Major Letecia Stauch update as verdict announced in murder trial for death of her stepson Gannon

Publish date: 2024-05-06

THE stepmom of an 11-year-old boy who was brutally stabbed 18 times and found stuffed in a suitcase under a bridge has been convicted of his murder.

Letecia Stauch, 39, was found guilty of killing her stepson Gannon on Monday and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A jury in El Paso County, Colorado, convicted Stauch of first-degree murder, first-degree murder of a child under 12 years old, tampering with a deceased human, and tampering with physical evidence.

"I can't say that she ruined my life because that would be some sort of sick victory for her because even through this process, it's been a game to her," Landen Hiott, Gannon's biological mom, said in court.

The 39-year-old was sentenced on Monday afternoon.

"I can say without hesitation that the facts in this case are the most horrific I have ever seen," Judge Gregory Werner told her.

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"You have shown no remorse throughout this process," he added.

"I remand you to the custody of Colorado Department of Corrections for the remainder of your life without possibility of parole."

Stauch was also sentenced to 12 years for tampering with a deceased human body and 18 months for tampering with physical evidence.

Those terms will run concurrent to her life sentence.

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A spectator shouted an obscenity at Stauch as she was being escorted out of the courtroom, KKTV's Melissa Henry tweeted.

"Mother to mother, I trusted her with my children," Hiott said at the hearing on Monday, CBS News reported.

"She had everyone fooled… When all along she was the one hurting innocent children, breaking my kids, and murdering my son."

Gannon's father Al Stauch spoke at the hearing, as well.

"I would never have left you home alone with a murderer and the person who would be the last one to see you alive," he said.

Letecia Stauch reported Gannon missing on January 27, 2020, telling police that the 11-year-old left their home near Colorado Springs and never returned.

El Paso County Sheriff's officials launched a frantic search for the 11-year-old, which saw approximately 100 volunteers scouting the surrounding areas for Gannon.

During the investigation, the stepmother told police that two men had raped her and abducted Gannon afterward.

However, before that statement, she told investigators that Gannon had not returned home after playing with a friend.

"All of her actions were purposefully designed by her to distance herself from what she did," District Attorney Michael Allen argued in court docs.

'VICIOUSLY' MURDERED

Prosecutors said that on January 27, 2020, Stauch "viciously and deliberately" attacked the boy in his bedroom by stabbing him 18 times, hitting him in the head with an object, and then firing a gun at him three times, "obliterating the young boy's skull."

Officials say Stauch hid the boy's remains in a remote area nearby before she reported him missing.

She then rented a van where she transported Gannon's body to Florida, dumping it under a bridge in Pensacola, prosecutors said.

Investigators said Stauch cleaned up the scene before police arrived after they discovered “blood spatter on the walls and enough blood loss to stain his mattress, soak through the carpet, the carpet pad and stain the concrete below his bed.”

Stauch was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 2, 2022.

Gannon's remains were finally found on March 18, 2022, three months after he vanished.

Prosecutors say she killed Gannon because of her unhappiness in her marriage to the boy's father and was resentful about being used as a glorified babysitter.

She Googled the phrase, "I hate my stepson," prosecutors revealed during the five-week trial.

In February 2022, Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and, over a year, underwent several mental health evaluations but was eventually found competent to stand trial.

'REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY'

Al left for deployment with the National Guard just two days before his son's disappearance and death.

The National Guardsman ran his fingers through his son's hair and professed his love before leaving for the airport, KOAA reported at the time.

"You're always going to be in my heart, and I'm going to be in your heart," Al said to his son for the last time, according to the outlet.

Gannon replied: "OK, daddy, I love you and I'm going to finish watching Pokemon," Al told the outlet.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," the heartbroken father said.

Gannon's father was the first to take the witness stand in the trial and testify against his ex-wife.

Al returned to Colorado immediately after discovering that his son had gone missing and found it strange that Letecia Stauch had picked him up in a rental.

Letecia claimed she was worried about putting too many miles on the car she had already leased.

"In these moments, when it's an emergency, miles on the car don't matter," Al said on the stand.

"In the moment, I was like, 'Do whatever you want.'"

Letecia told her husband she left her vehicle parked at French Elementary School, where she worked.

However, after driving past the school, Al did not see Letecia's car anywhere, which raised even more suspicion.

"I drove around the school three times just to make sure I didn't miss it," Al testified.

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"That was the key moment. She knows more than she's telling me."

He then called the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, where he began working with investigators, recording himself on phone calls with Letecia.

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