Stepmom of missing Colorado boy Gannon Stauch charged in his death, police say

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado woman who claimed her stepson vanished while walking to a friend’s house in late January has been charged with killing him as authorities make the grim transition from heading a missing person case to organizing a search for the boy’s body.

Gannon Stauch, 11, of Colorado Springs, was last seen alive by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch, on Jan. 27. Letecia Stauch was arrested Monday morning in South Carolina.

Letecia Stauch, 36, is charged with first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a body and tampering with physical evidence, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. She remained without bond in the Horry County Jail Tuesday, awaiting extradition back to Colorado.

“While we’ve yet to locate Gannon … Letecia Stauch was taken into custody in Myrtle Beach,” El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder said in a somber, tearful afternoon press conference.

>> Related story: Missing Colorado boy, 11, considered endangered, officials say

As the sheriff read off the charges against Letecia Stauch, Gannon’s mother, Landen Hiott, began audibly weeping. Hiott’s aunt held her close as the boy’s father, Al Stauch, held her hand and wiped his own eyes.

“I cannot stress enough what a difficult time this has been for Gannon’s family,” Elder said.

Staunch’s arrest comes five weeks after law enforcement officers from well over a dozen local, state and federal agencies, including the FBI, began searching through frigid temperatures and feet of snow for the boy, who was initially considered a potential runaway.

Within days, Gannon’s status was updated to missing and endangered. The boy’s age and medication he was required to take factored into that status change.

‘She lied. He didn’t go to a friend’s house.’

“As you can see from the arrest, sadly, we do not believe Gannon is alive,” El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mitch Mihalko said during Monday’s news conference. “Our work is only just beginning, and you will continue to see many law enforcement officials in El Paso County over the coming weeks and possibly months as we continue our relentless pursuit of justice for Gannon and his family.”

Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, said the numerous resources the federal agency brought to the table will remain in place as agents continue working the case with their state and local counterparts.

“We will continue to help law enforcement and the prosecutors see this to the very end,” Phillips said. “And know this: When it comes to the loss of a child, the FBI will always bring all available and logical resources to bear.”

Phillips reassured parents in the community that, although all evidence pointed toward foul play in Gannon’s disappearance, there is no evidence that other children are in danger.

Michael Allen, a prosecutor with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, told reporters that details of the case against Letecia Stauch would not be made public at this time. The affidavit for her arrest was filed under seal.

“We want to do everything we can to make sure we achieve justice for Gannon, so we’re not going to talk about the facts of the case going forward,” Allen said. “We want to make sure we protect these criminal proceedings.”

The prosecutor urged anyone with information on the missing boy’s whereabouts to call Sheriff’s Office officials.

“We still want to bring Gannon home so that he can have a proper burial and his family can achieve the closure that they need,” Allen said. “We also want to hold the person that we are charging, Letecia Stauch, accountable for what she did in this case.”

Anyone with information can call 719-520-6666 or email Tips@elpasoco.com.

Watch Letecia Stauch’s first court appearance below, courtesy of KUSA in Denver.

According to authorities, Letecia Stauch told investigators she last saw her stepson between 3:15 and 4 p.m. Jan. 27 at their home in the Lorson Ranch neighborhood. ABC News reported last month, however, that surveillance footage from a neighbor’s home appears to show Gannon leaving the home that morning -- with Stauch.

The footage, which neighbor Roderrick Drayton shared with local and national news outlets, appears to show Letecia Stauch back her truck out of the driveway at 10:13 a.m., at which point Gannon appears to walk outside slowly and get into the back seat before she drives away.

Drayton’s footage appears to show Letecia Stauch return home at 2:19 p.m. that day without her stepson. El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jackie Kirby told ABC News on Feb. 4 that investigators had been provided with a copy of the video.

Drayton told the news network he also showed the video to Gannon’s father, Al Stauch.

“He just broke down crying and said, ‘She lied. She lied about the time. He didn’t go to a friend’s house,’” Drayton said.

Letecia Stauch gave a Jan. 31 interview to KKTV in Colorado Springs in early February, during the first week Gannon was missing, in which she denied harming the boy.

“I am going to be so ecstatic when I am able to say to people that they should have a really sincere apology for all of these theories that have come out online,” Letecia Stauch told the news station. “For all the things that people have said I have done or people have done.”

Shortly after giving the interview, Letecia Stauch, who claimed she and her family had been receiving death threats, left Colorado and went to her native South Carolina. It was there that she was placed under arrest.

‘My boy did not deserve any of this’

Elder addressed Hiott, Al Stauch and Gannon’s extended family and friends directly during Monday’s arrest announcement.

“There is no way to express the depths of our sympathy, and our hearts break for you,” Elder said, his voice catching in his throat. “But I make this promise. This team will continue its work. These partners will remain steadfast and diligent until the conclusion and final prosecution of this case.”

Hiott, who wore a T-shirt sporting the outline of a young boy wearing a cape and the nickname “G-Man,” spoke to reporters during the news conference.

“Really, I’m not in the correct mindset to be even standing here,” Hiott said before adding that her son remains with his family, at least in spirit. She called Gannon her hero.

“After the stories of people from all over the world, he’s not only my hero now. He’s the world’s hero,” Hiott, who lives in South Carolina, said as she struggled through tears. “I thank the community (for) the positive support, from a state I’ve never visited other than two or three times. I’m astounded by the amount of love that’s not come for me, it’s come for my boy.”

Hiott said she’s had to put her trust in people she does not know, and described standing where she was at that moment as a nightmare. She said, however, that she received both the worst and the best news on Monday.

“Obviously, we know what the worst news is,” she said. “But the best news is that justice will be served.

“And I’ll make sure that justice is served, because my boy did not deserve any of this that has happened to him.”

Hiott, whose anger became apparent through her tears, asked that reporters refrain from asking questions of investigators as they build their case against Letecia Stauch.

“I urge (the) media one more time just to hold off on questions until we know that this person, the stepmom that I even trusted, that she will pay 100 percent for this heinous thing she done.”

Watch law enforcement officials and Gannon Stauch’s mother speak below, courtesy of KMGH in Denver.

Al Stauch held his ex-wife and wept as Kirby read a statement from him, in which he’d written that the trust he’d placed in his second wife was “a burden he would carry for a very long time.”

“My little boy is not coming home,” Al Stauch wrote. “We will never play Nintendo again, no more taco Tuesdays. No more smooth haircuts. No more ‘Big Bubba’ for (his sister). And no more ‘G Man’ for the world.”

Mihalko also declined Monday to detail any of the evidence that led to Letecia Stauch’s arrest, but he described the investigation as a “methodical and time-consuming multistate operation, with investigators working nearly around the clock to find Gannon.”

He described both large- and small-scale searches for the boy, which included officers on horseback and airborne drones, as well as K-9 teams and other resources.

“While we have not yet found Gannon, information has been developed that is helping us narrow our search,” Mihalko said.

“The death of a child is something no parent should ever have to endure,” the lieutenant said. “This case has not just been an investigation for us. This case has become very personal and will forever remain in our hearts.”

Cox Media Group