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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (TCD) — A jury convicted a 39-year-old woman in connection with the death of her stepson, whose body was later discovered in a suitcase under a bridge in Florida.
The Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office tweeted Monday, May 8, that Letecia Stauch was found guilty of killing 11-year-old Gannon Stauch following a monthlong trial. She was on trial for first-degree murder of a child under 12, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence.
Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
KKTV-TV reports the jury reached the verdict in about eight hours.
El Paso County Judge Gregory Werner sentenced Stauch to life in prison without parole after several of Gannon’s family members read emotional victim impact statements.
At the sentencing, Werner told Stauch she showed “no remorse” during the trial. He added that the “facts of the case were the most horrific I’ve ever seen.”
Stauch reported Gannon missing to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Jan. 29, 2020, saying he was last seen two days prior between 3:15 and 4 p.m. at their home on the 6000 block of Mandan Drive. Stauch said Gannon went to a friend’s house down the block, but he never returned.
Investigators determined Stauch wasn’t telling the truth about her stepson’s disappearance. Detectives concluded she killed Gannon on Jan. 27, 2020, in his bedroom. Evidence reportedly supports that “a violent event occurred in his bedroom, which caused bloodshed, including blood spatter on the walls, and enough blood loss to stain his mattress, soak through the carpet, the carpet pad, and stain the concrete below his bed.”
KRDO-TV reports Gannon sustained 18 sharp force injuries, four blunt force injuries, and a gunshot wound. He was shot in the face and had blunt force trauma wounds on his head.
Detectives arrested Stauch on March 2, 2020, in Horry County, South Carolina, and extradited her back to Colorado. Gannon’s body, however, remained missing.
Just over two weeks after her arrest, a major break in the case occurred on March 18, 2020, when Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies in Florida found human remains, which were later identified as Gannon’s. Stauch drove with Gannon’s body from Colorado to Florida, then hid the boy’s body in a suitcase.
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