"This week has been awful. It's been more than a roller coaster ride," Stauch's mother, Landen Hiott, said in the video, which was posted on the El Paso County Sheriff's Office YouTube page. "It's been more than an emotional mess. I don't have answers for my feelings, other than I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I'll never hear his voice, that I'll never hear him run and say, 'Mommy!'"
"If you're too afraid because you know something — a kid just doesn't disappear and no one sees him. It's not how this works," Hiott said. "So if you have anything that's credible — if you're afraid, don't worry about it. Imagine my son, how afraid he is. Imagine how afraid Gannon is."
Every single day, he has to tell me a joke," Hiott said. "He looks forward to telling me something silly. And I’m afraid that I won’t ever see that again or hear it. I don’t want to believe that, because that means that I’m giving up hope and I’m not giving up hope, because my son is full of hope."
Albert Stauch, Gannon's father, described his son as a happy child who "brings life to every party."
"His smile, even today, is keeping us going," Albert Stauch said. "His smile brings me joy every time I think about it."
Family of Gannon Stauch releases video statement