EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — Letecia Stauch, the El Paso County woman accused of murdering her 11-year-old step-son, is facing a new accusation – that she attempted to enlist a fellow inmate to help her break out of the county jail, 9Wants to Know has learned.
In communications with that other inmate, Stauch measured herself to make sure she could fit through the window of her cell at the El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs and considered breaking it out with a broom handle, according to court documents.
Stauch has been formally charged with solicitation to commit escape.
The allegations are based on statements from the other inmate and three letters she is believed to have written, according to documents obtained by 9Wants to Know.
>the video above is from Letecia Stauch's first Colorado court appearance
Stauch already faces multiple charges in the death of Gannon Stauch, who investigators believe was killed in his bedroom just hours before Letecia Stauch reported him was missing, according to an arrest affidavit.
According to the documents, investigators theorize that occurred in the boy’s bedroom the afternoon of Jan. 27 – sometime after 2:14 p.m.
“Physical evidence recovered from the residence and inside Gannon’s bedroom supports that a violent event occurred in the bedroom,” an investigator wrote in the documents.
After his murder, investigators believe Letecia Stauch moved his body through the house, into the garage, and loaded it into the back of her Volkswagen Tiguan. She also had her 17-year-old daughter buy carpet cleaner, trash bags, baking soda and vinegar, according to the documents. Investigators theorized in the records that Letecia Stauch then cleaned up the evidence of the killing before calling 911 at 6:55 p.m. that evening to report that Gannon hadn’t returned home after heading out to play with friends.
She later changed her story, claiming she’d been held at gunpoint and raped by a man who abducted Gannon, according to the documents. Investigators could find no evidence to support that story.
Deputies responded to her call that he was missing about 3½ hours after she made it, and they took a report from Letecia and conducted what the documents describe as “a limited search of the residence.” At the time the officers were there, Letecia Stauch’s Tiguan was backed into the garage, according to the records.
Those documents indicate that Gannon’s body was in the car at the time – asserting that it wasn’t until the next evening that investigators believe Stauch dumped his body in the area of Colorado 105 and Perry Park Road. Blood found in the boy’s bedroom, in the garage, and on a piece of particle board found in the area of Highway 105 and Perry Park Road all matched the boy’s DNA, according to the affidavit.
That led to a long-running investigation – and extensive searches in El Paso and Douglas counties for Gannon’s remains – that culminated in Stauch’s arrest March 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
She was returned to Colorado and remains behind bars in El Paso County, where she is being held without bail on 13 felony counts:
- First-degree murder after deliberation.
- First-degree murder of a person under 12 by someone in a position of trust.
- Child abuse resulting in death.
- Tampering with a deceased human body.
- Tampering with physical evidence.
- Seven counts of a crime of violence for using a weapon (the weapons listed in the complaint include a firearm, blunt object and sharp object).
- One count of crime of violence – causing severe bodily injury or death
On March 20, El Paso County sheriff’s officials announced that remains found in Florida had been tentatively identified as Gannon’s.
Gannon’s father, Al Stauch, was out of town on duty with the National Guard when the boy vanished.
Contact 9NEWS reporter Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.
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