Letecia Stauch trial: Prosecutors outline Stauch's shifting explanations of what happened to Gannon

Apr. 12—Prosecutors on Wednesday offered fresh evidence of Letecia Stauch's shifting explanations of what happened to Gannon Stauch, her 11-year-old stepson, as the case's lead detective took the stand.

Letecia Stauch is accused of stabbing and fatally shooting Gannon in El Paso County and disposing of his remains in Florida. Testimony in her murder trial began last week.

Former El Paso County sheriff's Detective Jessica Bethel was the only witness Wednesday, as she reviewed several interviews conducted with Letecia and Al Stauch in the days following Gannon's disappearance on Jan. 27, 2020.

The first interview entered into evidence Wednesday was a nearly hourlong audio recording of an interview with Gannon's parents that took place at a local Starbucks.

Prior to the interview being played in court Bethel testified that she wanted to conduct the interview at the Stauch residence, but Letecia Stauch was "hesitant at best" to have the interview at her home.

In the recording Al and Letecia Stauch tell Bethel information about Gannon, saying he had gone to visit a friend and never returned home. The former couple asked Bethel questions about checking Gannon's phone for deleted searches and whether the police can track a Nintendo Switch.

"The only thing he sneaks is to play his games when he is grounded," Al Stauch, Gannon's father, told Bethel.

Al Stauch at one point mentions how "it came in my mind" that Gannon's mom is married to a guy with "a lot of problems," and that he could potentially be involved. Al Stauch mentioned this when he testified last week.

After the conclusion of the recording, Bethel retook the stand to testify that over the course of the same day she continued to try to have Letecia Stauch come to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office for an interview, and that she continued to decline the offer to be interviewed.

In a brief audio recording of a FaceTime call conducted on the evening of Jan. 28, Stauch told Bethel that she wasn't interested in coming to the Sheriff's Office.

"I'm not going in to talk to you without an attorney," Stauch told Bethel.

Bethel at one point in the call asked Stauch where she was, and Letecia Stauch declined to tell her.

Bethel testified that eventually Stauch agreed to come to the Sheriff's Office for an interview on the morning of Jan. 29.

Two deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office testified on Monday that Stauch's car appeared to have been freshly cleaned when she arrived for the interview. Bethel testified that Stauch showed up more than two hours late to the interview.

Stauch's interview with detectives was over four hours long, and started with her describing the day leading up to Gannon's disappearance. She then told detectives that Gannon didn't disappear, but rather that he was kidnapped by an intruder.

Stauch said she gave a man named "Eduardo" the code to the garage to help fix her carpet, and that the alleged intruder assaulted her, raped her and took Gannon. Several people over the course of the trial, including forensic nurse examiner Amanda Van Nest, testified that Stauch had told them this story.

Letecia Stauch would stick with the "Eduardo" story for a time, but in phone calls recorded by the FBI that were played to the jury last week she changed the story several times. Eventually, Letecia Stauch claimed that she bought a bike from a man named Quincy Brown, and that while testing the bike Gannon fell off and was "bleeding from his head." She said Brown offered to drive Gannon to the hospital, but didn't return.

Brown was wanted in El Paso County at the time of the recorded phone conversations.

Stauch spent a significant amount of time in the interview describing "Eduardo" to detectives, saying he was short, had a round face and was in his 30s.

"I would do anything for you to find out who Eduardo is," Stauch said around the three-hour mark of the interview.

As detectives continued to ask questions, Stauch struggled to recall specifics from the alleged attack, saying numerous times that she "doesn't remember," or "doesn't want to talk about" certain topics brought up by detectives.

Stauch claimed she didn't remember certain events from the assault because she hit her head a number of times and "blacked out." During Van Nest's testimony on Tuesday, she said Stauch had no injuries consistent with having hit her head when she examined Stauch on the same day the interview occurred.

Over three hours into the interview Stauch told detectives that she would like to leave, and after briefly disappearing from the room Stauch returned and was seen arguing with a new detective about having her phone taken.

The male detective in the recording told Stauch that they were keeping her phone because the Sheriff's Office had applied for a search warrant, and that she was no longer allowed to leave the building.

"This is unconstitutional," Stauch complained to deputies.

The prosecution was unable to complete the video on Wednesday. The remaining 30 minutes of the video, as well as the remainder of Bethel's testimony, will be completed on Friday morning when Stauch's trial resumes.