Disappearance and Killing of Gannon Stauch

Disappearance Gannon Stauch, born September 29, 2008, was reported missing by his stepmother on January 27, 2020, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She told the El Paso County Sheriff's Office that he had left home between 3:15 p.m. and 4 p.m. to walk to a friend's house and never returned. Initial press releases described him as a "juvenile runaway," but three days later the sheriff's office reclassified the case as a missing or endangered person after receiving new information and evidence.

Search Effort The search for Gannon involved thousands of hours of investigation and hundreds of tips from the public. Agencies including the FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the Colorado Springs Police Department assisted the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. Search teams used drones, dogs, horses, helicopters, and divers to search various areas of interest. Gannon's biological parents made public pleas for his safe return.

Arrest and Investigation On March 2, 2020, Letecia Stauch was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on charges of first-degree murder of a child by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence. She was extradited to Colorado and held without bond. According to the arrest affidavit, released May 5, 2020, she killed Gannon in his bedroom on the day he disappeared, stabbing him 18 times, striking him in the head, and shooting him with a handgun, before cleaning the scene and disposing of his body in a suitcase. Surveillance footage from a neighbor showed her leaving with Gannon in her truck around 10:15 a.m. and investigators believe she returned with him around 2:19 p.m. Gannon's remains were found on March 17, 2020, by a maintenance worker under the Escambia Bay Bridge in Pace, Florida, more than 1,300 miles from his home. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, sharp force injuries, and a gunshot wound. Investigators believe Letecia Stauch transported the body to Florida in a rented van after initially dumping it in a remote area north of Colorado Springs.

Trial and Conviction Letecia Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming dissociative identity disorder linked to childhood sexual abuse, and separately accused her husband of involvement in Gannon's death and of ties to drug cartels and sex trafficking; these claims were dismissed by the court as unfounded, and she was found competent to stand trial. Her five-week trial concluded on May 8, 2023. The prosecution presented testimony from Gannon's father, Letecia's former employers, family members, investigators, forensic experts, and state psychiatrists. The defense's sole witness was psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis. The jury rejected the insanity defense and found Letecia Stauch guilty on all charges. She was sentenced the same day to life in prison without parole plus 156 years by Judge Gregory Werner.

Appeal On April 2, 2026, the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned Letecia Stauch's (Hardin's) conviction, finding that one of the jurors was impliedly biased under state law due to being within three degrees of separation from the state's attorneys.