Trial to Start for Letecia Stauch, Woman Charged with Killing Her Stepson

Amy Jacobson — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:23:11 +0000

Read Time:4 Minute, 12 Second

Gannon Stauch, 11, Allegedly murdered by Stepmother

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The trial for Letecia Stauch is scheduled to beginning on April 3, 2023 at 9 a.m. Stauch is accused of killing her stepson, Gannon Stauch, 11, on or about January 27, 2020. She is charged with four counts, as follows:

Count 1 – Murder in the First Degree – Child Under Twelve – Position of Trust

Count 2 – Child Abuse Resulting in Death

Count 3 – Tampering with a Deceased Human Body

Count 4 – Tampering with Physical Evidence

El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Donahue responded to the Stauch residence on January 27, 2020 at 6:55 p.m. after a 911 call was placed by Letecia Stauch reporting a missing child, Gannon. Initially, Stauch claimed that Gannon was an hour late coming home from a friend’s house, and she was unable to locate him. Her story would change several times in the days to follow.

In the days following the incident, Letecia was uncooperative with not only investigators and limited communication with Detective Jessica Bethel but also remained distant from her husband, father of Gannon, Eugene Stauch.

On March 29, 2020, Stauch drove to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and met with detectives around 12 p.m. She arrived in her 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan which up to that point had been missing. The vehicle was taken for evidence.

During the interview on the 29^th, Stauch’s story would change dramatically from the one she told the day she reported Gannon. Stauch told investigators that on Sunday night, March 26, Gannon burned part of the carpet in the house. She then left and found a man, “Edguardo”, working on a house in the neighborhood who agreed to come to her house the following day and replace the carpet while she went shopping.

On Monday, March 27, 2020 at 2:30 p.m., Stauch returned from shopping, entered the house and went downstairs to the basement, where Gannon’s room is located. That’s when the man, “Edguardo”, pointed a handgun at her. He allowed her to go upstairs to greet her stepdaughter whom she sent outside to ride her bike.

Stauch returned to the basement. That’s where, according to Stauch, the man threw her on Gannon’s bed and sexually assaulted. The assault went on for about an hour, between 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. After he finished, he took Gannon and left the house.

The investigation will show a different story, and point to Stauch as the last person to see Gannon alive, and lead investigators to believe that Gannon was murdered by Stauch in the afternoon hours, approximately 2:14 p.m. on January 27, 2020. It is believed that Gannon was murdered in his bedroom, at the Stauch residence.

Physical evidence taken from the home, and Gannon’s bedroom, shows signs of a violent event occurring in the child’s bedroom. According to the arrest warrant, investigators found signs of bloodshed, blood spatter on the wall, and enough blood loss to stain his mattress, soak through the carpet, the carpet pad, and stain the concrete below his bed. All of the blood found on the site, including the bedroom and garage, matched the DNA profile of Gannon.

Investigators believe that Stauch then cleaned the murder scene and removed Gannon’s dead body, bringing it through the house into the garage, and loading him into the back of her Volkswagen Tiguan. It is believed she transported Gannon to the dump site, Hwy 105/S Perry Park Road in Douglas County, Colorado, in the Evening hours of January 28, 2020.

On February 15, 2020 investigators focused their search for Gannon’s body to the area of Hwy 105/S Perry Park Road in Douglas County, Colorado. On February 15, a piece of particleboard stained with what appeared to be blood. The FBI Evidence Response Team collected and transported the particleboard. A DNA profile was developed and compared to Gannon’s on February 16, 2020. The profile was a match. It is believed that the particleboard was used by Stauch during the transportation of Gannon’s body.

Gannon’s body would be found on March 17, 2020, under a bridge near Pensacola, Florida wrapped in bedding and inside a suitcase. Gannon was shot in the jaw, stabbed in the chest and back, and suffered a skull fracture. Gannon also sustained cuts on his arms and hands believed to be defensive wounds.

UPDATES:

April 3, 2023 – The state has dismissed the charge of Child Abuse Resulting in Death. This charge was brought before the body of Gannon was found. To prove this charge, they would need to show a long history of abuse. The evidence isn’t there.