Colorado v. Letecia Stauch

The district attorney's office has presented a theory that Letecia Stauch murdered her stepson in the basement of the family's El Paso County home between approximately 2:15pm and 3:15pm on Monday, January 27, 2020.

To be clear, Letecia Stauch is the defendant. Albert Stauch was her husband. Harley Hunt was Letecia’s 17-year old daughter. Gannon Stauch (homicide victim) was Albert’s 11-year old son and Laina Stauch was Albert's 8-year old daughter.

At the alleged time of Gannon's murder, his father was away on government business, his younger sister was at school, and his older stepsister was at work. Gannon was a fifth grader at Grand Mountain School in Fountain, which is a small town south of Colorado Springs near Fort Carson, but Gannon did not go to school that day. Instead, he was in the care and custody of his stepmother.

Gannon was last seen getting into the driver's side back seat of his father’s truck at or about 10:15am thanks to a neighbor’s home security footage. Letecia Stauch was in control of the truck as it departed the neighbor’s range of view. Gannon appeared sluggish.

Gannon was not seen getting out of the truck when it returned home. Despite Gannon not being visible on camera, detectives assume that Gannon returned home with Letecia at or around 2:15pm.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020

• Albert goes to Denver and spends the night.
• Letecia searches the internet for things like “find me a rich guy who.wants me to take care of his kids” and "I wonder if my husbands ex wife is sending me a valentines card since I.raise.her.kids". She was also looking for work in Florida or California as a flight attendant, and she was calculating the cost of moving away from Colorado. Stauch was curious about renting a two bedroom apartment.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020

• Albert flies commercially from Colorado to Oklahoma with a layover in Texas.
• 12:30ish - Gannon communicates with his friend Connor and says he is about to go hiking and then get sushi.
• Letecia, Laina, and Gannon go on a hike at Garden of the Gods and then to Burger King.
• 3:30ish - Gannon again communicates with Connor and they begin to plan a future sleepover at Connor's house to include a trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
• Harley Hunt was at work Sunday evening but claims that she did see Gannon alive and allegedly well when she arrived home from work. Massage Envy closes at 10pm.
• Gannon allegedly sets a carpet on fire with a candle; although evidence of neither candle nor fire is present in the affidavit.
• Letecia makes an “accidental” video somewhere around 11pm while berating her stepson, making him "pinky promise'' that he had not done "it" on purpose.

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020

• 4:37am - Letecia texts her employer falsely stating that her stepfather died tragically over the weekend and that she would therefore not be coming to work.
• Morning - Letecia texts Albert stating Gannon had been awake most of the night with stomach problems.
• Morning - Letecia excuses Gannon's absence from school.
• 8:13am  - Letecia snaps a photo of Gannon in his bed.
• 9:56am - Letecia's phone is locked, but not turned off.
• 10:16am - Letecia and Gannon leave the home in Albert's red Nissan Frontier truck.
• 10:37am - A text message is sent from Gannon's phone to Harley's phone that reads, "Tecia left phone at home if you need her text me".
• 11:22am - Letecia is seen making a purchase at a Petco on the north end of Colorado Springs (22 miles from home). Gannon is not visible on camera.
• 12:06pm - A text message is sent from Albert's phone to Gannon's phone that reads, "Hey buddy".
• 1:21pm - A text message is sent from Gannon's phone to Albert's phone that reads, "Can I play Zelda at least". Albert responds, "Not today".
• 1:22pm - Letecia is once again seen making a purchase at the same Petco location. Gannon is not visible on the footage.
• 1:43pm - A search is made using Gannon's phone, "Can my parent find my cell phone.if its off".
• 2:19pm - Letecia arrives home. 
• 2:45pm - Letecia's phone is unlocked.
• 3:11pm - Laina returns home from school and is sent outside.
• 3:55pm - A text message is sent from Albert's phone to Gannon's phone that reads, "Hey buddy". This message is not opened until 7:40pm. No reply.
• 4:42pm - Harley arrives at the residence and picks Laina up.
• 4:52pm - Letecia sends Harley a text message requesting carpet powder, trash bags, and baking soda.
• 5:14pm - Harley purchases these and other seemingly unrelated items at a local store. Harley also purchases vinegar.
• 6:55pm - Letecia dials 9-1-1 and reports Gannon as a potential runaway, saying he was expected home by 6pm. He left at 3:15pm and did not come home. Stauch was then referred to the El Paso County non-emergency number.
• 7:32pm - Gannon is entered into state and national databases as a runaway.
• Connor and his mom arrive at the Stauch residence and are told a dramatic story about Gannon having weed, meth, and bath salts in his backpack. Letecia shows Connor's mom the drugs. She tells them about Gannon turning over a candle and burning the carpet. She tries to get them to go downstairs into the basement. They decline.
• Harley goes searching for Gannon door to door with Connor's mom Monday evening. They were also looking for a kid named Jimmy because Letecia had claimed that Gannon was supposed to be with some neighborhood kid named Jimmy. Jimmy's brother was taking him and Gannon out to breakfast and according to Letecia, he simply never came home. Needless to say, Jimmy most likely did not exist.
• 10:09pm - Officers respond to 6627 Mandan Drive in order to investigate and perform a limited search with Letecia's permission.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020

• 8:30am - Letecia rents a Kia Rio and picks it up at the Colorado Springs airport. She leaves the black Volkswagen Tiguan in the parking lot of the airport.
• Letecia gives Harley the directive “pull your car in the garage” via text message.
• 8:50am - Albert's plane arrives and Letecia picks him up from the Colorado Springs Airport in the rental car. She does not disclose the exact location of the Tiguan, telling him instead that it was parked near a local school (French Elementary, one of several schools across the United States where Letecia Stauch was formerly employed).
• Connor's mom arrives at the Stauch residence and allegedly sees Albert loading a gun while standing at the kitchen counter before he departs the Stauch home with Letecia. They tell the neighbor they are searching for Gannon. The neighbor claims that doesn't see them again for 3-4 hours.
• 4:04pm - Authorities ask for Gannon's toothbrush in order to get a sample of his DNA.
• 4:19pm - Letecia uses her phone to search the internet, "they are asking for our sons toothbrush but said nothing is wrong".
• 4:31pm - Letecia has a text conversation with Albert. She thinks detectives are "hiding something" because they asked for Gannon's toothbrush.
• 7:02pm - She retrieves the Tiguan from the airport.
• 8:08pm - The Tiguan sits idle at a nearby supermarket for about ten minutes.
• 9:15pm - Letecia arrives at Hwy 105/S. Perry Park Road in Palmer Lake. Her iPhone was disconnected from the cellular network. She spent about fifteen minutes in the area.
• 10:26pm - Harley leaves the Stauch residence and uses her Volkswagen Jetta to meet Letecia in the area of Powers and Carefree (parking lot of Harley's work).
• 10:45pm - Letecia makes a statement to detective Bethel via text message that reads, "What do you want from me? Because I have nothing. One of your very own leaked to me what you guys were doing. I did nothing and/or am being set up. I'm not really even sure other that being told that by another blue with El Paso. I was told I couldn't go home to sleep and on top of that men were sent to a home with a minor female and she was forced to stay there not even to leave for food. Every conversation that is said even at this moment I can hear inside. What do you want from me?" Detective Bethel responds with, "Come in to talk to me. I would just like information to find Gannon."

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

• 9:00am - Letecia returns the rental car to the airport and is picked up by her daughter in the white Volkswagen Jetta.
• 11:30am - Letecia stops on her way to the police station in order to wash the Tiguan. She was already running an hour and a half late for the appointment.
• 12:00pm - Letecia arrives two hours late for a voluntary meeting with detectives and brings handwritten notes. She admits that Gannon did not run away. She then falsely claims to have been held at gunpoint and sexually assaulted by a dark stranger named "Eguardo" in the basement of the home. She says that he was a man that she had hired to fix the burnt carpet. Letecia tells investigators that she provided her attacker with a suitcase and a cardboard box before he kidnapped Gannon. Letecia admits to cleaning up the alleged crime scene. She refuses to participate in a SANE Exam. Authorities seize her cell phone and the Tiguan. They detain her while they apply for a warrant to obtain DNA and she begins stuffing used tissues in her pants and claims to be having a panic attack with chest pains and shortness of breath. Paramedics transport her to a local hospital. Letecia once again declines to participate in an evidence collection exam and signs herself out of the hospital’s care after making a “miraculous recovery”. She makes a phone call from the waiting room. Letecia is picked up by an unknown person and is reunited with her daughter a few blocks away.
• Letecia's aunt Brenda secures a Nissan Altima by rental contract, and law enforcement applies for a warrant to track its location via external GPS device.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

• The case is upgraded from a runaway child to an endangered missing child.
• Letecia gives Spencer Wilson of KKTV an impromptu television interview outside the family's Lorson Ranch home wherein she paints herself as a victim of law enforcement, internet detectives, Gannon's biological family, etc.
• Letecia utilizes the rented Altima in order to return to the Palmer Lake area.

Four days after reporting her stepson missing, Letecia Stauch went center-stage on national television. She wanted a clean break from suspicion and relief from the instant scrutiny of it all.

Stauch was a self-proclaimed good and compassionate person, a well educated school teacher by trade whose troubled 11-year old stepson simply went missing one day. No cause for concern, right? 

That's what Letecia would have us believe, if it was up to her. But it wasn't.

It was Friday, January 31, 2020. Gannon had been missing since Monday. Letecia was in the process of moving material possessions out of the family home and into a rented moving van. She spoke to Spencer Wilson of KKTV. Her back was turned toward the camera. Viewers could not see her face during the interview, but post-production made some terrific cuts to the footage.

Stauch seemed to feign both outrage and innocence while speaking about her stepson in the past tense. The tell was most likely unintentional.

KKTV: You are?

LETECIA: I am Tecia Stauch, which is Gannon’s stepmother.

KKTV: You’ve been a part of the investigation since the very first time. You were the last person to see him. Is that right?

LETECIA: Correct.

KKTV: What did you see when you last saw him?

LETECIA: Well, I’m not allowed to talk about anything with the case. I would more so be willing to talk about how the community needs to have faith and continue to work together and not make these false accusations like the things that have been said that I’ve disappeared from the community, that I haven’t been there to help, but there’s lots of reasons behind that. 

KKTV: Reasons like death threats, right?

LETECIA: Right. Death threats are one of them. My family’s getting lots of death threats. We’ve counted over twenty some death threats already. Two, my husband’s ex wife is living in our home. And of course I’m not coming home to do these things and to help with the family when I was kinda, like, told I couldn’t. And then many other things that happened with the El Paso County Police Department. You know, and in doing the investigation I was told that I wasn’t complying. Can I elaborate on that?

KKTV: Please do.

LETECIA: Yes, so, I asked for an attorney during the interview and I was denied that by them. I was held, because they were blocking the door, and I was told I couldn’t leave and that if I would have touched them they would have probably, you know, said I still wasn’t complying or said I was, you know, trying to run away or something. But during the interview, I asked several times, could I stop the interview, could I get an attorney. Could I stop the interview, could I get an attorney. I was denied. I was told I couldn’t get nothing to drink, I couldn’t go to the bathroom. I mean, it was continuously that my constitutional rights were violated.

KKTV: And that’s why you say that they said then, you weren’t cooperating with the investigation?

LETECIA: That’s why they said that I wasn’t cooperating at that time, correct.

KKTV: And why did you ask for an attorney at the time?

LETECIA: Well, I asked for an attorney at that time, because there was one individual… there was two really good detectives, and so I’m not, you know, gonna talk bad about detectives, but the tactics they started to get when I would answer questions. They try to… you know, they’re detectives, they’re supposed to twist, the one main goal is to find Gannon. But during that time, some of those things made me feel uncomfortable, the way they were saying things, so I immediately stopped and felt like an attorney would help me with some of the vocabulary and things like that, that I needed help with and understanding some of the things that they were asking.

KKTV: I’m gonna shift gears to what has become a huge online presence of people, obviously trying to do the right thing, help find Gannon, but at the same time, sometimes it just feels like rumor mongering. Have you seen any of those comments yourself?

LETECIA: We have, and see, that’s one of the main things we haven’t been around in the public eye, because I didn’t want to expose my family to it if all these things were going on. You know, there was comments about Gannon getting pushed off the hike, and there was comments about this, and that’s just not true. I took care of Gannon for the last two years in our home, because his mother didn’t wanna do it. And I would never, never ever hurt this child. And I know there’s some questions out there about ‘okay, so tell me what happened’. That’s up to the investigations when they end up letting you guys know, but I’ve cooperated with them. Even to the point that we were held with a gun. And my daughter, a 17-year old who serves our country in the United States Air Force, who has never committed a crime or done anything wrong in her life, was put in handcuffs over the keys that was in her purse so they could take her car.

KKTV: And they weren’t in there?

LETECIA: They weren’t even in her car, I mean her purse. They were in my pocket.

KKTV: And you originally didn’t even know it was law enforcement?

LETECIA: I didn’t know it was a law enforcement officer, because when he came out, I guess he was putting his jacket on and it wasn’t necessarily his fault, he was adjusting and happened to catch me. But I saw the gun and I panicked originally, and kinda thought ‘oh gosh, like, who is this guy?’ and then once I realized it was the sheriff’s office, I was totally okay, but they still had a gun and told me they were gonna shoot me. But I was really concerned about my daughter asking why she was being detained in handcuffs and things like that when that shouldn’t even happen for a child. That shouldn’t happen for someone who was standing inside of a store shopping because we couldn’t have any clothes because all of our clothes were here. If we came here and got clothes, you know, we would be harassed. So she went to purchase some underwear and things like that and was put in the handcuffs in the store, you know, and then brought out with men with guns and there was… that’s just not okay. You know, they could have approached me and said ‘Hi, I’m with El Paso County, can I please get this’ instead of the way that it happened.

At this point, the reporter pauses to check his equipment before asking Letecia about the way people are reacting online to rumors about her.

LETECIA: Oh, oh yes, wow. The rumors have gotten so bad. I pretty much have been told at least ten different ways that these people have these conspiracy theories. I guess they watch a lot of law shows and maybe they have all these theories on how Gannon is dead. And that’s what they’re saying. So I’m like ‘why are you saying that Gannon is dead?’ He is not dead. We are gonna find Gannon. And that’s the main goal that we all have, my family has, just because you haven’t seen us, we have that same goal. We have been out searching. My aunt has been out searching. My family has been out searching. We all have been doing that together so that we can protect each other. 

KKTV: How does it feel when not only you have a lost child who you are in care of, but then people blaming you for that child not being here?

LETECIA: You know, I’m just ready for Gannon to come home. Most importantly for him to see his family, but second, I am going to be so ecstatic when I’m able to say to people that I hope they have a really sincere apology for all these theories that have came out online. For all the things they said that I have done or people have done. And I just want everyone to know that we’re gonna find Gannon, and I love him so much, I’ve helped taken care of him for so long. 

KKTV: Can you talk to me a little bit about him? I don’t know him.

LETECIA: Gannon is so kind, and he loves to play video games. That’s one of his favorite things. He loves Sonic and Mario. And you know, he’s always helpful, he was always so helpful with the dogs, around the house, we have two cute little dogs, and he was always like a person I could say ‘Gannon can you go do this?’ and he would do it right away. You know, sometimes with kids we have to remind them and things like that, and that’s okay, but he was so sweet and able to help anyone, he could notice when you’re sick and say ‘are you okay?’ and such a kind heart.

KKTV: I know you just said that you can’t say anything about the investigation, so you can just say so again if you can’t answer this, but is there anything we can hear about the hike? Was there a hike? We don’t… that just seems like rumors right now.

LETECIA: You know what? Could we bring my daughter over here? Because she can go and say that, you know, she came home from work after the hike and she can verify that Gannon was at our home. 

Harley Hunt, Letecia Stauch’s teenage daughter, came on camera to confirm that Letecia, Gannon and Laina (Gannon’s little sister) went hiking on the afternoon of Sunday, January 26th while Harley was at work, and that she had seen Gannon alive that night, after she returned home from work.

Letecia had taken the two younger children hiking at Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs, and then to a Burger King, before heading home on the evening of Sunday, January 26, 2020.

This section of the interview was the original recounting of the last time anyone other than Letecia had seen Gannon alive, because Letecia would not allow authorities to question her daughter. 

KKTV: Do you feel like I asked you what I need to? Do you feel like this is gonna help kinda turn the tide of what feels like a witch hunt in my opinion?

LETECIA: I think that a lot of people can see that I’m not missing and see that I am being cooperative. And, but to me, it’s okay that they think those things, because the way someone thinks about me, I don’t have a problem with that. My main thing is I would never want someone to think that I would hurt Gannon or any of the children in our home, because that’s just not the case. I’ve spent my whole entire life working so hard in education. There was things online that was talking about my education license and I shouldn’t even be a teacher, and they just didn’t know that. Like, we moved on a military move and I didn’t finish out my contract so I gave up my license in that state. It had nothing to do with any criminal activity, you know, or any of those things, and it just got blown out of proportion on my professional status, you know.

KKTV: Do you feel like these are just internet detectives who think they know what they’re doing?

LETECIA: It definitely is. And you know, here’s the thing that kinda saddens me, it’s like, if you’re gonna talk about someone like that and have a witch hunt out for them, why would you even care, like, about doing those things, because this is a child. You’re telling me that you’re just as mean, you’re just as hateful to talk about someone else like that. That’s how I feel. Like we just should not… we should all come together and wait until the end and see what happens, because Gannon’s gonna come home.

KKTV: Any message for Gannon?

LETECIA: The message for Gannon I have is ‘Gannon, when you get here, you’ll be able to truly tell what happened’ and then I really hope I get a sincere apology from everyone who has made up all those things, especially from my husband.

“We just wanted to add a message to Gannon from my family. It’s that we love you, we miss you, and we know that you’ll come home soon. And Gannon, I can’t wait until you can come home and let everyone know that you’re okay. We love you.”