EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (Scripps News Colorado Springs) — The murder trial of Letecia Stauch continued Friday as the third week of the trial wrapped up with jurors listening to multiple calls and watching a video of interactions between Letecia and investigators.
(L) Gannon Stauch, (R) Letecia Stauch (NCMEC/El Paso County SO)
Jurors began the day by listening to a phone call between Al Stauch, the 11-year-old victim’s father, and Letecia, where Al continues to ask for more information about Gannon’s disappearance. The child was later found dead.
Al reassured Leticia, “I’m in ‘believe Letecia’ mode.” Finally, she gave him a story about her giving a pregnant woman a ride outside the Petco, only the woman isn’t pregnant, she has cash coming out of her belly. She claimed the woman forced her to go to Petco.
READ MORE: CO v. Letecia Stauch: Daily Trial Updates
This story came out after Letecia said she needed to drop off some kids who were in the car. She said she didn’t want them to hear what she was saying. No car doors are audible opening, and no children can be heard on the call.
“To sum it all up it was being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Letecia told him.
District Attorney Michael Allen played a 5-hour-long recording for jurors as part of the testimony from FBI agent John Grusing.
Grusing testified that it appeared Letecia was trying to probe Al for information about the investigation, in what he described as a calculated move on her part.
The prosecution then played portions of Grusing’s interrogation of Stauch at the Myrtle Beach Police Department. After informing her that she was being arrested for murder, he gave her a sheet that listed her Miranda rights and had her sign and initial the document.
“So, Gannon was murdered?” she asked. Grusing explained they can’t have that conversation unless she’s advised of her rights. Stauch said she had an attorney, but agreed to speak with the agent and at no point asked for her lawyer. During the conversation Letecia repeatedly told Grusing that Gannon is alive and “I can help you” but said she needed “someone who is going to help me.” She said she needed protection for her family. The agent asked her how she knew Gannon is alive.
WATCH: Jury Sees FBI Interview With Letecia Stauch
Letecia replied that she can’t say 100 percent, but it leads back to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Grusing explained that it’s a crime to lie to investigators under federal law.
Later in the recording, Letecia explained how she knew that her calls with Al were being recorded. She told the agent that things she said to him were out of anger, and she was hurt by Al not wanting to work together to find Gannon.
Another part of the recording is played for the jury showed Grusing asking Stauch if she’s of sound mind, and asking about any treatments for depression and anxiety. Stauch said she takes a prescription for anxiety before beginning to talk about how she’s been taking care of the kids for so long.
District Attorney Michael Allen asked Grusing why he’d question whether or not Stauch was of a sound mind. He explained that he spoke with the DA’s office and was already thinking ahead to trial during the initial conversation.
Grusing asked Stauch pointed questions about the night that Gannon was last seen. He questioned her about a fire in the basement, and about a pool of blood on the floor of Gannon’s bedroom.
He also told her that he had records of the search history on her phone.
“The stuff you’ve entered and deleted, like, ‘blood is spurting from an arterial bleed, direct pressure is not controlling,'” Gursing said in the recording.
Stauch denied searching for that information. Gursing continued listing the search history with the phrases “I don’t like my stepson,” and “I don’t like my stepson, should I get a divorce?”
District Attorney Allen spent the day playing segments from the full interrogation, pausing at times to ask Grusing questions.
At one point in the video, after describing the pool of blood in the bedroom, Grusing tells Letecia it had to have come from a head wound or neck wound. Stauch could be seen in the video taking time to write a note in Grusing’s notebook.
Allen asked Grusing what she wrote.
RELATED: Jury Hears Phone Call Between Letecia Stauch And Gannon’s Dad
“I just remember the first part that the head wound was on Saturday,” Grusing testified.
Letecia had given previous statements that Gannon burned his arms during a fire in the basement and that the wound started peeling. She also told Grusing that Gannon had injured his foot on some wood in the garage.
Allen asked Grusing for his opinion on what Letecia wrote in his notebook.
“I wasn’t pushing her, I would give her the opportunity to talk and then she would not talk so I would move on,” he said. “Now that we’re to the blood and what happened in the room I think it was too difficult for her to say it out loud,” Grusing testified.
Stauch continued to make statements during the interrogation, saying that someone else was responsible for what happened to Gannon and asked for assurances that she would be protected if she revealed what she knew. Letecia wanted to speak with Grusing without being recorded. At one point, the Myrtle Beach Police accommodated her request by moving them to another room.
Grusing testified that Stauch told him about a woman named Angel who she’d met on an app on her phone for the purpose of engaging in a threesome. She also said that Gannon injured his head the day before his disappearance while pushing two beds together.
Stauch provided few additional details about Angel when she and Grusing returned to the interrogation room.
This story was originally published on April 21, 2023, by KOAA in Colorado Springs, an E.W. Scripps Company.
