Day 7 of the murder trial for
#LeteciaStauch is resuming now. I'll be in the courtroom with updates throughout the day.
The first witness to be called to the stand this morning is Jessica Bethel. In January 2020, she was assigned to Gannon Stauch’s case as the lead detective from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
Bethel testified saying, “Initially this case was receiving a lot of attention on social media. The case quickly grew to a multi-agency case.” She said at least 10 agencies, both local and federal, got involved.
Bethel said, “The suspect providing alternate leads, multiple stories of what happened, ultimately influenced how we proceeded with the case.”
Bethel said she contacted Letecia early on in the investigation to speak to her about Gannon’s disappearance, preferably at the Stauch’s home so detectives could look for clues or anything missing.
She said Letecia did not agree to allow her to go to the home because Letecia said there were young children in the home, and she didn’t want them to overhear what they were talking about.
Letecia offered to meet at a Starbucks in Fountain. Bethel said at first, Letecia was hesitant to talk to detectives, and “was apprehensive at best.”
We’re now listening to the first interview Letecia had with detectives, which was on January 29, two days after Gannon's disappearance. Her then husband, and Gannon’s father, Al, was also part of the interview.
During the interview, Letecia and Al are talking about what school Gannon went to, friends in the neighborhood that Gannon played with, and how he went to a friend’s house but never came home.
Letecia described about what they did on Sunday, January 26, one day before Gannon’s disappearance. She said they went hiking at Garden of the Gods, and Gannon said his stomach was hurting so he stayed home from school on Monday. Letecia took off work to stay with him.
Letecia said on Monday, they went and got food and went to Petco, while Gannon stayed in the car because he wasn’t feeling well.
At one point, Letecia and Al both said Gannon texted Al, “do we have bath salts?” Letecia said Gannon asked for bath salts the day before, so Letecia said she gave him a bath bomb.
During the interview Al said it’s common for Gannon to go play with friends and take his Nintendo Switch, but he was never gone long. At one point Al said, “I’m pretty convinced that something bad…”
Al said everything was consistent with Gannon going to play at a friend’s house. He said Gannon took his Nintendo Switch, had his playing shoes on, etc.
Al said, “I know every parent says this, but he’s a pretty straight kid… He does his chores, makes straight A’s, kind hearted.”
Al said after he got custody of Gannon, he took Gannon to counseling to make sure he was okay. He said, “He was going through normal emotions of missing his mom.” Al said the counselor never bought up anything concerning or alarming.
Al said when he got the text message from Gannon asking about bath salts so he could take them to a friend’s house, he called Letecia. “After the bath salts, I said go check his book bag,” Al then added, “They found a two pack of those little swisher sweets.”
Al said when he got the text message from Gannon asking about bath salts so he could take them to a friend’s house, he called Letecia. “After the bath salts, I said go check his book bag,” Al then added, “They found a two pack of those little swisher sweets.”
