Testimony continued Tuesday morning in the Letecia Stauch murder trial; she stands accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch.
As CrimeOnline reported, prosecutors say Stauch stabbed, shot, and beat Gannon inside the family’s El Paso County home in Colorado, on January 27, 2020. Months later, his body was found stuffed into a suitcase beneath a bridge in Pace, Florida.
Stauch is now on trial at the El Paso County Court, facing first-degree murder and related charges.
Lt. John Sarkisian with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office took the stand first Monday morning. He explained his role in searching for Gannon in February 2020, when the child was still missing. At the time, Stauch’s vehicle had been tracked to the Palmer Lake area of Colorado.
Sarkisian said that during a search on February 15, 2020, law enforcement found a stained board on the ground that was subsequently tested. It came back positive for a blood stain. The FBI kept the board for evidence.
Kevin Clark, an investigator with the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office, took the stand next. He said the board found at Palmer Lake was similar to a photo of a board he saw while looking at photos on Al Stauch’s (Gannon’s father) phone.
The photo, taken in 2019, showed a board in the garage at Stauch’s home in Fountain. Similar markings were seen on the board, such as an “X” written in pencil. Both boards had the corner pieces torn off.
Clark said law enforcement also seized phone records from a cellphone Stauch bought at a Walmart, as well as records for Gannon’s phone and Stauch’s daughter, Harley Hunt’s phone.
EPCSO Commander Mitch Mihalko also took the stand Tuesday morning. He said investigators began to believe foul play was involved on January 30, 2020, after finding a notable amount of evidence inside the Stauch home.
The investigation, Mihalko said, turned into suspicion of foul play but at that point in time, police didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest.
“Every lead we uncovered brought us back to that house,” Mihalko said, then listed off numerous evidence items found at the residence.
Mihalko also said that the defendant’s differing stories on what happened to Gannon didn’t add up; he added that she was uncooperative throughout the investigation and didn’t seem concerned about her stepson.
“I knew that the defendant was extremely difficult to get in for an interview,” he said. “We did not really know where the defendant was and was not able to locate her easily. We did know she had these diabolically different accounts which we thought was suspicious behavior.”
“As the information developed, it appears to me that the defendant was very cognizant of what was occurring, taking steps, almost being methodical in redirecting investigative efforts.”
#LeteciaStauch in the courtroom between her two attorneys. Her demeanor currently as Lt. explains how they seized her phone after interview. pic.twitter.com/Pki44xtNgT
— Nicole Fierro (@FierroNicole) April 18, 2023
CSI Alyssa Berriesford, an expert on blood spatter analysis, took the stand next.
On February 5, 2020, Berriesford arrived at the Stauch home to process stains found in Gannon’s room and around the basement area. She said she collected 10 swabs, which, she said, showed “something dynamic” had happened inside Gannon’s room.
“To have blood at that scale and in those types of patterns, there has to be some movement within that scene,” she said.
“Something like this is a lot more for lack of a better word violent than I expected to see.”
Berriesford based on her expertise, someone attempted to clean up the blood but left some of the blood stains altered and blurry.
Letecia Stauch is facing charges of:
- Murder in the First Degree (Child Under Twelve-Position of Trust §18-3-102(1)(f))
- Tampering with a Deceased Human Body, §18-8-610.5
- Tampering with Physical Evidence, §18-8-610(1)(a)
Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The trial continues. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Gannon Stauch/Facebook via Landen Hiott]
