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Colorado Stepmom Standing Trial In Gannon Stauch’s Murder Criticized Police For Repeatedly Questioning Her
“Is there anything more that you might be able to share with me to help me find Gannon?,” Detective Jessica Bethel asked Letecia Stauch in a 2020 FaceTime call played for jurors this week.
A Colorado woman who allegedly murdered her 11-year-old stepson and later hid his body in a suitcase, feigned annoyance at police for questioning her “over and over and over” about the young boy’s disappearance more than three years ago, according to a video clip played in court this week.
On Wednesday, prosecutors played a recording of a FaceTime call between Letecia Stauch and a detective working the case for the jury in connection to the 2020 murder of her stepson Gannon Stauch. Letecia, 39, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the killing.
In the short recording of the conversation, Letecia, who appears on the defensive, can be heard complaining to Detective Jessica Bethel about investigators’ repeated follow-up attempts to question her regarding Gannon’s whereabouts.
“Is there anything more that you might be able to share with me to help me find Gannon?,” Bethel asked the Colorado stepmother, according to Law&Crime, citing the video played in court. “Where are you now?”
“You keep asking me this over and over and over,” Letecia responded.
“Where are you now?” Bethel said.
“I’m not going in to talk to you,” Letecia shot back.
Prosecutors say Letecia knowingly carried out the child’s killing, arguing she cleaned up the crime scene to throw investigators off her trail. In court this week, prosecutors accused Letecia of faking a polygraph test and impersonating her daughter in a phone call to authorities in order to cover up the child’s death.
Her defense team, who acknowledge she killed her stepson, have insisted Letecia underwent a “major psychotic crack” at the time of Gannon’s murder. They’ve argued Letecia has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder and was also a victim of childhood sexual abuse.
“Everything that happened to Gannon from that point forward was her decision,” District Attorney Michael Allen of the 4th Judicial District told jurors. “She carried out actions to kill Gannon, to put his body in the suitcase and hide it, to hide evidence of what she did to Gannon, told numerous stories to investigators to manipulate the course of the investigation, and finally to discard Gannon inside that suitcase off of a Florida bridge like garbage.”
Where was Gannon Stauch’s body found?
Letecia Stauch called 911 to report Gannon Stauch missing on Jan. 27, 2020.
In March of that year, Gannon’s body was discovered by a Florida Department of Transportation worker in a suitcase under a Pensacola bridge in Florida. He’d been stabbed a total of 18 times and had also sustained a gunshot wound in the lower left jaw, as well as a fractured skull.
Letecia, who was later arrested and charged with the child’s murder, was ultimately accused of jamming her stepson’s body into the baggage after killing him, and driving the remains across state lines where she hurled the suitcase over a bridge railing.
Sgt. Jason Yoder, a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office investigator in Florida, previously testified about the grisly discovery, telling the court he observed Gannon’s decomposing body covered in blankets. Yoder believes the body had been in the suitcase for about a month. He testified that boy had suffered a fractured skull, and stab wounds to left chest and right back.
Who is Al Stauch, Gannon Stauch’s dad?
Gannon Stauch’s father, Al Stauch, a National Guardsman, was reportedly away and deployed at the time of the 11-year-old’s disappearance and death. At trial, he testified against Letecia, who he has since divorced, recounting how he had confronted his former spouse multiple times about her inconsistent accounts of his son’s death.
"Did you kill Gannon?," Al asked Letecia in a phone call played during trial proceedings.
"I can't believe you asked me this!," Letecia said, according to Law&Crime.
Al also pushed back on his ex-wife’s assertions that Gannon harbored resentment towards her and once threatened her at knifepoint.
“Absolutely never witnessed that, period,” he testified, the outlet also reported.
