Letecia Stauch seemed like the perfect parent, but the jealous murderer fooled everyone
GAIL SHORTLAND
Goodbyes were always tough. Al Stauch ran his fingers affectionately through his 11-year-old son’s hair, and promised he would be back soon.
Al was in the National Guard and on 25 January 2020 he was leaving for the airport for a short deployment.
At the top of the stairs at home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Al gave his son, Gannon, a hug and told him the same thing he always did when they were going to be apart.
“You’re always going to be in my heart, and I’m always going to be in your heart,” he told Gannon. “And I’ll see you when I get back.”
Gannon told his dad he loved him too. “‘I’m going to finish watching Pokémon,” he said.
As Al left, he felt safe in the knowledge that his son would be well cared for by his stepmum, Al’s second wife Letecia Stauch. But as he walked out of the door, he had no idea that it would be the last time he’d ever see Gannon alive.
Gannon and his younger sister were the biological children of Al and his ex-wife Landen Hiott. The former couple shared custody, and now they had a blended family, with new relationships. Al’s new wife Letecia had a 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and, reassuringly, was a teacher at a school for special needs children. On paper, she made a great stepmother.
Two days after Al left, on 27 January, Letecia reported Gannon missing and he rushed back home. She said the boy had left to walk to a friend’s house mid-afternoon, but he hadn’t returned. At first police described it as a “juvenile runaway” case but it was completely out of character for Gannon, who was lovingly known as “Bubba”.
In the following days, police escalated the investigation to a missing person case and announced they were very concerned for Gannon’s safety. Hundreds of local people searched the area for the young boy, among them Al, who was distraught with worry. But Letecia was behaving suspiciously.
She had picked up Al from the airport in a rental car, which seemed strange. She claimed she was putting too many miles on her leased car and had left it at work. It was an odd thing to be concerned about when a little boy was missing.
As Al started driving around searching for his son, he noted that his wife’s car wasn’t at the school where she had claimed it was parked.
Meanwhile, police had searched Gannon’s be
