COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Scripps News Colorado Springs) — Testimony resumed Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Letecia Stauch, with investigators recalling efforts to find Gannon Stauch and what they found while tracking his stepmother’s movements.
Letecia Stauch is charged with first-degree murder for the death of her stepson and is accused of the dumping his body on the side of the road in Florida back in 2020. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
FILE – Gannon Stauch (NCMEC)
Lt. John Sarkisian with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office told the court about the discovery of a bloody board near Palmer Lake, where Letecia Stauch had visited. The board matched up with a board still in the family’s garage, according to Sarkisian.
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Commander Mitch Mihalko, also with the sheriff’s office, said of the investigation, “This is the largest in scope, depth and time, focused time, that I’ve ever been involved in.” He recalled how it became more difficult to communicate with the stepmother as they focused on her as a suspect.
Mihalko said as the investigation continued, he believed something violent happened in the Stauch home because of the blood patterns and stains found in Gannon’s room. He said the scene was locked down on February 7, 2020.
He said Letecia was not acting like a step-parent or how a parent would in missing child cases.
“As the information developed, it appears to me that the defendant was very cognizant of what was occurring, taking steps, almost being methodical in redirecting investigative efforts,” said Mihalko.
The next witness to be called to the stand was Alyssa Berriesford, a crime scene investigator with the Metro Crime Lab. She testified as an expert in bloodstain pattern analysis.
WATCH: Forensic Consultant Describes Gannon’s Injuries
Berriesford analyzed the blood stains in Gannon’s bedroom on the walls, baseboard, and floor area. “There was something dynamic that happened there, more than just a single event that happened in that room,” said Berriesford.
“To have blood at that scale… there has to be some movement in that scene… a bloody object being swung was present in that room.” Berriesford described what happened in Gannon’s bedroom was “violent.”
She said of the blood patterns going in different directions: “That tells me that there’s probably more than one event happening to produce these stains.”
Letecia Stauch appears in a South Carolina court for a hearing March 5, 2020. (CNN)
Berriesford said that based on her analysis, the blood had been cleaned up. Some stains were blurred, not well-defined or had been altered in some way.
During cross-examination, Berrriesford testified saying multiple events, in this case, indicated that there were blunt force impacts in different mechanisms, and the blood stains were indicative of a gunshot, blunt force injury, and sharp force injury.
This story was originally published on April 18, 2023, by KOAA in Colorado Springs, an E.W. Scripps Company.
