2020CR1358

Victim: Gannon Stauch (age 11)
Location: El Paso County, Colorado
Date of Crime: January 27, 2020
Status: Convicted of First-Degree Murder and sentenced to life without parole (May 2023)

Letecia Stauch, a stepmother living in El Paso County, Colorado, was convicted of the murder of her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch, in January 2020. The case captured national attention due to Letecia’s erratic behavior, shifting stories, and the extensive search efforts that followed Gannon’s disappearance.

On January 27, 2020, Gannon was reported missing from his home in Colorado Springs. Letecia initially claimed that Gannon had gone to a friend’s house and never returned. Her story quickly began to unravel as investigators noted inconsistencies in her accounts. Evidence later showed that Gannon had been killed inside the family home. Prosecutors alleged that Letecia attacked Gannon in his bedroom, inflicting multiple blunt force injuries and stab wounds before shooting him in the head.

After the murder, Letecia attempted to cover up the crime. She cleaned blood evidence, moved Gannon’s body, and misled investigators with false tips and contradictory statements. Ultimately, Gannon’s remains were found in March 2020 inside a suitcase under a bridge in Pace, Florida—over 1,300 miles from Colorado.

From the beginning, law enforcement grew suspicious of Letecia due to her conflicting accounts. She gave several versions of events, including claims that a man had raped her and abducted Gannon, and later that Gannon had injured himself and then disappeared. Digital evidence, blood traces, and her travel patterns pointed to her involvement. She was arrested on March 2, 2020 in South Carolina and extradited to Colorado.

Letecia Stauch’s trial began in late March 2023 after lengthy delays caused by competency evaluations and pandemic-related scheduling issues. Prosecutors argued she had acted out of anger and resentment toward her stepson. The defense claimed she was legally insane at the time of the killing, citing dissociative identity disorder, but jurors rejected this argument.

On May 8, 2023, the jury found Letecia guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, and other related charges. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.