A Colorado woman knew what she was doing when she stabbed her young stepson 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 the Florida Panhandle, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of her trial.
Authorities allege Letecia Stauch killed 11-year-old Gannon Stauch in his bedroom a few hours before reporting him missing on Jan. 27, 2020, while his father was on a National Guard deployment, suggesting she was unhappy in her marriage and resentful of being treated like an unpaid babysitter. Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, with the defense claiming she suffered a “major psychotic crack,” as a result of childhood trauma, when she killed Gannon.
