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Gannon Stauch's Stepmother Claims A Witness Will Help Prove Her Innocence During Jail Call
Letecia Stauch, who is accused of murdering her 11-year-old stepson, said she may have post-traumatic stress disorder from the tragedy of the past few months.
The stepmother of 11-year-old Colorado boy Gannon Stauch has claimed through a phone call made behind bars that she is innocent and hinted a witness may help her prove that.
Letecia Stauch, 36, was charged in March with first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased body, and tampering with evidence in connection with her stepson’s death. Letecia was the last person to see Gannon when he vanished in El Paso County in January. The remains of a boy, which have since been tentatively identified as Gannon, were discovered by a Florida bridge in March by a road crew, a spokesperson at the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office previously told Oxygen.com.
In a Wednesday phone call with CrimeOnline, Letecia claimed she is innocent of the charges filed against her. She alleged that a witness has “officially went on record” with her defense. However, citing the ongoing investigation, she said she could not disclose the details.
She also pondered in that phone call that she may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the dramatic and tragic events that have unfolded over the past few months.
“I’m not trying to knock anyone that’s been in war or anything like that, but people handle situations differently,” Letecia told CrimeOnline. “You have plenty of time to sit in here and actually like, breathe and be able to like process it because I hadn’t even went through the emotions of all of it yet, you know? And the emotions, you know, of being this bad person and all that.”
Investigators believe that Letecia killed Gannon with a knife or another sharp instrument in his bedroom the day he vanished, according to an arrest report which was leaked to 9 News in Denver. A paralegal was charged with official misconduct and put on administrative leave as a result of that leaking, the Denver Post reported last week.
The charging document also claims that the stepmother made “many lies” during the investigation. While Letecia initially told 911 and media outlets that Gannon vanished en route to a friend’s, the leaked document claims that she changed her story at some point. She allegedly claimed she was held at gunpoint and raped by a man who then went on to kidnap Gannon.
After allegedly killing Gannon, investigators believe Letecia took his body to the garage and loaded him into the back of her car where his body remained during the initial search of the house. Letecia allegedly enlisted her 17-year-old daughter to help cover up the murder by purchasing carpet cleaner, trash bags and other cleaning supplies. Letecia allegedly dumped Gannon's body off Highway 105 in Colorado’s Douglas County before his body was later moved to Florida.
Letecia was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — where she is originally from — in March before she was extradited back to El Paso County. Letecia’s public defenders, Kathryn Strobel and Kim Chalmers, both of whom work at the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, are not available for comment per office policy.
