EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — After flat-out denying that she killed her stepson, and then blaming his disappearance on an attack by a man named Quincy Brown, Letecia Stauch told Gannon's dad that the boy was injured in an accident and then taken by a man she was meeting up with through Craigslist to buy an exercise bike in Douglas County.
"He promised he was going to go back to his house to get some bandages and call 911," Letecia Stauch said through sobs about the man she met. She said the man never came back with Gannon and she just "didn't know what to do."
None of it was true, according to prosecutors who allege that Letecia Stauch stabbed 11-year-old Gannon Stauch numerous times in his bedroom before shooting at him three times on Jan. 27, 2020.
After the boy's death, his remains were placed in a suitcase from the Stauch home and then dumped under a bridge in Florida, where they were found in March 2020 – weeks after the boy went missing.
Two investigators from Florida are expected to testify later Wednesday after Al Stauch, Gannon's father, finishes up his testimony.
He's been on the stand for a day and a half, shifting between in-person testimony and recorded audio of phone conversations he had with his then-wife Letecia Stauch in the days and weeks after Gannon disappeared.
Al Stauch began working with investigators after he realized that Letecia Stauch was holding back information, he testified on Tuesday. Prosecutors have played hours of recordings between the two during which Letecia Stauch told various stories about what happened to Gannon.
In one exchange, Al Stauch pointedly asked his then-wife whether she killed Gannon.
"Did you kill Gannon," Al Stauch asked.
"No," Letecia Stauch replied.
"OK. Did Gannon die on your watch, whether it was naturally or from some injury?"
"No."
"Did he have an accident of some nature, and you freak out and cover it up?"
"No."
During one call, Letecia Stauch told him a man had broken into their home, raped and attacked her, and took Gannon. He said he asked her why there were no signs of a struggle in the home and she replied, "I cleaned it up. I got scared."
In other calls, she named her alleged attacker as a man named Quincy Brown and said that investigators were "barking up the wrong tree" by focusing on her and not on the man she claimed attacked her.
In another call, Letecia Stauch begged Al Stauch for "immunity" and said once she had it that she could help. She went on to say that she had withheld information about the man who had attacked her, which could incriminate her.
She also said that Gannon had been picking at his fingernails so badly that they began bleeding and explained that some of the blood got on the wall of his room.
During a prior hearing, a sergeant with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office testified about blood found in his room and the other areas below.
- Laundry room
- Family room
- Gannon's bedroom
- Garage
- Storage room
- Stairs
Letecia Stauch gave explanations for some of that blood during her calls with Al Stauch. One time, she said that Gannon had gone out barefoot to take out the trash, stepped on a nail in the garage and cut his foot, which resulted in some blood getting on a board in there.
Between Feb. 12 and Feb. 20, 2020, numerous agencies conducted an "outside search" near Highway 105 between Palmer Lake and Larkspur. A plywood board was found in that area on Feb. 15, which was determined to have Gannon's blood on it, according to prior court testimony.
She also mentioned throwing away a small rug that was in the garage near the door because Gannon had stepped on it with his injured foot.
Al Stauch insisted in the calls with her that her stories did "not seem legit."
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