EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — The father of Gannon Stauch took the stand Tuesday and detailed the moment he became suspicious that the boy's stepmom knew more about the boy's disappearance than she was telling him.
Letecia Stauch is accused of killing 11-year-old Gannon in his bedroom on Jan. 27, 2020. Opening statements in her first-degree murder trial were given Monday in El Paso County District Court.
Al Stauch, who was in Oklahoma for military training when Gannon went missing, was the first witness to take the stand. He flew home and immediately got involved in searching for his son.
He said he found it odd that Letecia Stauch told him she had rented a car to do searches for Gannon out of concern about going over the mileage on her lease.
"Things like miles on your car don't matter in an emergency," Al Stauch said.
He said Letecia Stauch told him she had left her car at the elementary school where she worked. When he went to the school, it was not there.
"I drove around the school three times just to make sure I didn't miss it," Al Stauch said. "That was the key moment. She knows more than she's telling me."
It was at that time, he said, he called the sheriff's office and told them "something wasn't right" and later began cooperating with investigators by taking part in "pretext" phone calls with Letecia Stauch. Audio from several of those calls was played during court Tuesday afternoon.
Two days after Gannon went missing, Al Stauch testified that Letecia Stauch told him a man had broken into their home, raped and attacked her, and took Gannon. He said he asked her why there were no signs of a struggle in the home and she replied, "I cleaned it up. I got scared."
Letecia Stauch also provided additional details about the supposed attack in the audio of calls with her then-husband. She said that investigators were "barking up the wrong tree" as they focused in on her instead of the man she said attacked her and took Gannon.
In the audio, Al Stauch confronted Letecia Stauch about why none of their neighbor's security cameras showed Gannon or her "attacker" leaving their residence. She suggested it was the angle or direction the cameras faced.
At one point in the call, Letecia Stauch asked Al Stauch if he thought she did it, to which he responded, "I don't know."
While on the stand, Al Stauch described numerous instances during their relationship when she had been "manipulative" and deceptive. In one such instance, he testified that Letecia Stauch sent him an ultrasound claiming she was pregnant with twins.
She never gave birth to twins and he testified that he had never gone to a medical appointment related to a pregnancy. He said he was "confident" Letecia Stauch never went to the doctor either. He also testified that she told him she was injured at the school where she worked by either falling or having a bookshelf fall on her. He said he never observed any injuries from such an incident.
He also testified that Stauch admitted to making up stories about burglaries at their home and at one point claimed that Gannon had threatened her with a knife.
"No threats out of Gannon ever with or without a knife," Al Stauch said when asked if he had ever witnessed anything like that.
He said the last time he saw his son alive was at the airport on Jan. 25 - just two days before prosecutors allege he was murdered by Letecia Stauch.
"Me and Gannon were at the top of the stairs and I just gave him a hug. I always used to rub my fingers through his hair. I just told him, 'I love you,'" Al Stauch testified. "And something that I would always tell the kids when I had to leave or when they would go back to their mom's house, you know, 'you'll always be in my heart and I'll always be in your heart and I'll see you when I get back.' And he said, OK, daddy, I'll see you when you get back."
"I remember it like it was yesterday," he said.
During testimony, Al Stauch described a large green suitcase that was in the storage room of his house. He identified it as the same suitcase found under a Florida bridge with his son's remains inside.
"There were a few things that were broken on it," Al Stauch said. "But the size was the big thing. I remember how large the suitcase was."
On the stand, he described how Gannon was born four months premature and only weighed about a pound and a half. He said he didn't get to hold him until he was about a month old.
"The last time I got to hold him he was in a box about that big as well," he said through tears. "Six months after he died."
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