Part 5: Trapped
It's been 3 weeks since Gannon was last seen alive, and with a mountain of evidence piling up against Letecia, she's feeling more trapped than ever. In desperation, she offers to take a polygraph test for Al, and tries to enlist the help of a new ally to lie for her. But when Letecia gets word that Gannon's remains have been located, she realizes she's even more trapped than she thought- and she comes up with a new plan to try to escape responsibility for what she's done.
In January of 2020 11-year-old Gannon Stauch is reported missing by his stepmother Letecia in Colorado Springs, CO, sparking a massive search effort involving volunteers, as well as multiple law enforcement agencies. As the community searches for signs of the missing child, police, and Gannon's father Al, turn their attention to the bizarre behavior of stepmom Letecia, who was the last person to see him alive.
As the investigation heats up, Letecia hits the road in a rental van, driving cross country with her teenage daughter to start a new life. Letecia is arrested on March 2, 2020, in Myrtle Beach, SC and charged with Gannon's death. On March 17th, maintenance workers find Gannon's remains in a suitcase under a bridge near Pensacola, FL- more than 1,300 miles away from his home.
Letecia begins to tell story after story- each more outrageous than the last. Letecia blames anyone and everyone- from the drug cartel to neighborhood workers, to sex traffickers- before finally pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial, which lasted 5 weeks, began in April of 2023, and each witness brought out wild new details that made the story even more unbelievable.
In this seven-part series, we will walk through the background of this blended family, the search for Gannon, what happened when Letecia went on the run, her eventual arrest, and the bizarre trial that lit social media on fire.
#JusticeForGannon
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Written, produced, and hosted by Brandi Churchwell.
Music licensed through Epidemic Sound.
*Episode originally uploaded as audio version of YouTube recap video. Rewritten in complete story form post-trial. For original version, please check out YouTube.com/brandichurchwell