The sad death of Gannon

On January 27, 2020, Gannon Stauch disappeared. This is a parents worst nightmare. His father being in the National Guard was away for training. His second wife called and told him Gannon went missing. The detectives came and interviewed his step-mother and tings didn't add up. The police started collecting physical evidence when a neighbor provided video tape from his security footage to the police.

The 11-year-old Colorado Springs boy whose disappearance last year drew national attention before his body was found in Florida was shot and stabbed, a detective testified Thursday during a preliminary hearing in the murder case brought against the boy’s stepmother, Letecia Stauch.

Gannon Stauch disappeared from his family’s Colorado Springs home on Jan. 27, 2020. Letecia Stauch, 38, was the last person to see him alive, and authorities believe she killed Gannon in his bedroom while the two were home alone that afternoon.

The boy’s body was found March 17, 2020, under a bridge near Pensacola, Florida, wrapped in bedding and inside a suitcase. He had been shot in the jaw, stabbed in the chest and back, and suffered a skull fracture. He also had cuts on his arms and hands that appeared to be defensive wounds, Sgt. Jason Yoder, with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, testified. If Gannon had defensive wound from being stabbed, then his death was a violent death and he fought for his little life. Oh how terrible and horrifying to suffer such a painful death. No child should be killed in this manner.

On the day Gannon disappeared, Stauch asked her teenage daughter to stop by a store and buy carpet-cleaning supplies, baking soda, trash bags and other items around 5 p.m, according to the affidavit.

She called 911 to report Gannon as missing, saying he had failed to return from a friend’s house, but she couldn’t name the friend he was supposedly visiting, and her account changed constantly throughout the investigation, sometimes including details about the crime that only the killer would know, according to the affidavit.

The morning after Gannon disappeared, Stauch drove her car to the Colorado Springs airport and parked there. She then rented a car, picked up Gannon’s father from a flight — he’d been out of town for two days — and returned home in the rented car, testified Kevin Clark, who worked the case as an analyst for Colorado Springs police.

Letecia lied to investigators on multiple occasions, has unexplained abnormal behavior such as obtaining a rental car, disconnecting her cell phone from the cellular network for an extended period of time, the false reporting of an alleged rape, abnormal patterns of travel, a continuously evolving story with material changes in facts and circumstances, and has since left the State of Colorado,' the affidavit explains.

Stauch was ruled fit to stand trial on January 27, 2021.

She had wanted to represent herself, before receiving new counsel.

The stepmother faces counts of first-degree murder, child abuse and tampering with a body - in addition to evidence tampering and eight charges of violence.

She also faces charges from June, when she was caught allegedly plotting to escape from El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs.

The suspected killer had planned to use a broom handle to bust the cell window and had measured herself to check she could fit through it to escape.

TIMELINE OF GANNON STAUCH CASE:

Jan. 27: Gannon Stauch is reported as a runaway; last seen by stepmother Letecia Stauch between 3.15 pm-4 pm

Jan. 30: Case is upgraded to a missing and endangered child's case due to his age, need for medication, winter weather and the length of time he's been missing

Jan. 31: Letecia Stauch gives interview to KKTV saying deputies had threatened to shoot her and put her 17-year-old daughter in handcuffs

Feb. 4: Neighbor Roderrick Drayton shares surveillance video showing what appears to be Letecia returning home at 2.19pm without Gannon in her pickup truck; claims boy's father broke down in tears when he saw the video

Feb. 5: District Attorney Dan May visits Stauch's home; Stauch family make YouTube statement to bring Gannon home

Feb. 7: Searchers use submersible remotely operated vehicle with sonar to scour a pond near Stauch family's home

Feb. 8: Candlelight prayer vigil is held at Lorson Ranch

Feb. 11: Letecia Stauch releases statement to Fox 31 claiming Gannon was in her truck on Jan. 27 and that later left with a 'friend'

Feb. 21: Ground search for Gannon is halted by investigation continues

Feb 28: Planned search for Gannon is called off without explanation

Mar 2 Letecia Stauch is arrested in connection to the case. Stauch was charged with murder of a child under 12 years of age by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death and tampering with a dead body. Authorities announce that they don't believe Gannon is alive, but they haven't found his body. The investigation is ongoing

March 5: Letecia is extradited from South Carolina to El Paso County, Colorado

March 18: Remains on a boy are found in Pace, Florida

March 20: Autopsy performed on child's remains tentatively identify the deceased as Gannon Stauch

April 3: Leaked affidavit claims Letecia killed Gannon in his bedroom on January 27 and disposed of his body the next day. It includes photos of Gannon's room, mattress and walls covered in blood splatters. It also states Letecia 'lied to investigators on multiple occasions'

May 5: Court records reveal Letecia has been charged with one count of solicitation to commit escape after she planned to break out of El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs

Another beautiful child gone too soon. RIP Gannon.

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