Found Deceased CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 **ARREST** #42

[AbigailHobbs]

I can't see them well either, but read #55 in the AA.

I thought they meant the placement was weird when the body cam was worn photo image after he was missing not the morning photo where he was sleeping

 

[MerryB]

Yes, it's really unbelievable. It's as if she only views the world from her own irrational point of view. She is totally oblivious to what normal people think or feel. She seems to be incapable of logic or predicting how others would react to her stories.

I truly believe she is multi-disordered. I hope they complete a psychological evaluation. It will probably take months. Maybe even a year.

Imo

People with Antisocial, Borderline, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders are able to dehumanize others, which can lead to acts of cruelty.
They are incapable of empathy as well. The only personality disorder in the Cluster B group that is an exception to this is Histrionic.
IMO LS exhibits signs of Borderline with secondary Antisocial PD. According to the DSM-V a person must have 5 of the following criteria (not all) to Dx BPD:

-Efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
-Unstable & intense personal relationships
-Impulsivity
-Affective instability (rollercoaster of emotions)
-Inappropriate & intense anger
-Lack of self-identity
-Transient stress-related paranoid ideation (feeling people are out to get you or assuming you’re being targeted when faced with stressful situations)
-Suicidal ideation
————————————————-
Antisocial Personality Disorder:

-Disregard for morals & laws
-Lack of remorse
-Difficulties maintaining stable employment
-Disregard for the feelings & rights of others
-History of criminal infractions beginning before adulthood
-Interpersonal relationships involve manipulation, exploitation & abuse

There are both genetic & environmental components for personality disorders. There is a strong correlation, however, between BPD and sexual abuse. JMO

What do y’all think?

 

[MerryB]

DBM
Double post

 

[Warwick7]

This got me thinking, it could also mean that maybe the first method she chose didn't work and because of this she lost it when they got home. Panicked or annoyed that it hadn't worked. It just seems odd to me that the neighbor reported him not looking well when getting into the truck, so lets say that she possibly drugged / poisoned him. She spent a lot of time out and riding around that day and also there was the petco visits which were strange especially with a "poorly" child in the truck. She had all that time in the day yet all the activity surrounding his murder seemed to happen in a short space of time after they got back and she knew the girls would be home soon.

BBM

Precisely! Remember in the video where she's having trouble backing up the truck into the driveway and then it looks like she kicks open her door as if she was angry and stomps out??

 

[10ofRods]

They really probably should have, if for no other reason than to just check if he was safe and just hiding out in one of them. One of the first things they're taught about missing kids is to check the house, including family cars, first. In this case, they may have been less thorough because of Gannon's age (he's on the older side of kids who tend to hide like that) and they put too much faith in T. She probably told them she had already searched the house thoroughly, and pushed the runway story. They also would've needed her permission or a warrant to search her car that first night.

I agree. And yes, they would have needed a warrant. And yes, Gannon was too old to have gotten himself in the truck and not be able to yell, scream and kick to get someone to let him out. LE uses common sense, they do not conduct searches without warrants. If Gannon had been known to have some kind of severe intellectual impairment, they may have asked her if she had checked the vehicles (she would have said yes).

Instead, they went through their usual protocol for child runaways, including some type of general announcement to the public and to squad cars, such that the and Go in Fountain thought they had video of Gannon (it wasn't) by Tuesday.

Did both Stauch children sleep in the basement? So as to be not seen and not heard? Did HH have the upstairs bedroom? To me, from the various leaks of pictures and videos, and now the AA, it seems to me that both Laina and Gannon were in the basement.

If I am understanding the timeline properly, LE believe that LS murdered Gannon in his bed, in the basement, between 2:20pm and 3pm on Monday. She then put him in the Tiguan, met Laina and got her bike out for her, sending her outside to play. She then cleaned the bedroom well enough that no blood spatter was visible (the AA shows a fan shaped spray that's at least 8 feet across at its widest, with more saturation/spray near the head of the bed; the stain on the mattress is consistent with a severe head wound).

At almost 7 pm, after conversations with Albert, LS dials 911 to report a runaway. The police enter the information into a database (and put out some kind of alert for officers to look for Gannon). They arrive around 10:30 and are permitted into the house and yard, where they briefly look for signs of Gannon. Apparently, LS tells them she has no idea what friend Gannon was going to see. LS makes no attempt to search for Gannon, neither does HH (who was earlier sent with Laina to Dollar General to pick up a few things, giving LS more time to clean).

Next morning, LS goes in the Tiguan to the CoS airport, where she rents a car and picks Albert up around 8-9 am. He meets with LE and of course, takes a look around the house. Unclear what LS is doing that day. Does she go back to the airport, take the Tiguan and hide Gannon in northern CoS?

Whatever else happened on Tuesday, Albert must have noticed something up with the carpet, as eventually LE gets very interested in the carpet issue. Apparently no one took the sheets off of Gannon's bed that day (or did they?) Albert notes that the bed is in an unusual position (so that LS could get behind it to clean the wall). It's possible the bloodstains were seen that day. If so, it's so hard for me to understand why LS wasn't arrested as soon as the DNA results came back...

 

[AbigailHobbs]

Yeah, all signs point to they likely had guns more than not. Although on the hunting note, where I bow hunt you cannot have a firearm on you unless you're a licensed conceal carry gun owner and can't put an animal out of misery with a gun that maybe was poorly hit by a bow. Reason being you'd have the opposite effect from some people - they'd shoot it with a gun first, then post mortem shoot them with the bow to "be legal". Other states may be different, I've only hunted in the midwest.

I was thinking bear and bow you most definitely need a gun. If you miss a bear, you could be in big trouble. Boars too

 

[lucidtx]

Wow, now there's a thought. Could he have been messing around with a candle or lighter from HH's room and she lost it? Holding his hand, foot, or other body part over an open flame would be something that would get her in trouble for sure. It would also make sense of that video (she was amped up, and he sounded so scared).

Yeah, I'm worried she may have burned him late on Sunday, and decided to kill him to cover up that abuse. Burns are among the most common injuries from child abuse.

From her 1/29 texts to one of the detectives:

"I was scared I would get fussed out about it and I didn't know if he should go to the doctor."

And

"You don't understand how hard it is to be a step mom."

Considering these were sent via text after 2 AM, I'm guessing she felt a bit of a rapport with this particular detective and opened up a little with her. That line about being scared of "getting fussed out" may be one of the few true things she's told them.

 

[Megnut]

I think LE was grappling, even at the time of the AW, with the seeming conflict between the appearance of Gannon not returning with TS at 2 pm, the blood in his bedroom consistent with death, but the proof of him alive at 10 am. A word puzzle that seems unsolvable.

But here's where I'm at with this -- we know TS was up all night, doing random Google searches (which weren't Google searches by any definition of search I've ever seen), we believe Gannon was injured Sunday night, probably severely....

TS didn't leave at 10 am with Gannon to run everyday errands. She backed the truck into the driveway to elude cameras. She left her phone at home. She carefully created a weird alibi with her dual Petco trips....

I think, despite LE's working theory, that Gannon did not die in his bedroom at 2:30, but died between 10 and 2. Let me correct that -- sweet Gannon didn't just die. SHE STOLE HIS LIFE.

From 2:30 onward, TS was all about clean up --

JMO JMO JMO

 

[AbigailHobbs]

But that's the only time it registers locked or unlocked. There are sections of time where she's not on her phone 3 hours or 4 hours at a time. And it never registers locked or unlocked.

I find this very odd this is exactly the moment that she's leaving to do a suspected killing, and the exact moment she comes back from a suspected killing.

Im not sure what you mean because she was out of the house and not killing Gannon at the time. The lock and unlock is just mentioned bc she left her phone at home I think and thats a couple minutes after she returned. The lock/unlock was mentioned I think as adding to the evidence that she is constantly on her phone and social media all hours of the day typically. They make a point to mention the amount of social she uses in hours.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

I agree. And yes, they would have needed a warrant. And yes, Gannon was too old to have gotten himself in the truck and not be able to yell, scream and kick to get someone to let him out. LE uses common sense, they do not conduct searches without warrants. If Gannon had been known to have some kind of severe intellectual impairment, they may have asked her if she had checked the vehicles (she would have said yes).

Instead, they went through their usual protocol for child runaways, including some type of general announcement to the public and to squad cars, such that the and Go in Fountain thought they had video of Gannon (it wasn't) by Tuesday.

Did both Stauch children sleep in the basement? So as to be not seen and not heard? Did HH have the upstairs bedroom? To me, from the various leaks of pictures and videos, and now the AA, it seems to me that both Laina and Gannon were in the basement.

If I am understanding the timeline properly, LE believe that LS murdered Gannon in his bed, in the basement, between 2:20pm and 3pm on Monday. She then put him in the Tiguan, met Laina and got her bike out for her, sending her outside to play. She then cleaned the bedroom well enough that no blood spatter was visible (the AA shows a fan shaped spray that's at least 8 feet across at its widest, with more saturation/spray near the head of the bed; the stain on the mattress is consistent with a severe head wound).

At almost 7 pm, after conversations with Albert, LS dials 911 to report a runaway. The police enter the information into a database (and put out some kind of alert for officers to look for Gannon). They arrive around 10:30 and are permitted into the house and yard, where they briefly look for signs of Gannon. Apparently, LS tells them she has no idea what friend Gannon was going to see. LS makes no attempt to search for Gannon, neither does HH (who was earlier sent with Laina to Dollar General to pick up a few things, giving LS more time to clean).

Next morning, LS goes in the Tiguan to the CoS airport, where she rents a car and picks Albert up around 8-9 am. He meets with LE and of course, takes a look around the house. Unclear what LS is doing that day. Does she go back to the airport, take the Tiguan and hide Gannon in northern CoS?

Whatever else happened on Tuesday, Albert must have noticed something up with the carpet, as eventually LE gets very interested in the carpet issue. Apparently no one took the sheets off of Gannon's bed that day (or did they?) Albert notes that the bed is in an unusual position (so that LS could get behind it to clean the wall). It's possible the bloodstains were seen that day. If so, it's so hard for me to understand why LS wasn't arrested as soon as the DNA results came back...

the only thing I'd add is that TS does tell LE that HH was sent to look for gannon at the park

 

[jvikes]

And maybe not even that if there is a concealed pop up area in the hatch. My Traverse has this and I'm sure many other SUVs and crossovers do too.

I bet they shined their lights in her car as they walked the house. It was backed in the garage which allowed for hiding the blood on ground and bumper, but also meant extra effort to look in the back. Maybe even had junk piled up to make it hard to see in the back windows without moving things out of the way. Asking her to do anything more (like pull the car out and look in the back) when they're just looking for a runaway is probably not the norm.

 

[Megnut]

JMO

About Gannon's supposed trips back and forth to the gate, I think I've got it now --

It was TS presplaining HER trips back and forth to the exterior spigot during clean up. The back door, ten times.

New construction in Colorado Springs, in my personal experience, is a lot alike. Both of my houses had spigots up near the front of the house, just inside the gate. If TS was using a pail for cleanup, she may have filled it or rinsed it out outside, leaving blood evidence there.

The malarkey about the key -- I'll bet that was oversplaining, just a way to link Gannon and the gate (where the spigot likely sits).

The modicum of truth -- it was never Gannon in full going back and forth there.... but sadly, his DNA may have been....

JMO JMO JMO

 

[10ofRods]

Excellent point. I haven't read the whole AA just bits and pieces. The whole thing is my project today and tonight.

You're in for a wild ride. It's impossible to summarize that report. The sheer stupidity of Letecia Stauch (and her obvious panic) is well documented.

I hope you're doing well, I know you've been really busy.

 

[AbigailHobbs]

I agree. And yes, they would have needed a warrant. And yes, Gannon was too old to have gotten himself in the truck and not be able to yell, scream and kick to get someone to let him out. LE uses common sense, they do not conduct searches without warrants. If Gannon had been known to have some kind of severe intellectual impairment, they may have asked her if she had checked the vehicles (she would have said yes).

Instead, they went through their usual protocol for child runaways, including some type of general announcement to the public and to squad cars, such that the and Go in Fountain thought they had video of Gannon (it wasn't) by Tuesday.

Did both Stauch children sleep in the basement? So as to be not seen and not heard? Did HH have the upstairs bedroom? To me, from the various leaks of pictures and videos, and now the AA, it seems to me that both Laina and Gannon were in the basement.

If I am understanding the timeline properly, LE believe that LS murdered Gannon in his bed, in the basement, between 2:20pm and 3pm on Monday. She then put him in the Tiguan, met Laina and got her bike out for her, sending her outside to play. She then cleaned the bedroom well enough that no blood spatter was visible (the AA shows a fan shaped spray that's at least 8 feet across at its widest, with more saturation/spray near the head of the bed; the stain on the mattress is consistent with a severe head wound).

At almost 7 pm, after conversations with Albert, LS dials 911 to report a runaway. The police enter the information into a database (and put out some kind of alert for officers to look for Gannon). They arrive around 10:30 and are permitted into the house and yard, where they briefly look for signs of Gannon. Apparently, LS tells them she has no idea what friend Gannon was going to see. LS makes no attempt to search for Gannon, neither does HH (who was earlier sent with Laina to Dollar General to pick up a few things, giving LS more time to clean).

Next morning, LS goes in the Tiguan to the CoS airport, where she rents a car and picks Albert up around 8-9 am. He meets with LE and of course, takes a look around the house. Unclear what LS is doing that day. Does she go back to the airport, take the Tiguan and hide Gannon in northern CoS?

Whatever else happened on Tuesday, Albert must have noticed something up with the carpet, as eventually LE gets very interested in the carpet issue. Apparently no one took the sheets off of Gannon's bed that day (or did they?) Albert notes that the bed is in an unusual position (so that LS could get behind it to clean the wall). It's possible the bloodstains were seen that day. If so, it's so hard for me to understand why LS wasn't arrested as soon as the DNA results came back...

Yes she gets the Tiguan at 7pm? Right around that time since it is checked out of short term parking. LE has data on the Tiguan and that is how they placed her near where the bloody board and sock were found. The rental is then returned to the place the next morning. TS gets picked up by the white Jetta they assume by HH. Anyway that is in AA. And she only put 71 miles on the rental which I think means she barely drove it right? The airport to home to take AS home. Then back to the airport doesnt leave a lot of miles unaccounted for.

 

[Plumeria6265]

Seeing the AA answered a lot of questions and filled in many blanks in the case. One thing that I cannot understand (one of many) is TS leaving the residence on the evening of 1/28–the same day that AS returned home in the morning. This is when she left with the rental car, went to the airport, retrieved her SUV from airport parking, drove to Douglas county (presumably with GS remains in trunk and dumped somewhere off Sperry Rd.), returning SUV to airport parking, and later called HH for a ride from Powers Rd. (unsure if this is near airport?).

What on earth did AA and LS think she was doing at this time?! I seriously doubt anyone in that house was sleeping... especially with a missing child!! Also I believe she was gone for 2+ hours and the call to HH was just before 11pm.

She didn't return her VW suv to the airport on the 28th. The AA said is was removed from short term parking at the airport on the night of Jan 28th. LE is unclear of the exact location of the suv in the overnight hours of the 28th. I'm unclear of how she then got back to the airport to return the Kia rental the next day, or if she even drove the Kia rental to the airport to get her suv.

 

[Warwick7]

I was also shocked that LE believed Gannon returned home with TS that afternoon and that the murder took place between 220-330 pm. BUT, after seeing some of the evidence I know why they came to that conclusion. And they obviously have a crime scene. I don’t think RD lied at all. He said in a later interview that LE came back and retrieved his surveillance video footage from Saturday 1/25 to the following Saturday 2/1 and they “know everything she done” in that timeframe. My guess...there was a lot of activity going on, especially with the different vehicles. (Sorry no link. I will look for specific interview)

I like your post....

As for killing GS, TS unlocked her phone at 2:22, and then was back at her phone at 2:45. (There's 23 minute window).

Then LH was home by 3:11 (That again is only a 26 minute window.)

LS sends her out to ride her bike at 3:28.

LS has a gap between 3:28 and 3:41 (again another window, but only 13 minutes).

Then from 3:41 to 420 she is at her phone constantly texting with AS and HH.

 

[Fireflize]

“Car Net Volkswagen” search 4:18 pm 1/28. So why would she use that car to dump or move body that night if she knew it had Car Net? Maybe that’s why she involved HHs car too and probably also the Kia rental. Maybe she also learned how to temporarily disengage the gps tracking feature or something.

That confuses me too. I think she drove AS's truck Monday because she knew her car could be tracked. But she wasn't able to find a place with enough privacy to commit murder in broad daylight without being seen. We now know that she went home and finished her business in Gannon's bedroom. The only place to hide him was in her car.
On Tuesday, her car is sitting in the airport parking lot with a murdered child inside. It is becoming obvious to others that renting the Kia makes NO sense. It's just a matter of time before LE will want to take a look at her car. If she transfers her victim to the rented Kia there at the airport, she fears being caught on security cameras. Besides, rental Kia may also have tracking. I think in her desperation, she decided to drive him to the area that she had scouted out, but knowing that she needed to move him again, and sooner, not later. The second rental car that she used was rented under someone else's name. Perhaps that gave her at least hope that she could move Gannon to a different location without being traced.
I wish we knew more ....

 

[10ofRods]

Something clicked here for me.

I have the beginnings of an idea.

LS came home and backed into the driveway. Let's say she drugged Gannon and waited a loooong time for him to die. Drove around for a while. He finally passes out. She stops somewhere and puts him in the suitcase, which she had with her. No blood yet. She thinks he's dead.*
She intends to bring him home in the suitcase and place him back in bed.... exactly like he was that morning. She has the picture to help her make it look like he hadn't left his bed all day.

She gets home and brings him in, inside the suitcase, through the garage. Starts to put him in his bed and she realizes he's still alive. She is running out of time, so she gets a .22, pushes his face into the pillow and shoots him. Blood splatter, not much noise... bullet lodges inside his body and doesn't make an exit wound.

Maybe her original intent was to send little sister in to find him dead after school.

*Or, if not dead, she thought he would suffocate inside the suitcase.

I think you're onto something. All of you who have theorized that she intended for him to die in the car are probably right. The idea that she would have then brought him back and pretended he had died of "natural causes" in the bed makes me think she may well have thought she could get away with poisoning him with Epsom salts.

Not sure why she drove him around while doing this. Perhaps she was undecided between "runaway" scenario and "died in bed" scenario. The second one would have painted her in the best light and, in her mind, given her the ability to comfort Albert and in theory get closer to him (evil).

The question then becomes "What did she do while driving around that she thought would hasten Gannon's death?" If he became increasingly ill once he was in the truck, perhaps she stopped at Petco just to get out of the truck and allow him to die unattended. But he didn't die. Or perhaps she shoplifted something that would further poison him.

LE seems to believe (via ADT records) that Gannon was still somewhat ambulatory upon his return. It's not completely clear from the AA if they believe that, but since they knew that Gannon was killed at home, they have to use a theory that he came home again. I wonder if he was ambulatory at that time. She could easily have had him in the rear of the truck (again perhaps hoping that exposure would hasten things?) We can't see the rear of the truck on the RD video.

Anyway, LS abandoned both of her earlier plans (runaway, natural causes) and apparently shot him in the basement. Full-on Monster.

 

[Warwick7]

I think it TS opening the back door frantically dumping buckets of soapy water, etc. from cleaning a crime scene. That’s why she immediately sent LS out to ride her bike. The security system also showed 10 movements in the basement around that time and the average for any given day was 3.5.

I think you're right, but why didn't she dumped it down the toilet, dumping it out in the yard it's going to show DNA and the grass and dirt isn't it?

 

[RaspberryMama]

I thought they meant the placement was weird when the body cam was worn photo image after he was missing not the morning photo where he was sleeping

I did too. But reading it again last night I realized they were talking about another photo taken with LS's cell phone that morning. I'm attaching a screenshot from the AA below.