered his son as a curious child and video game lover who couldn’t have possibly expected the deadly attack. Sitting between her attorneys at the defence table, Ms Stauch was seen with her head down and her hair covering her face.
“One of the things about Gannon, he absolutely loved his mom, and had some of that same love for Letecia,” Mr Stauch told the court through tears. “He was a mama’s boy. I think he had love in his heart for her, I don’t think he was afraid of her.”
Here’s everything we know about the case:
Gannon goes missing
Ms Stauch’s version of what had happened before the little boy was last seen on 27 January 2020 changed repeatedly.
Initially, she said Gannon had not returned from playing with a friend but she was unable to provide the names of any friends Gannon may have been with. She later claimed that a man she hired to repair a carpet raped her and then abducted Gannon after he hurt himself in a bike crash.
Over 200 volunteers searched for Gannon near his home after he was reported missing. According to court documents obtained by The Denver Post, investigators found Gannon’s blood on the walls of his bedroom and his mattress.
Blood traces were also reportedly found on Ms Stauch’s car and in the garage. A 9mm found in the home had Ms Stauch’s DNA.
Presuming Gannon to be dead, authorities arrested Ms Stauch in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on 2 March 2020. Eighteen days later, Gannon’s remains were found wrapped in bed covers and inside a suitcase in Florida.
Prosecutors in Colorado say Ms Stauch stabbed Gannon 18 times and then shot him in the head before driving across the country to dump a suitcase with his remains inside over the side of a bridge in Pensacola.
She cleaned up blood in Gannon’s bedroom, moving his body to various locations to hide it before disposing of it “like garbage” in a river that flows into the Gulf of Mexico in hopes it would never be found, prosecutors said.
Ms Stauch was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence.
‘I would never, ever, hurt this child’
Before her attorneys admitted Ms Stauch killed Gannon, she gave an interview to refute claims that she was involved in his death.
Speaking with KKTV just days after Gannon went missing in January 2020, Ms Stauch denied “conspiracies” and insisted she was innocent.
“I would more like to talk about how the community needs to have faith and continue to work together and not make these false accusations,” she said at the time. “The rumours have gotten so bad. I’ve pretty much been told ten different ways that people have these conspiracies, I guess that they see all of these law shows.”
She continued: “I’m ready for Gannon to come home. Most importantly for him to see his family, but secondly I am going to be so ecstatic when I am able to say to people that I hope they have a real sincere apology for all of the theories that they have come up with.”
Ms Stauch also claimed that “police had violated [her] constitutional rights” and that’s why she was not cooperating with the investigation. She further alleged she was receiving death threats.
“I’m like, ‘What are you saying Gannon is death?’ Gannon is not dead, we are going to find Gannon. And that’s the main goal that we have, my family has,” Ms Stauch insisted. “I would never ever hurt this child.”
Her attorney has since argued during the trial that said she developed dissociative identity disorder as a result of being physically, emotionally and sexually abused by her absent mother’s boyfriends. He said that she believed she was “killing the demons” when she hurt Gannon.
Her defence also urged jurors to put aside their impulse to make someone pay for such a brutal killing and keep an open mind because the judicial system requires Stauch to be presumed innocent.
“I’m not telling you to like it. I’m just telling you that’s the way it is,” an attorney for Ms Stauch said.
Alleged attempts to cover up Gannon’s killing
On the morning of Gannon’s killing, Ms Stauch searched for car rentals, Colorado investigator Kevin Clark told the court. She drove to the neighbouring Douglas County, where Gannon’s body is believed to have been initially dumped.
Records also show that Ms Stauch sent a text to her daughter asking her to buy cleaning products, trash bags and baking soda on the day that she killed Gannon.
While conducting searches in Douglas County, authorities found traces of Gannon’s blood but the whereabouts of his remains remained unknown.
A month after the killing, Ms Stauch travelled in a van with her 17-year-old daughter from Colorado to Pensacola, Florida. They reportedly stayed at a hotel just three miles from the place where Gannon’s body was ultimately found on 20 March.
They then drove to South Carolina, where Ms Stauch was arrested before her extradition. Ms Stauch is also accused of trying to escape from jail after her arrest.
She reportedly asked a fellow inmate to help her get out, explaining that she planned to use a broom handle to break the window in her cell and that she had already measured herself to make sure she could fit through.
Ms Stauch compared killing to ‘Lifetime movie’
On Tuesday, prosecutors played a recording of a phone conversation between Ms Stauch and Gannon’s father Al Stauch, who cooperated with FBI agents to question her, The Colorado Gazette reported. In the call, which took place before Gannon’s remains were found, Ms Stauch repeatedly denied having any involvement in the disappearance.
“My mind was completely [expletive] gone,” Ms Stauch said. “I tried. I didn’t know what was going on. All of it was a blur. … It was like I was in some Lifetime movie.”
Ms Stauch then accused her husband of “treating her like a criminal.”
“I can’t believe you’d ask me this. ... If you think Gannon’s dead that’s horrible. … What is wrong with you?” she is heard saying in the recording.
District Attorney Michael Allen argued during opening arguments that Ms Stauch was aware and conscious of her actions on the day she killed Gannon.
Prosecutors have attempted to paint Ms Stauch as a manipulative person, who had a history of lying to her husband before killing his son.
The judge presiding over the case has said that the trial might take several weeks.
