District Attorney Michael Allen said in his opening statement that Letecia Stauch stabbed Gannon 18 times and shot him three times, with one bullet going through his jaw.
The murder trial of Letecia Stauch is underway in Colorado.
Opening statements took place on Monday followed by an emotional day of testimony on Tuesday when the victim's father took the stand.
An emotional Al Stauch found himself fighting back tears within seconds of being sworn in after El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen showed him a photo of son Gannon Stauch.
When asked to identify the person in the photo, a choked-up Al said: "That's my boy."
Al testified that he became suspicious of Letecia when his then-wife picked him up in a rental car the morning after she reported Gannon missing.
Leticia said that she did not want to put more miles on her leased car while searching for Gannon and informed him that she left her car parked at the school where she worked, Al said on the stand.
He went to the school to confirm that she parked her car there, and when he realized that was not the case, he contacted law enforcement, he said during direct examination.
Al said that this is also why he cooperated with the FBI and agreed to record his phone conversations with Leticia in the weeks after Gannon's disappearance.
He also testified that his wife previously lied about being pregnant with twins and falsely claimed Gannon had threatened her with a knife.
Inside Edition Digital previously reported on the conversations between Letecia and Al, and on Tuesday jurors heard two straight hours of Leticia speaking with Al.
On those calls, Letecia would scream and cry at times, while Al repeatedly asked her: "Did you kill Gannon?”
Letecia denied killing Gannon every time she was asked, and instead told Al that Gannon had been kidnapped by a man who broke into their home, raped her, and then took off with the 11-year-old boy.
But that story also began to change, Al said on the stand Tuesday, and later jurors heard the ways that Letecia allegedly changed her story.
According to a probable cause affidavit, in a span of just 48 hours, Letecia allegedly said:
- "When EPSO came to the house on January 27, 2020 the abductor was still in her residence and that she tried to signal the EPSO deputies that there was somebody in the residence."
- "She was raped by [a man] at her residence, and [he] abducted Gannon. She knew [the man's] identity because she saw a paper and his identification card fell out of his pocket that had his name on it."
- "[A man] followed her from Petco, and at some point, was laying in the middle of the road in front of a car. When Letecia stopped to avoid running the man over, he jumped into her car and made her take him home and raped her."
- "Letecia and Gannon were near County Line Rd / Hwy105 in northern El Paso County on January 27, 2020. Gannon is riding a bicycle in the area and fell off, hit his head, and was then abducted by [a man]."
- "Letecia stated that the blood in the corner of Gannon's room was a combination of hers and Gannon's. In this explanation, she stated that the abductor anally penetrated her and Gannon with an object. Additionally, she was tied up at some point in the abduction, and the abductor was still present during the EPSO visit that night."
Law enforcement officials arrested Letecia in South Carolina just a few weeks after the calls between her and Al, and two weeks after that workers discovered the body of Gannon Stauch. The 11-year-old boy's remains had been stuffed in a suitcase and stashed under a highway bridge near Pensacola, Florida.
On Tuesday, Al testified that the suitcase belonged to the family.
Allen, the district attorney, said in his opening statement that Letecia stabbed Gannon 18 times and shot him three times, with one bullet going through his jaw.
Letetcia is facing 12 charges in total: First-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder of a person under 12 by someone in a position of trust, tampering with a deceased human body, tampering with physical evidence, seven counts of a crime of violence for using a weapon (the weapons listed in the complaint include a firearm, blunt object and sharp object), and one count of crime of violence – causing severe bodily injury or death.
The judge on Monday dismissed a charge of child abuse causing death.
Letecia has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense did not deny that Letecia killed Gannon in their opening statements.
Prosecutors claim that Letecia's decision to clean up the murder scene and try and dispose of evidence are proof that she knew right from wrong at the time of the murder.
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