Gannon's Father Opens with A Poem

Read Time:3 Minute, 40 Second

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co – “Al Stauch, Gannon’s father, capital F-a-t-h-e-r” is how the victim impact statement began after all others had their say. He then read a few words from his new wife, Melissa, before reading a poem. The poem is titled Invictus and written by William Ernest Henley. It’s the same poem he quoted at Gannon’s memorial in Colorado Springs in August 2020. Below is those words Gannon’s Father shared “to say [he] alone controls [his] actions and reactions.”

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

A Father’s Words to the Court

“Gannon was born severely premature and barely filled my two hands the first time I held him. At the end of his life, after his bad was cremated into a pile of ashes he was ultimately no bigger than the first time I held him.” This is the image Gannon’s Father begins his speech with, that of an 11-year-old boy being reduced to nothing more than a tiny pile of ash.

“Through a father’s eyes, children are truly a gift from God, and among the most perfect creations.”

For those who followed the trial, they are aware that the prosecution began their case in chief with 2 days of testimony from Stauch. Trial watchers heard the steps taken by Stauch from the moment he learned of Gannon’s disappearance. Watchers heard hours of recorded phone calls between Stauch and his son’s murderer.

This testimony not only opened the trial with high emotions, it went a long way to show not only the lengths a father will got to bring home his son, but to also ease any doubt of Stauch’s innocence in the death of his son anyone may have been harboring. Stauch addressed these doubts in open court. “I’ve been questioned, compared to my abusive father, and ridiculed for my approach to finding Gannon,” Stauch said. “I hope now that the world has seen that I was assigned the most arduous task of finding Gannon in the only place possible for him to have been, in the mind of a killer. Were my efforts fruitful? I believe so. But, from the moment I did not see the Volkswagon Tiguan at French Elementary on that Tuesday evening, a clear direction for finding Gannon pointed directly and precisely at [Letecia]…It was only by the grace of God that Gannon’s precious body was finally found.”

Just feet from the woman Stauch once married, the woman who murdered his son, what words does he have from her. Stauch spoke of Gannon’s last words and asks what they were. Stauch spoke of the woman she once was, a “beautiful, extremely intelligent woman.” He addressed the woman she became, a “murderous, narcissistic, and arrogantly flippant human being.” But it’s the simple question of a parent that stands out. “Why couldn’t you just let him be a momma’s boy? That’s all he wanted to be. He just loved his momma.”

A Father’s Words to His Son

Before he finished addressing the court, Stauch took a moment to address Gannon. “Gannon,” he said through tears, “I never in my wildest dream ever thought you’d be in danger buddy, o I would not have left you at home with what turned out to be your murderer and the last person to ever see you on this earth.”

Directly to the court, Gannon’s Father directs his final words, “From a proud and broken father, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.”