Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Justice for Gannon Stauch as Evil Step Mommy Gets Life

Episode Date: May 13, 2023

Letecia Stauch, step mother to Gannon Stauch has been convicted in his murder. Stauch had reported the 11-year-old boy as missing. Stauch was stabbed, beat, shot, and killed inside the family’s Fountain home. Letetcia Stauch then tried to cover up her crimes, by blaming numerous imaginary people and driving to Florida to dispose of the boy's body. Gannon Stauch was stuffed inside a suitcase, which was then tossed over a bridge in Pace, Florida.   Prosecutors said that Letecia Stauch was upset that she was left taking care of her stepchildren. Internet searched shows her distain while Gannon’s father was away at work with the US National Guard.   Letecia Stauch will now serve out a life sentence without the possibility of parole.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the last days, finally, justice for 11-year-old boy Gannon Stott. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. So-called resentful Colorado stepmom Letitia Stott is guilty. Listen.

It is the verdict a local family has been waiting to hear for more than three years. And tonight, they got their justice. The jury in the murder trial of Letitia Stouch found her guilty on all counts for murdering her stepson, Gannon, in January of 2020. It was a very emotional day for all the Stouch family, as many of the family members were wearing blue. That was Gannon's favorite color. As the verdict was being read, you could hear and see the emotions coming from the entire Stalk family. You were just hearing our friends at KOAA NBC5. Guilty of murdering little Gannon in one of the worst cases of child abuse and child murder I've ever seen, Letitia Stotts finally found guilty in the murder of little Gannon.

Guilty of stabbing him 18 times, shooting him, dumping him after putting his body in a suitcase. How did the whole thing unfold? Take a listen to this. The community holding out hope that Gannon will be found. They've been tying up blue ribbons around the neighborhood, Gannon's favorite color, and distributing and posting flyers like this. Gannon has brown hair and brown eyes.

He's 11 years old. He's 4'9 and weighs 90 pounds. And he was last seen wearing a blue jacket and jeans. And we spoke with Gannon's dad on Tuesday night, and he told us his son was last seen between 3.15 and 4 on Monday afternoon. And that he was going to a friend's house but didn't say which friend. The dad tells us when Gannon didn't return home a few hours later, that's when police were called. Now, a little after 10 on Tuesday, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office showed up at Gannon's home. Law enforcement were at the home and appeared to be searching the backyard with some flashlights.

You were just hearing our friends at KOAA NBC5. That was reporter Katie Blaze. You know, when you look in your backyard and you see police and volunteers searching with a flashlight? Can you imagine not knowing where your 11-year-old child is? Reporting him missing sparked off an intensive search, but I can't help but notice they started the search in the backyard of the home. With me, an all-star panel, Jason Ocean's veteran trial lawyer joining me today out of New York, but practices in multiple jurisdictions. Former FBI Special Agent Jeff Cortese, Director of the Cold Case Research Institute. Cheryl McCollum, Forensic Psychiatrist at Dr. Daniel Bober on Instagram.

Dr. Daniel Bober joining me out of the Florida jurisdiction. Investigative reporter, CrimeOnline.com, Lee Egan. And also Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Okay, I want to start at A and then go to Z. First, I want to hear the mechanics of how this little boy somehow goes missing. Dave Mack, give it to me in a nutshell. Repeat nutshell. On January 27th, Tisha Stock says Gannon. Whoa, whoa, whoa. ID, ID for me. When you say Tisha Stock, that is Gannon's stepmother, correct? She lived in the home with him and his father. Yes, no. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Stepmother Tisha Stock calls police when Gannon ostensibly does not come home after going to a friend's house. When police set her down to get a statement, find out what happened, she said that Gannon left their home that afternoon between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to walk to a neighbor's home to play. Okay, just stop right there. I'm going to come back to you, Dave Mack, with me, Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Okay, Cheryl McCollum, director, Cold Case Research Institute. You've heard of these free-range children. Now, I was a free-range

child because both my parents were at work all day long. My dad at the railroad, my mom at a canning plant. So when we got home from school, we got ourselves in. And after we did homework, I would take off on my bike and I wouldn't come home till I heard the chimes and the church steeple or my mom or dad on the car horn okay that was a signal to come home right now so we were raised that way but it's not like that anymore to just have your child walk to a friend's house and then you don't know when they're coming back and then they don't show up and you have no idea what happened i know the free rangers are going to get mad at me, Cheryl McCollum, but that's crazy talk.

Well, the other issue here, Nancy, is he supposedly stayed home sick from school that day. So if he had been sick all day, as soon as the other children get home is usually not when any parent is going to let him go play. Well, if he was sick at home from school, why did he go to a friend's house, much less on his own? Dave Mack, Crime Online, pick it up right there.

So he walks to a friend's house and when it's time for him, did he have a set time to come home? He did. He was supposed to be home by about 6 p.m. Okay. And when he did, that's when the alert went out. Is that dark at that time? Jan 27, I would assume that 6 p.m. is starting to get dark.

Yeah, it would already be pitch dark, actually. Sun went down about 5.15 local time. How do you know that? Mountain time zone. All right, go ahead. Just having lived in that zone, just know that time. So he doesn't show up, and? Right.

He's not home at time, and so when Gannon's father, Albert, gets home and Gannon's not there, stepmom says, well, he went away. They call police, and the police, they treat it as if Gannon is a runaway. I want you to take a listen to something I find very intriguing. Let me just call it intriguing. Take a listen to our friends at KKTV CBS 11, Spencer Wilson. I'm just ready for Gannon to come home. Most importantly for him to see his family. But second, I am going to be so ecstatic when I'm able to say to people that I hope they have a

really sincere apology for all these theories that have came out of mine, for all the things they said that I have done or people have done. I just want everyone to know that we're going to find Gannon, and I love him so much. I've helped taking care of him for so long. Can you talk to me a little bit about him? I don't know him. Gannon is so kind, and he loves to play video games. That's one of his favorite things.

He loves Sonic and Mario. And, you know, he's always helpful, and he was always so helpful with the dogs around the house and we have two little cute dogs and he was always like a person I could say, Gannon can you go do this and he would do it right away. You know sometimes with kids we have to remind them and things like that and that's okay but he was so sweet and able to help anyone. He could notice when you're sick and say are you you okay? And such a kind heart. Did you hear that? You're hearing this stepmother, Letitia Stott. You know what? You just can't change your nature. You can't.

And I used to tell juries a story in closing argument about Mr. Froggy and Mr. Scorpion. Scorpion comes up to Froggy and says, hey, can I ride you back across the rivergy and Mr. Scorpion. Scorpion comes up to Froggy and says, hey, can I ride your back across the river? And Mr. Scorpion says, no, you'll bite me and I'll die. And Scorpion says, no, I won't because we'd both go to the bottom of the river and we'll both die. Froggy thinks it over and gives him a ride halfway across. Mr. Froggy feels a pain go down his arm. And as he's sinking to the bottom of the river to die with Scorpion on his back, he said, why did you do that? For now we both will die. And Mr. Scorpion says, I can't help it. It's just my nature.

To Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist joining me out of Florida. Did you hear the stepmother start talking about how she, Gannon's missing, and she's talking about how she wants an apology and starts referring to Gannon in the past tense. She begins, he is, he is, he is, and then she switches to, he was always so helpful. He was so sweet. Did you hear that, Bober? Yeah, I heard it, Nancy.

I mean, in these situations, you know, you always start in and you work your way out. So it definitely is very concerning for sure. Dr. Bober, you sound like a psychiatrist, and I don't mean that in a good way right now. You said it's concerning. The boy is gone the stepmother who was with him that day is worried about herself getting an apology because people have questioned her child rearing mode her child rearing tactics she's worried about an apology when her child is missing don't make me tell you the story about when John David went missing and babies are us. Because I will.

I did not care who looked at me in my horrible outfit and my old tennis shoes, screaming for John David to lock the doors I couldn't find him. I didn't care what anybody thought. Why is she so worried about an apology? Yeah, Nancy. I mean, at the very least, it seems like her priorities are a little bit misplaced at that point. Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, you've seen it all. What do you make of what stepmommy is saying? She wants an apology and then starts speaking about the child in the past tense? Yeah, no, absolutely, Nancy. I mean, it jumps right out at you as soon as she starts speaking.

Very odd behavior, immediately talking about herself. She's very kind of comfortable. Doesn't seem as concerned, at least over the audio version. And then speaking of the young man in past tense, those are all going to be significant red flags. He's a baby. He's not even a young man. He's a baby. He's 11 years old. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. For those of you just joining us,

a so-called resentful stepmother, Letitia Stotts, after months and months of lying, has been found guilty by a jury in the murder of her stepson, 11-year-old Gannon. It pains me to think of what this little boy lived through before he died. I want you to hear more of what Stepmom says. Take a listen to KKTV CBS 11 reporter Spencer Williams. Do you feel like these are just internet detectives who think

they know what they're doing? It definitely is. And you know, here's the thing that kind of saddens me. It's like if you're going to talk about someone like that and have a wit turn out for them, why would you even care, like, about doing those things? Because this is a child. You're telling me that you're just as mean, you're just as hateful to talk about someone else like that. That's how I feel.

Like, we just should not, we should all come together and wait until the end and see what happens because Gannon's going to come home. Any message for Gannon? The message for Gannon I have is, Gannon, when you get here, you'll be able to truly tell what happened. And then I really hope I get a sincere apology from everyone who has made all those things, especially for my husband. Okay, Cheryl McCollum, Director, Cole Case Investigative Research Institute. That's quite a mouthful. Okay, Cheryl McCollum, you know what? I know that there are behaviorists that watch the movements, the eye blinks, the movements of the mouth, the phraseology.

That's what they do. They're experts. But after putting, I don't know, how many would you say, three or four or 5,000 witnesses on the hot seat? You can tell when someone is all about themselves. And in this case, all she's talking about, she's not crying. She's not upset. She's not begging the public for help. She's talking about getting an apology. And that disturbs me, Cheryl McCollum. Oh, it disturbs me. She has clearly made this all about her. She has not asked for the public to help look for him. She has not pleaded for somebody to return him.

She has not said anything tearfully to him like, I love you or we're waiting here for you. She just says, oh, yeah, he's going to come home. And when he does, y'all are going to apologize to me. Back to you. Hold on. With me now, Lee Egan, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, who has been speaking with the stepmother. I guess, Lee, she would call you sporadically. Is that correct? Yes, Nancy.

She would call me from – actually, she never gave her phone number. She would call from an email address. Don't you have caller ID for Pete's sake? No caller ID. It would come up, no caller ID for Pete's sake? No caller ID. It would come up, no caller ID. Interesting. She blocked her number somehow.

She wouldn't let me have her number. It's called Star 67, just so you know. Go ahead. Yeah, she, whatever she did, she made sure that I didn't have her number, but she would call me. And we did speak in depth. What are some of the things the stepmother told you? Well, Nancy, she started out telling me exactly what she did that day, Monday, January 27th. I'm curious. What did she do? She said that she took him to go to play it against, mind you, he's homesick from school.

So you confirmed that with her, that he had been homesick from school. What was his ailment, may I ask? Stomach ache, nausea issues. He was pooping in his pants. And then he had bouts between diarrhea and constipation. At age 11? Age 11. She said it was from medication, I guess side effects from a medication.

But then she added that he's always had these issues. So it's one or the other. But either way, she said he was sick, stomachache. So she brought a white bag, a white plastic bag for him to hold in case he had to vomit. And the reason she told me this was because neighbor, Roderick Drayton, has surveillance footage of gannon holding a white bag in his hand and she was trying to explain what that was for so she takes this little boy to play it again sports wait wait wait play it again sport yes

it's a youth yeah right go ahead lee egan Play It Again Sports, she says they went to Castle Rock. That's about an hour away from her home in Colorado Springs. They went to Castle Rock to buy a surprise birthday bicycle for her husband, Al. He was out of town working at the time. Did she actually buy the bicycle? No. And she actually never bought anything from played against sports tell me what is castle rock explain that it's about an hour away and she said she took the back roads to

get there because there was a wreck on the main highway really now there was police searching around douglas county which is castle rock is in douglas county law enforcement and searchers were searching all around that area. And she was putting herself, she was trying to explain to me why her GPS or Apple smartwatch, because she left her phone at home, why her Apple smartwatch would have pinged in that area. And she's explaining, well, that's simple. We went to Castle Rock to find Al a bicycle. She left her phone at home? Yes. Okay. I've got a problem with that. Jason Oceans,

you know I love cell phones. I love cell phones because they can tell me where a defendant went. And here she's left her phone at home, but apparently forgot about her Apple Watch, and it pinged in that area. So she takes this sick child who, as she says, is pooping in his pants. I don't know that I, do you believe that with an 11-year-old boy? Yeah, I guess he could. You'd think he could get to the bathroom. But if he's doing that, Jackie, why would she, Jason, why would she take her child an hour away to go shop for a bicycle that they didn't buy? If he's that ill, if he's having diarrhea and throwing up so badly, man, I'd have John, Dave and Lucy in the bed. You have him in bed, Nancy. You're you're a good mom. And that's the right thing to do.

So everything here is breaking protocol. Right. Why would you if you're if you're if your child is is, you know, now incontinent because of a diarrhea and throwing up and you take him out of school. Now you're exposing them to going outside and driving a distance. It's none of it makes sense. OK. Yeah. It's speaking about the past term. None of it fits, man. So Lee Egan, you're telling me she left her cell phone at home, but she forgot about her Apple Watch and it pinged in that area.

So she's explaining to you why she's there. Yes, she's assumed it pinged in the area because they were searching all over the exact area she drove through. Okay, hold on. I'm trying to assimilate everything you're saying so if she goes shopping i assume that there's surveillance video of her looking at bicycles and shopping in a mall or at a sports store she never stopped she said we went to see about it but i never actually bought it so we don't know she won't She wouldn't even give me the name of the bicycle shop. Bober, Bober, please come. Come down out of your ivory tower, Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist. If I'm giving you my movements and I call you and I say, hey, you're with Crime Online. I want to tell you what I did that day, but I've blocked my phone number. I won't tell you which store I went to or whether I bought anything or whether I even

entered the store. You don't have a problem with that, Dr. Bober? Of course, Nancy. Listen, there's red flags all over this. You know, I'll tell you what you want to know, but only what I want to tell you. So, I mean, it's very suspicious. Only what I want you to know. Okay, Lee Egan, pick it up.

What else? Hey, Nancy. Okay, so there was something else, too, I mean, it's very suspicious. Only what I want you to know. Okay, Lee Egan, pick it up. What else? Hey, Nancy. Okay, so there was something else, too, I forgot to mention. She, the surveillance footage, you know, circling back around to that because she was explaining to me why, what happened, when, and how. Just trying to explain her actions away. She insists that the surveillance footage taken on Monday actually happened on a different day. What surveillance footage of the neighbor? Yeah, so neighbor Roderick Drayton, he took, he had, his footage picks up sound. It picks up everything truck, gets in the truck with Letitia Stoutch and leaves.

220 p.m., Letitia Stoutch returns home alone. Gannon is not with her. Now, when I spoke to the stepmother, she claimed that that never happened. Letitia Stout returns home alone. Gannon is not with her. Now, when I spoke to the stepmother, she claimed that that never happened, that back to the white bag. If you look at the white bag in his hand, I gave it to him that day because he was sick. And if you see this other video, he has a white bag. There was another video, but it was on Sunday. So what she's trying to do is she's trying, and it's up to law enforcement to tell us the truth, but from the neighbor, he's saying that she's switching the dates up.

Evil stepmother, Letitia Stout, guilty in the murder of stepson Gannon, just 11 years old. I can only imagine what this child lived through before his death. Let's take a listen to the neighbor, Roderick Drayton. ran outside by the truck and then when they got ready to leave i heard chief said yeah let me get on one side and land on the other side i could hear her tell him that they got in they left they came back he got a truck he got out of the car and he ran into the house so he was trying sunday that monday when i was just looking through i saw him walking and he just didn't look the same as he did sunday so i was like something isn't right he doesn't look the same he looks you know

i say he looks drugged or he just just didn't look like the same vibrant kid he did sunday evening when he was when they got back from the brother of god because i've seen him get in the truck before you know just just seen him getting his dad talking and driving off he just hopped right in the truck and closed the door and that day it just he just didn't seem right he just seemed like something was bothering him or hurting him he just didn't seem right. He just seemed like something was bothering him or hurting him. He just didn't seem the same kid from Sunday. Dave Mack, you got in touch with the neighbor and he told you that and a whole lot more. As a matter of fact, take a listen to more of what Roderick Drayton tells our investigative reporter, Dave Mack. I went over to his house and I was like, hey, I have a camera that, you know, that I can see.

You know, if anybody came by and picked him up, you want to watch it. And first thing she said was, no, he went the other way. He didn't come towards your house. FBI and the cops, they were going around asking everybody so they could watch their camera. And the guy said, well, can I watch yours? And he looked at mine and was like, hmm, can you go back to Saturday? So he went back to Saturday and he was just downloading stuff. So my wife and I, we went out to the movies

can't make home I was like why do you go back to Saturday something isn't right so I just when we got back home I just looked through hundreds on the videos and just I caught that and that was like wow first thing in the morning I got up I knocked on his door like you might want to see this video you're hearing the neighbor and I find this particular spot to be very, very probative. Take a listen to cut 28, Jack. Yes, I watched the video at least 20, 30 times before I took it to a house. Let me make sure. First, I watch it on the tablet. I zoom in. I can zoom in. I can look. I saw no feet. I came and I turned it up. I said, okay, let me, if I can CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter.

Lee, explain to me what the neighbor is saying to Dave. Straight back out to Lee Egan, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Lee, explain to me what the neighbor is saying today. So what he's saying is when he saw Tisha come back home on Monday, January 27th, it was about 2.20 p.m., she got out of that truck alone. Now, his camera catches her leaving that morning with Gannon. When she comes home, she's alone. He's nowhere to be found. He has not been seen since. Now, what Letitia is saying is that Roderick is showing us the wrong video, that he's showing a different day.

Because if it was the same day, then we would have seen Gannon because he did come home with her. And Roderick's trying to explain, absolutely not. I have sound. It's in color. It's clear. I know what I saw, and I did not see Gannon get out of that truck. And law enforcement did tell him, thank you, this is the break we needed. So apparently, you know, it's something that has been very helpful in the investigation. Jackie, I want to hear Roderick Drayton in Cut 22 talking about the FBI coming and seizing the video. working on stuff but you know just casual you know waiting to make really wait about it did you reach out to the police or to al first when you realized you had video of gannon leaving the

house i reached well i tried to find my phone so i went over to his house and i showed the video and then once he saw it he called the fbi and they came over and took maybe 60 to 70 or maybe 80 videos that they had recorded. So they got your whole supply of videos on either side of the last video that captured Gannon. Yes, they have. They're from that Saturday until that following week, so they have all of it. They have my phone, my camera records 24-7. It never stops recording. from that Saturday until that following week. So they have all of it, day and night. My phone, my camera records 24-7. It never stops recording.

It's not like somebody walks by and picks it up. It just constantly records. Dave Mack with me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Dave Mack, didn't he also tell you this is Gannon's neighbor, that the camera records constantly and allows him, Roderickick to watch on his iPad his tablet his TV his phone he can zoom in and zoom out of the picture he can slow-mo he could see who got out of the truck the video has as Lee was telling us sound, he can actually hear the stepmother get out of the truck,

set the alarm, shut the garage door, and nobody got out of that truck but her, not Gannon. Absolutely right, Nancy. And that's why the sound actually is very helpful in that because you can hear what Tisha is doing and that Gannon is not there. You can actually hear her opening the garage door, setting the alarm, closing the garage door. You can hear her footsteps as she moves. And again, there's only the sound of Letitia. There's never a sound of Gannon. I want you to hear this. It was a road construction worker who found the remains Tuesday. Investigators aren't releasing any details about how the boy died. They say he was killed in Colorado and then taken to Florida. You were just hearing our friend Lance Hernandez at ABC7 News Denver to our special guest joining

us from Fox 31 Denver. This is Nicole Fierro. Nicole, let me start with a very narrow question. Explain to me what you know about how this little boy's body was found. We have all been searching for Gannon. And now the result, not what we had hoped for at all, not the outcome we had wished and prayed for. This little boy's body has been found far from home. I understand a road construction worker found his body, Nicole. What happened? Absolutely. And as you said, not what anyone was wishing or thinking could even be possible at all. We covered search crews scouring all over Colorado for weeks and weeks on end. And then this week we hear Florida. You know, we did the math. We were calculating how far away it was from here, from Myrtle Beach.

I talked to my contacts over in Florida. I got their press release about what happened. And it said that a road construction crew was working in the area right near a bridge, Escambia River Bridge on Highway 90, and that's where they found what they believe is Gannon's body. Straight out to Joseph Scott Morgan. It's so important when a body, and I can't even imagine finding a little child's body, but when a body is found, how you handle that crime scene, Joe Scott, why so important? Because you only get one first time at it, Nancy. You have to be on target with

everything that you do. It has to be planned. And, you know, I'm hoping that that the authorities had an understanding that there was a search ongoing for a little boy, because it's not it's not that often as as a crime scene investigator that you find a small child like this. It just doesn't happen. Morgan, if you miss one detail at a crime scene, even a tertiary crime scene, such as the disposal of the body scene, you may lose your case. It's just that simple. So the recovery of this child's body is so, so important. Listen. In the investigation, which ultimately resulted in the arrest of Letitia, but I can tell you that this has been a methodical and time-consuming multi-state operation with investigators working nearly around the clock to find Gannon. There have been thousands of hours of investigation and search efforts.

This includes large-scale searches in addition to small, specific searches with drones, horses, canines and other resources. As you can see from the arrest, sadly, we do not believe Gannon is alive. This is not what I wanted to report. You were just hearing Paso County Sheriff Press Conference. That was Lieutenant Mitch Mihalko speaking. They were right. In the last hours, the body of this 11-year-old boy,

I'm looking at his picture right now, he's got on a little plaid shirt, smiling at the camera. His body has been found far, far from home in Florida. What happened? How did his body end up that far away? crime stories with nancy grace for those of you just joining us leticia stott stepmother of mother of Gannon Stotts, just 11 years old, has been found guilty. Guilty of first degree murder and three other charges. Little Gannon stabbed 18 times, shot in the head, and dumped over a bridge. Evil stepmother Letitia Stotts is said to have felt, quote, resentful because she believed she was being used as a babysitter. Babysitting is part of the job description. But I guess you can't order up love from an evil stepmother like Letitia Stouch.

How did the whole thing unfold? Take a listen now to Denver Fox 31. For those of you just joining us, this is our friend, Nicole Fierro. Deputies in Florida reported that a construction crew found a juvenile's remains while working near the Escambia River Bridge in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Calculating the distance from Gannon and Letitia Stouck's home, that's nearly 1,400 miles, a 20-plus hour drive. Something leads them to believe the body was in this area of Florida on February 3rd through the 5th. She wasn't arrested until March 2nd in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

That's nearly 700 miles from this Florida location where Gannon was tentatively found. That's a 10-hour drive or a three-hour flight. Today I filed new formal charges in the case against Letitia Stouck. Those charges are murder in the first degree after deliberation, a class one felony that carries a potential prison sentence of life in prison without parole. In addition to that, I've filed eight counts of crime of violence for the alleged use of a firearm, a blunt instrument, a knife or other sharp object, and for causing the death of Gannon Stouck.

You are hearing our friend, the District Attorney in El Paso, the senior DA, Michael Allen. Formal charges now handed down against Letitia Stout. First degree murder, potential life without parole. Eight other charges for firearm, blunt instrument, knife, and the death of little Gannon. Justice Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University. What do the charges tell you? Well, Nancy, I got to tell you, since I started reading these charges, I've really been scratching my head over this.

What it tells me is that, first off, either this child has multiple injuries that could have been generated by a sharp object, a blunt object, or a firearm, or his body was in such a condition, I hate to say this, that they couldn't make a specific determination or they're not willing to release that information. My thought is, and this is one other thing I was thinking, was Gannon tortured? I think is one of the things that I'm thinking as well. Was he subjected to a beating in life, a cutting, and then he was shot? And it's going to be very important because where the timeline is concerned, did his injuries, some of the injuries that he incurred, did they occur before death? OK, like in a torture scenario, or did some of these things occur postmortem after death when he was thrown into this estuary that literally flows into the Gulf of Mexico. So it's multi-layered. Just as the reporter had mentioned, this is a very,

very complicated case. You're dealing with multiple jurisdictions. Yeah. As we all know, all you legal eagles, a murder can be prosecuted either where the person is killed. As Nicole Fierro from Fox 31 Denver accurately pointed out. The charges have been brought in Colorado, which tells me, as she also pointed out, that they believe the murder occurred on this little boy in Colorado. Or charges can be filed where the body is discovered, which would have been in Florida. Then the evidence begins to amass. Take a listen to our Cut 38 CBS Denver News reporter, Rick Salinger, describing what police are finding on Letitia Stotts' computers.

The investigation also revealed the stepmother's Internet searches. One was for, husband uses me to babysit his kids. The court document claims Letitia Stout later changed her story that Gannon had run away to that she was raped by an intruder who then kidnapped the boy. Investigators believe Letitia Stout then took the body from the palmer lake area and drove it to florida where she dumped it beneath the bridge also listen to fox 21 this is brandon thompson they say leticia stout lied multiple times in fact her story changes dramatically in the two days following they say she tried to clean up the crime scene herself but investigators found gannon's blood stained on the cement below his bed on monday january 27th leticia stouck reported

gannon missing at 6 55 pm in the 911 call she had said he had gone to a friend's home and was supposed to be home by 6 pm two days later she told investigators gannon was kidnapped saying a man she allowed in her home to fix carpet had raped her and kidnapped Gannon. Those are two of several lies investigators say Letitia Stouck told them, the media, and Gannon's father, Al Stouck. The day Gannon disappeared, Letitia Stouck called Gannon sick out of school. When Gannon's nine-year-old sister returns home from school, she asked Letitia Stouck where her brother was, and she replied he was asleep in her bed and to go play outside. According to the documents, police believe Gannon was already dead. About an hour later, Leticia sends a text to her 17-year-old daughter, who was at work all day, quote, carpet powder, two things, baking soda, trash bags. Investigators

believe, quote, these items were likely to clean up the murder scene. Police searched the home three hours after that initial 911 call, and at first they don't find anything suspicious. That's unusual, but in five subsequent searches, they find Gannon's blood in the garage, the trunk of stepmommy's car, in the basement bedroom. So much blood that it went through the mattress, leaked through the carpet, under the mattress, stating the cement below his bed. Tracking Stouch's car, they find she drove to Highway 105 the day after reporting him missing, staying 30 minutes. Three days later, she goes in a different car where police had placed a tracking device, went to the same area. Police find Gannon's blood on a piece of wood in the area where her car went, but not the body. They believe she dumped

his body at night, went back to make sure the evidence wasn't viewable from the road, then went back and texting investigators, what do you want from me? 11-year-old Gannon Stotts is dead. Horrible, horrible death. His body decomposing under a bridge thousands of miles away while stepmommy makes up one lie after the next. I can only imagine what this child lived through before his death. Letitia Stotts, stepmother of Gannon Stotts, just 11 years old, has been found guilty.

Sentenced to two life sentences without parole, 12 years in prison for tampering with a human body, and 18 months behind bars for tampering with physical evidence. Many people say justice for Gannon Stotts. May he rest in peace with the angels. And Letitia Stotts, rot in hell, woman. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.