Rainbows punctuated the skies over Colorado Springs after a jury rejected Letecia Stauch’s insanity plea and found her guilty of the horrifying murder of a child. 11-year-old Gannon Stauch was stabbed 18 times, suffered four blows to his head which smashed his skull, and was shot in the face. The woman who murdered him was his stepmother, the person who boasted about taking care of Gannon and his little sister. A woman Gannon loved and his family trusted. The vicious attack happened in Gannon’s bedroom, a place where he should have had the sweet dreams of an innocent child. Instead, the pillow that cradled his head while he slept was shoved in a suitcase along with his battered, lifeless body and was thrown over a bridge. Encased in that pillow were two bullet fragments. Gannon’s killer missed twice when firing the gun. A boy’s bedroom became a crime scene.
Evidence pointed to a frantic cleanup after Letecia murdered Gannon on January 27, 2020. She sent her daughter, Harley Hunt, to buy cleaning supplies. It’s difficult to imagine the cleaning frenzy that took place in an attempt to set the stage for the first of many stories Letecia told investigators. Initially, she tried to convince El Paso County deputies that Gannon went to a friend’s house and didn’t come home. Later, he was kidnapped by Eguardo, a man who came to fix the carpet, stole a suitcase, and raped Letecia. That tale was followed by allegations against Quincy Brown, a wanted sex offender in Colorado Springs whose picture had recently been on a local news station. After a few more attempts to divert attention away from her, Letecia landed on an alternate personality as the killer. She described this alter ego as Maria Sanchez, a Spanish-speaking, Russian-trained sniper who killed Gannon after mistaking him for a caped intruder. Letecia changed her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity and claimed she suffered from dissociative identity disorder (DID), which used to be called multiple personality disorder. The jury didn’t buy it.
Testimony lasted five weeks. It took the jury less than eight hours to find her guilty of the following charges:
- First-degree murder – after deliberation
- First-degree murder – victim under 12 by a person in a position of trust
- Tampering with a deceased human body
- Tampering with physical evidence
Jurors and people who watched the trial heard hours of recorded conversations between her and Albert Stauch, Gannon’s father. The prosecution played videotaped sessions of her mental health evaluations and showed incriminating text messages and web searches, including “I don’t like my stepson.” Letecia’s own words played a big role in her conviction.
Gannon’s family got their turn to speak after the verdict was announced. They sat silently in the courtroom for weeks listening to evidence about the terror Gannon suffered in his last hours.
“You came into this world fighting and unfortunately, you left this world fighting. Your honor, he fought against someone he loved and trusted,” said a tearful Landen Bullard, Gannon’s mom. “Our first biggest blessing came into the world weighing only one pound, six ounces. You fought all the odds and developed a personality and a smile that’s larger than life. You became my hero that day.”
“I pray that we will never have to look at her face again. I will continue to hold on to my faith. Vengeance is not mine, as I surely wish it could be at times, but it’s the Lord’s,” Landen said referring to emotionless Letecia.
Albert Stauch couldn’t hold back tears as he spoke about leaving Gannon in Letecia’s care to go to Oklahoma for National Guard training.
“Gannon, I never in my wildest dreams would have ever thought that you’d be in danger, buddy, or I would have never left you at home with what turned out to be your murderer and the last person to see you on this earth. I’m so sorry,” Gannon’s dad sobbed.
He told the court that Letecia was beautiful, extremely intelligent, and successful when he met her and “a far cry from the nappy-headed, murderous, narcissist and arrogantly flippant human being that sits in our midst today.” He asked the judge to strip Letecia of his last name, saying it was “nauseating” to hear her referred to as “Ms. Stauch.”
Gannon’s great-aunt Veronica Birkenstock pleaded with the judge to give Letecia the maximum sentence.
“I pray today that you, judge, will give her what she deserves on this earth and let God do the rest in eternity.”
Birkenstock, whom Gannon called “Aunt V”, brought a Bible and asked if the court found it appropriate, to give it to Letecia with the hope that she will read the word of God every day of her life and turn from her evil ways.
Just before Judge Gregory Werner sentenced Letecia, he had harsh words for her, including scorn for the insanity defense and her claim that an alternate personality named Maria killed Gannon.
“There is no time during the minutes, hours, and days following the murder where Letecia came out and wondered ‘Gee, why am I carrying a body around in my luggage?’ That just isn’t credible,” the judge scolded.
He characterized Letecia’s behavior as showing no remorse. The judge reprimanded her during the trial for flipping off witnesses and threatened to have her hands shackled under the defense table.
“You betrayed your stepson and you took his life. You took away everything he was and everything he would become. I can’t imagine the terror and confusion he must have felt in the last moments of his life when he knew his life was being taken by someone he trusted to protect him,” Judge Werner admonished a stone-faced Letecia.
“The facts in this case are the most horrific I have ever seen. Your conduct in this case deserves the maximum sentence that I can impose according to Colorado law,” the judge declared and gave her the maximum sentence on all counts.
Letecia declined to speak publicly at her final appearance in the El Paso County courtroom. She did ask attorneys to request a specific prison, San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo, as the place to serve her life sentence. It houses inmates with severe mental illnesses. That decision is not up to the judge or attorneys. The Colorado Department of Corrections will decide where Letecia will be locked up for the rest of her life.
After the sentencing, District Attorney Michael Allen thanked investigators for their hard work and noted without the FBI’s help, “We’re probably not standing here today just due to the breadth of this case.”
“Lady Justice is famously clothed with a blindfold. She lifted her blindfold and was aghast at what she saw in this case. That defendant, that horrible stepmother, a stepmother of nightmares, will never breathe a free breath again.”
Allen also thanked a Higher Power, “There’s without a doubt, that Divine Intervention played a role in this case at different times.”
He noted the timing of Florida bridge inspector Macon Ponder discovering the suitcase with Gannon’s remains inside on March 17, 2020. His body was found nearly 1,400 miles from Colorado Springs, closing a major loophole in the case and giving investigators critical details about the rage-filled attack Gannon suffered.
“That was truly Divine Intervention. That bridge is inspected once every two years. If he had been at that bridge just a month and a half, two months prior, it’s likely that Gannon’s remains are never found. God’s fingerprints are on this case.”
A rainbow is God’s promise. Perhaps the timing of the glorious sight that graced the skies above Colorado Springs was a sign that after three long years, justice has been served.
Jenesis Productions 
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