Stepmother accused of killing boy, 11, and dumping body in suitcase compared crime to ‘Lifetime movie’
A woman accused of murdering her stepson allegedly compared the events surrounding the killing to a Lifetime movie while trying to convince her husband she was innocent.
Letecia Stauch is facing trial in El Paso County, Colorado, for allegedly killing 11-year-old Gannon Stauch while his father was out-of-state on deployment with the National Guard on 27 January 2020.
Prosecutors say Ms Stauch stabbed Gannon 18 times and then shot him in the head before driving across the country to dump a suitcase with his remains inside over the side of a bridge in Pensacola, Florida.
The state has argued that Ms Staunch was unhappy in her marriage and resentful of being treated like an unpaid babysitter. Attorneys for Ms Stauch, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, told jurors that she suffered a “major psychotic crack” when she killed Gannon.
Ms Staunch first reported Gannon missing on the day he died, telling police that the boy had gone to visit a friend but never returned home. However, her account of what had happened before Gannon was last seen continued changing and she later claimed a Mexican man broke into the residence, raped her and then abducted Gannon.
On Tuesday, prosecutors played a recording of a phone conversation between Ms Staunch and Gannon’s father Al Stauch, who cooperated with FBI agents to question her, The Colorado Gazette reported. In the call, which took place before Gannon’s remains were found, Ms Staunch repeatedly denied having any involvement in the disappearance.
“My mind was completely [expletive] gone,” Ms Staunch said. “I tried. I didn’t know what was going on. All of it was a blur. … It was like I was in some Lifetime movie.”
Ms Staunch then accused her husband of “treating her like a criminal.”
“I can’t believe you’d ask me this. ... If you think Gannon’s dead that’s horrible. … What is wrong with you?” she is heard saying in the recording.
Over 200 volunteers searched for Gannon near his home after he was reported missing. Investigators found Gannon’s blood on Ms Stauch’s shoe, found her DNA on a gun linked to his death and learned that she travelled to the Florida Panhandle shortly after he disappeared, prosecutors said.
Presuming Gannon to be dead, authorities arrested Ms Stauch in South Carolina in 2022 and shortly after, the remains were found in Florida.
Ms Stauch is facing charges of first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence.
District Attorney Michael Allen argued during opening arguments that Ms Staunch was aware and conscious of her actions on the day she killed Gannon. Mr Allen said the murder suspect cleaned up the blood in Gannon’s bedroom and moved his body to different locations to hide it before disposing of it “like garbage” in a river that flows into the Gulf of Mexico in hopes it would never be found.
Meanwhile, defence attorney Will Cook said she developed dissociative identity disorder as a result of being physically, emotionally and sexually abused by her absent mother’s boyfriends. He said that she believed she was “killing the demons” when she hurt Gannon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
