COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — An arrest warrant affidavit for the stepmother of Gannon Stauch said evidence showed that she killed the 11-year-old boy in his bedroom on the afternoon of Jan. 27, the day she later reported him missing.
The affidavit, released authorities on Friday, detailed blood splatter found on the walls in Gannon's room and enough blood loss on his mattress and floor to indicate a "violent event" happened in the room.
The affidavit also said Letecia Stauch, Gannon's stepmother, "lied to investigators on multiple occasions" and exhibited "abnormal behavior" in the days after the boy disappeared.
Letecia Stauch faces a murder charge and eight counts of crime of violence in the case and was arrested March 2. Sixteen days later, on March 18, a road construction worker found Gannon's body just off Highway 90 in Pace, Fla. Letecia Stauch also faces charges of child abuse resulting in death and tampering with a deceased human body.
The affidavit released Friday was written on Feb. 28 and did not include information about how Gannon's body ended up in Florida.
Letecia Stauch reported her stepson missing from their Colorado Springs home on Jan. 27. She told police that Gannon Stauch left on foot to play at a friend's house and never returned.
According to the El Paso Sheriff's Office, she made the report around 7 p.m. that day.
The affidavit said Letecia Stauch killed Gannon earlier that day, after about 2:15 p.m. Gannon's body was then likely taken into the garage and loaded into the back of Letecia Stauch's leased Volkswagen Tiguan, the affidavit said.
She later cleaned the scene in Gannon's bedroom and then, on the following evening, Jan. 28, drove Gannon's remains and dumped them in an area off Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road in southern Douglas County, according to the affidavit. Investigators said the Metro Crime Laboratory later determined that blood discovered in Gannon's bedroom and in the Stauchs' garage matched blood on a piece of particleboard found near Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road.
Before Gannon's remains were dumped, the affidavit said, Letecia Stauch on the morning of Jan. 28 went to pick up Gannon's father, Albert Stauch, at the Colorado Springs airport. Albert Stauch had been on a work trip with the National Guard for the previous three days.
When he arrived back in Colorado Springs, Letecia Stauch picked him up in a Kia Rio that she had rented that morning, the affidavit said. She told her husband that she rented the vehicle because she was concerned about putting mileage on her leased vehicle, the Volkswagen Tiguan, but investigators called the timing of the rental "suspicious," according to the affidavit.
Investigators later discovered that Letecia Stauch's Tiguan was left in short-term parking at the airport while she was driving the rental vehicle. On the night of Jan. 28, data from the Tiguan showed it leaving the Colorado Springs Airport, about 7 p.m., and then later showed it was in the area of Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road in Douglas County, where authorities alleged that Gannon's body was dumped.
Investigators seized the Tiguan from Letecia Stauch on Jan. 29 and the affidavit said possible traces of blood were found on the rear of the vehicle, on a rear passenger seat, a front passenger seat and an area near the glovebox.
During the investigation, Letecia Stauch alleged that a man had held her a gunpoint and raped her and that Gannon had been abducted by the man. But after trying to corroborate the claims, detectives dismissed them as "false and misleading," the affidavit said.
The affidavit also detailed the varying stories Letecia Stauch told investigators about Gannon's disappearance: That he had been kidnapped; that he had gone to a friend's home and never returned; that she and Gannon had been in northern El Paso County and Gannon fell off his bicycle and hit his head, and then was abducted.
Also, the affidavit said, Letecia Stauch on Feb. 18 called a phone number associated with a website called FakePolygraph.com.
"Letecia has not provided a fully truthful statement to investigators at any point during this investigation, particularly regarding the circumstances of Gannon's disappearance," the affidavit said.
Investigators said Letecia Stauch's recent internet history showed she wasn't happy with her marriage to Gannon's father and "had some degree of resentment towards the family as a step-parent," the affidavit said. She also had appeared to be researching a move to an apartment in another state, days before Gannon was killed, the affidavit said.
