Found Deceased CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 **ARREST** #43

[MassGuy]

Thanks for clarifying the legalese. 2 things: If they think she’s guilty of something why haven’t they charged her yet? And secondly, wouldn’t she be treated similarly to an abused wife? Ie. a child under the total care of the suspect.
Glad someone here does not subscribe to the mob mentality. The umbrellaing of another potential victim on a public forum can only serve to aid the defense.

I don’t expect her to be charged with anything. What I do expect, is for her to tell the truth, one way or the other.

—She does the right thing, or she’s compelled to do the right thing.

If she has done something illegal, then I think the DA will grant her immunity so she’s obligated to talk.

There’s a dead child here, it’s important to keep our eye on the ball.

 

[Angels27]

BBM:

They can, they should, and they will force her to testify.

The DA's obligation is to make sure Gannon's vicious, vile, evil killer is brought to justice.

That's their sole mission, and their only mandate.

HH's feelings about testifying cannot, should not, and will not ever trump the pursuit of justice for Gannon.

Period.

JMO.

If she has to testify she’ll probably just say, “Yeah she had me pick her up here, and drive her there, and she sent me shopping, but she always had a good excuse for everything. I had no idea she killed him.” You’d think if they already had proof that she was a willing participant in a cover-up, as in texts or recordings, etc., they’d have already brought charges.

 

[swedeheart]

here's the re-uploaded version of events on a timeline, from the arrest affidavit. (the other video i posted yesterday was taken down bc gray realized he made mistake having to do with the google searches, so now he's corrected that.).

 

[MemPat]

I agree, if she knowingly assisted. If so through, why haven’t they already brought charges against her. And what if she did, but did so under duress?

I'm not an expert, just someone who has been watching cases play out since the early days of Court TV and reading every Ann Rule true crime book, some more than once! (I know.....get a life, Pat!)

Investigating a case and bringing charges involves a delicate dance as LE narrows things down by questioning all the players, waiting for one or several to trap themselves in lies.

They go down the rabbit holes and investigate imaginary characters the suspects often point them toward. (I'm looking' at you, Eguardo and brother Quincy!)

LE holds close to the vest stunning DNA, cell phone, eyewitness and video evidence until the moment is right, the cover-up lie has been told and the suspect is twisting in the wind.

(With T, LE used Al to get her talking on tape and for all we know, they also recorded conversations he had with HH. I'm betting LE puts down the donuts to listen to every interview T decides to give the media....Woohoo!)

Often, as we've seen in videotaped interviews with LE, the suspect gets so trapped in lies she ends up falling apart and confessing most everything.

We've often seen how difficult it is to get close family to rat on each other but we've also watched family members throw each under the bus once the spotlight turns toward them.

I truly hope HH did all her aiding and abetting in complete ignorance but my confidence is shaky.
(If her mom as a rule had her making special trips for cleaning supplies and picking her up here and there around town, well okay. Do you see the cloud of doubt around my words?)

To your question of why she hasn't been charged: That could be for any number of reasons but I would bet this DA is focused right now on building a solid case against T and is using everyone to that end.

Anyone involved who doesn't cooperate, whatever her age, should have to squirm, especially now that she knows Gannon's body was thrown away to rot in the waters of the Florida Panhandle......yes, even if she did what she did under duress.

 

[Cindizzi]

Two-day preliminary hearing set for Letecia Stauch

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A two-day preliminary hearing has been scheduled for the woman accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson in late January.

Prosecutors will lay out their evidence against 36-year-old Letecia Stauch for the murder of Gannon Stauch. The hearing is set for Friday, June 5 and Monday, June 8.

According to court records, the hearing will be before 4th Judicial District Judge Greg Werner. The judge is expected to rule on whether evidence is sufficient to bring Letecia Stauch to trial.

The 32-page arrest papers released last week, state that investigators believe Letecia killed Gannon in his basement bedroom. Police found a significant amount of blood near his bed, on the rear bumper of Stauch’s car and on a piece of particle board near Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road in Larkspur. The affidavit did not say how Gannon’s remains were moved to Florida and what weapon he had been killed with.

A status hearing previously scheduled for April 14 was canceled because of concerns related to COVID-19.

Letecia Stauch charges:

• Murder in the First Degree (Child Under Twelve – Position of Trust)
• First-degree murder
• Child Abuse Resulting in Death
• Tampering with a Deceased Human Body
• Tampering with Physical Evidence
• Crime of violence (8 counts)

Letecia Stauch is currently being held in the El Paso County jail without bond and if prosecutors don’t demonstrate enough evidence where a jury would find her guilty, she could be eligible for bond.

 

[MassGuy]

Two-day preliminary hearing set for Letecia Stauch

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A two-day preliminary hearing has been scheduled for the woman accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson in late January.

Prosecutors will lay out their evidence against 36-year-old Letecia Stauch for the murder of Gannon Stauch. The hearing is set for Friday, June 5 and Monday, June 8.

According to court records, the hearing will be before 4th Judicial District Judge Greg Werner. The judge is expected to rule on whether evidence is sufficient to bring Letecia Stauch to trial.

The 32-page arrest papers released last week, state that investigators believe Letecia killed Gannon in his basement bedroom. Police found a significant amount of blood near his bed, on the rear bumper of Stauch’s car and on a piece of particle board near Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road in Larkspur. The affidavit did not say how Gannon’s remains were moved to Florida and what weapon he had been killed with.

A status hearing previously scheduled for April 14 was canceled because of concerns related to COVID-19.

Letecia Stauch charges:

• Murder in the First Degree (Child Under Twelve – Position of Trust)
• First-degree murder
• Child Abuse Resulting in Death
• Tampering with a Deceased Human Body
• Tampering with Physical Evidence
• Crime of violence (8 counts)

Letecia Stauch is currently being held in the El Paso County jail without bond and if prosecutors don’t demonstrate enough evidence where a jury would find her guilty, she could be eligible for bond.

Spoiler

There will be more than enough evidence to bring this to trial

 

[GRT]

I don't know whether HH is culpable in any way. I do know she's a minor now and was a minor when the crime occurred. And with what we know now, whatever HH's actions were, she didn't kill GS or directly aid in killing him. Maybe she made it harder to catch LS, I don't know. But GS would be just as dead.

While it is interesting to examine photographs for hints of group dynamics, I'm not sure it's fair to draw conclusions about a perceived lack of photos of HH with GS.

First, we don't have knowledge of all photos that exist. Second, many of the photos of the younger children together I've seen came from the bio-mom's side of the family. If it turns out the Stauchs sent LH a photo of the 3 children together and she didn't post it on SM, would we decide there was a problem between LH and HH? That maybe LH had negative feelings about HH and wanted bad things to happen to her? Hardly. Third, IF TS did take photos of his children to send to him when he was away does it mean maybe AS had negative feelings about HH if she didn't also send pictures of HH? I hope not. Fourth, there was a 6-year age gap between HH and GS. I'm 4 years and 6 years older than my bio-brother and sister. By my mid-late teens there probably were many more informal photos taken of my 4 years younger brother with my 6 years younger sister than with me. It had nothing to do with negative feelings but with age and interests. A 17 girl and an 11 year old boy may not have common interests and may not enjoy the same activities. Same for a 16 girl and a 10 year old boy, and 15 and a 9 year old....

It's almost as though people want it two ways: HH is viewed as nearly an adult, GS as a vulnerable young boy (which he was) on the one hand, but on the other hand if they weren't seen "playing together" there must have been a problem...
JMO

I agree with all of this, but the fact remains that HH will not talk to LE -- that's stated in the AA -- although we don't know if she's spoken with them since that was put out.

Given the "praise" video HH made for Tee for Mother's Day and the fact that HH is listed as doing Tee's errands, including most likely picking Tee up after she'd dropped off vehicles, I don't think we can discount the idea that HH may have known what happened and chose to assist Tee rather than rat her out.

But that's JMO and MOO. We'll have to wait to see what really transpired.

 

[NCWatcher]

I don’t expect her to be charged with anything. What I do expect, is for her to tell the truth, one way or the other.

—She does the right thing, or she’s compelled to do the right thing.

If she has done something illegal, then I think the DA will grant her immunity so she’s obligated to talk.

There’s a dead child here, it’s important to keep our eye on the ball.

Maybe.

I realize it's an unpopular position to take here but if HH really doesn't know much (or at least not much that can be admitted as evidence) and her involvement was after the fact and somewhat equivocal, I hope she's not forced to testify extensively.

Partly I hope that because I currently do have some sympathy for HH. She may be about to turn 18 but she's still a teenager. I realize 18-year olds fight for our country in the military. I realize 18-year old males must register with Selective Service, I realize 18-year olds can get married without parental consent. (And in Colorado, children of pretty much any age can marry. For children 15 years old and younger a judge’s approval is required while those 16 or 17 can marry with either a judge's approval or parental consent.) In Colorado, children of any age can get married. A former child bride thinks that should change.

But even in Colorado, a person has to be 21 to buy alcohol and recreational marijuana. So as a society we do have kind of a "schizophrenic" approach when answering the question "when does adulthood begin?"

Also though, forcing family members to testify under duress can sometimes create sympathy not only for them but for the defendant.

It also seems to me it's going to be hard to make the case for the jury 17-year old HH should have known what was going on in the house while AS didn't (although I don't think AS did.) AS is approaching 40 years of age, he's fathered children and shared legal custody of them, he's been married before, he's served the country in the military for many years, he's been married to TS for 5 years and obviously was involved with her for longer than that, he's slept with her day in and day out...yet he didn't know but HH did? I'm not claiming AS knew. I do think he's a victim. But I think HH is too.

If HH has information that is absolutely needed to ensure TS is convicted, fine. But if she doesn't, I hope there's not a desire to "punish" her publicly for her mother's sins as that could backfire IMO.

As @MassGuy said and I agree "There’s a dead child here, it’s important to keep our eye on the ball." And that ball IMO is conviction for first-degree murder not creating public discomfort/distress for the defendant's daughter.

JMO

 

[Angels27]

Maybe.

I realize it's an unpopular position to take here but if HH really doesn't know much (or at least not much that can be admitted as evidence) and her involvement was after the fact and somewhat equivocal, I hope she's not forced to testify extensively.

Partly I hope that because I currently do have some sympathy for HH. She may be about to turn 18 but she's still a teenager. I realize 18-year olds fight for our country in the military. I realize 18-year old males must register with Selective Service, I realize 18-year olds can get married without parental consent. (And in Colorado, children of pretty much any age can marry. For children 15 years old and younger a judge’s approval is required while those 16 or 17 can marry with either a judge's approval or parental consent.) In Colorado, children of any age can get married. A former child bride thinks that should change.

But even in Colorado, a person has to be 21 to buy alcohol and recreational marijuana. So as a society we do have kind of a "schizophrenic" approach when answering the question "when does adulthood begin?"

Also though, forcing family members to testify under duress can sometimes create sympathy not only for them but for the defendant.

It also seems to me it's going to be hard to make the case for the jury 17-year old HH should have known what was going on in the house while AS didn't (although I don't think AS did.) AS is approaching 40 years of age, he's fathered children and shared legal custody of them, he's been married before, he's served the country in the military for many years, he's been married to TS for 5 years and obviously was involved with her for longer than that, he's slept with her day in and day out...yet he didn't know but HH did? I'm not claiming AS knew. I do think he's a victim. But I think HH is too.

If HH has information that is absolutely needed to ensure TS is convicted, fine. But if she doesn't, I hope there's not a desire to "punish" her publicly for her mother's sins as that could backfire IMO.

As @MassGuy said and I agree "There’s a dead child here, it’s important to keep our eye on the ball." And that ball IMO is conviction for first-degree murder not creating public discomfort/distress for the defendant's daughter.

JMO

I wonder if she refused to talk bc a lawyer or her mother told her to. Seems odd she’d know that was even a viable option. If she chose on her own not to speak it really makes you wonder, like she must know something. I’m guessing her mother probably either straight up lied and did not confess the killing to her, or she came up with some bs story about finding his body and “having to hide it so AS didn’t get mad at her for not watching G better” or some crackpot lie like that. Or maybe she told her “it was an accident and he bled out and died when I was driving him to hospital. You have to help me hide his body or they will send me to jail for life.” I could easily see a kid think in that case it was ok to help so that the only parent they ever really knew doesn’t go away for life. Maybe once she hears the entire truth of the matter she will speak. That’s a tough, if not impossible, bond to break.

 

[k-mac]

here's the re-uploaded version of events on a timeline, from the arrest affidavit. (the other video i posted yesterday was taken down bc gray realized he made mistake having to do with the google searches, so now he's corrected that.).

excellent, glad he did

 

[squareandrabbet]

How did she even graduate middle school?

It's worse... she has a bachelor's degree from a brick-and-mortar university in the NC State system. Maybe somebody else did all her work?? I continue to be shocked she made it out of there at all. My friend has taught freshman comp at a multiplicity of colleges in the tri-state area; so I've been hearing anecdotes for years. She would absolutely have sent T back to the remedial writing center (in fact, there's institutions of higher learning where she's run it); and/or whatever version of the "English Zero" class precedes the English 101 class.

 

[Inthedetails]

I wanted to revisit this myself along with the 10 min. stop in King Soopers parking lot (possible evidence disposal). AA 155

Does this mean the Tiguana is left in the area of Powers and Carefree?

There are many places, stores, massage envy, movie theatre you could leave a car at in that area.​

I am getting confused having to jump all around in this AA.

I was going to attempt to document all references to the Tiguana.

and I am sorry I just despise this military time. I will admit I have to use the convertor on anything after 1300. Very sad but knowing and admitting your limitations is important (((Letecia))).

Edited: deleted quote I did not mean to quote

@DTPeke, I created a timeline with info from the affidavit and converted the military time to regular am/pm times. It's post #656 of this thread.

 

[Inthedetails]

been discussed, but I obviously missed it... But did she ever provide an excuse for her car being by the elementary school?

Snipped.

Her car wasn't by the elementary school. That is a lie she told AS. We don't know the reason she gave to him why the car was there. She also told him she was concerned about putting too many miles on the leased Tiguan, which doesn't have anything to do with why it would be left by the elementary school.

I think whatever lie she told AS about the Tiguan being by the school is why AS immediately reacted to the neighbor's video and knew instantly that TS was lying. My opinion.

She said the Tiguan was by the school when it was actually at the airport.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

Thanks, DTPeke - I agree her car was never really by the elementary school, but if she told AS is was there, I would think she would have also given a reason why it was there? She gets pretty elaborate with all her other lies; why is this one so simple?

Snipped

I responded above without reading this post.

I see you realize the Tiguan was not by the school.

Maybe she said she dropped L off at school and the car broke down? Speculation only - just popped into my head.



jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

Stauch told CrimeOnline on Wednesday that she maintains her innocence. Although she declined to discuss the details of the case, she said she is currently working with an attorney for her defense.

“It’s 90% speculation,” Stauch said, referring to the affidavit.
Gannon Stauch: Stepmom accused of killing Colorado boy could possibly get bond, maintains that she’s innocent

For reals ... guess that leaves no hope she is going to grow a conscience and cop a plea.

@leighEg can you share any other tidbits from your jailhouse phone conversation with TS? How were you able to get a hold of her, just curious. What was her demeanor like? Is she worried about CV-19? Her comment about working with "an attorney", makes it seem like she has a different PD than the one who made the initial appearance? Thanks for the outstanding coverage, we appreciate you!

Just when I think this case is over-the-top with a crazy perp, she does an interview from jail before trial.

It does seem like she has a compulsion to lie. I suggest the defense team keeps her off the witness stand. She's uncontrollable.

jmo

 

[Gardenkeep]

According to an article by Leigh Egan, T is maintaining her innocence.

"Stauch told CrimeOnline on Wednesday that she maintains her innocence. Although she declined to discuss the details of the case, she said she is currently working with an attorney for her defense.

“It’s 90% speculation,” Stauch said, referring to the affidavit."

(Why am I not surprised?)

 

[DTPeke]

@DTPeke, I created a timeline with info from the affidavit and converted the military time to regular am/pm times. It's post #656 of this thread.

Thank you!!! and @Niner too for the timelines.

Whew. What a relief. My plan to just capture Tiguan references quickly fizzled last night.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Stauch told CrimeOnline on Wednesday that she maintains her innocence. Although she declined to discuss the details of the case, she said she is currently working with an attorney for her defense.

“It’s 90% speculation,” Stauch said, referring to the affidavit.
Gannon Stauch: Stepmom accused of killing Colorado boy could possibly get bond, maintains that she’s innocent

For reals ... guess that leaves no hope she is going to grow a conscience and cop a plea.

@leighEg can you share any other tidbits from your jailhouse phone conversation with TS? How were you able to get a hold of her, just curious. What was her demeanor like? Is she worried about CV-19? Her comment about working with "an attorney", makes it seem like she has a different PD than the one who made the initial appearance? Thanks for the outstanding coverage, we appreciate you!

Yeah from what they (CrimeOnline) published, it wasn't really much of an interview. I'd love to hear more from Leigh about how the latest conversation actually went.

 

[Gardenkeep]

Yeah from what they (CrimeOnline) published, it wasn't really much of an interview. I'd love to hear more from Leigh about how the latest conversation actually went.

Me too. I wonder if we can get her to return to the podcast?

 

[kkdj]

Not that I think HH has been arrested, but would we even know, since she is a minor?