An El Paso County jury on Monday convicted Letecia Stauch of the 2020 murder of her 11-year-old stepson. Stauch was found guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder, murder of ‘a child under the age of 12 by a person in a position. of trust, tampering with physical evidence and tampering with a dead human being.
CBS
during the Colorado trial, prosecutors presented evidence they say linked Stauch to the January 2020 murder. They said investigators found Gannon’s blood on Stauch’s shoe, found his DNA on a gun linked to his dead and learned that the woman from the Colorado Springs area traveled to the Florida Panhandle shortly after she disappeared. The boy’s remains were found there in March 2020.
Stauch’s attorneys, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, countered that he suffered a major psychotic episode as a result of childhood trauma when he killed Gannon.
Among the defense witnesses was a doctor in psychology who is trained to identify certain disorders and who interviewed Letecia. He said he believes Letecia has different personalities and especially remembers meeting one known as “Maria.”
The jury didn’t buy that defense, instead convicting her on all the charges against her.
The judge began sentencing for Letecia Stauch about 30 minutes after reading the sentences.
Gannon’s mother, Landen Hoitt, read an emotional statement at the sentencing hearing, saying she initially tried to connect with Letecia Stauch when Letecia married Gannon’s father.
“Mother to mother, I trusted her with my kids,” Hoitt said.
Hoitt went on to say that Letecia can’t love anyone but herself and is incapable of caring for another human being: “She fooled everybody… When she was the one hurting innocent children all the time, she was breaking my children and murdered my son.”
“Gannon will always be my son. That will never be taken away from him,” Hoitt said.
Gannon’s father also read a statement at the sentencing, recalling when Gannon was born prematurely weighing one pound six ounces and struggled to survive.
“I would never have left you home alone with a killer and the last person to see you alive,” Al Stauch said.
“Whatever the sentence is, it will never bring Gannon back,” said 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen.
