Letecia Stauch trial: Gannon fought against killer prior to death, medical examiner testifies (2024)

Several of Gannon Stauch's stab wounds,specifically those on his hands and arms, were “consistent with defensive wounds,” suggesting that the boy was trying to protect himself from his attacker, an expert testified Monday.

Gannon suffered 18 stab wounds, four blunt force trauma injuries to the head and one gunshot wound to the head, said Susan Ignacio, an associate medical examiner from Florida who performed Gannon's autopsy in March 2020.

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The stab wounds weren’t the primary cause of death. Either the blunt force trauma injuries or the gunshot wound were, Ignacio testified.

Letecia Stauch is accused of killing Gannon, her 11-year-old stepson,in January 2020 in El Paso County, then disposing of the boy's body in Florida. Monday marked the second week of testimony inLetecia Stauch's murder trial.

Ignacio, who ruled Gannon's death a homicide, also testified that Gannon had hydrocodone, an opioid-based prescription pain reliever, in his system at the time of his death. Ignacio said it was “unusual" for an 11-year-old child to have that drug in their system.

Al Stauch, Gannon's father, briefly retook the witness stand on Monday to testify that he had a prescription for hydrocodone because of a woodworking injury he suffered.

Christina Perry, an El Paso County detective, testified that no one reported hearing gunshots being fired at or near the Stauch home when Gannon was reported missing on Jan. 27, 2020.

Perry said she did not find that information to be “shocking,” and prosecutor Dave Young implied there could be any number of reasons for why no gunshots were heard on that date.

Perry reviewed several surveillance footage clips from the Stauchs' neighbors on the day Gannon was reported missing. In the first two clips, Letecia Stauch and Gannon can be seen leaving the home together and returning a short while later.

The third surveillance clip comes an hour after Letecia Stauch and Gannon return home, Perry testified, where Letecia Stauch’s stepdaughter, Laina Stauch, can be seen returning from school. In the clip Laina Stauch can be seen walking toward the home, leaving the home almost immediately after and can be seen walking and biking around the outside of the Stauch home for almost 20 minutes. Earlier in the trial the prosecution alleged that when Laina Stauch returned home from school on Jan. 27, 2020, Letecia Stauch did not allow her to come inside the home and forced her to wait outside.

Perry’s testified that Letecia Stauch’s daughter, Harley Hunt, refused to speak with her or any other law enforcement officers when they searched the Stauch residence on Jan. 28, 2020.

“It seemed odd,” Perry recalled of Hunt’s refusal to talk about Gannon’s disappearance.

Investigators recovered a pair of sneakers from the Stauch home that appeared to have a light amount of blood on the bottom.

Peter Vigil, an El Paso County detective, testified that he smelled bleach when he entered Gannon's bedroom, and that he found what appeared to be a blood stain on Gannon's mattress.

FBI agent Andrew Cohen, the FBI’s lead agent on the Stauch case, testified that investigators placed a wiretap on Letecia Stauch’s phone in the weeks after Gannon was reported missing.

Jurors heard four wiretap recordings, all of which were phone calls between Letecia Stauch and someone from the website fakepolygraph.com.

The first two calls placed by Letecia Stauch were asking why she had yet to receive the results of the fake polygraph exam in her email. And in the third call, the representative told Letecia Stauch that her fake polygraph had been blocked by management due to the questions pertaining to “potential illegal activities.”

Some of the questions Letecia Stauch tried to have answered via the fake polygraph, according to the arrest affidavit, included "did you participate in any way in causing your stepsons death," and "did you participate in any way in causing harm to your stepson?"

Monday's final witness was former KKTV reporter Spencer Wilson, who interviewed Letecia Stauch on Jan. 31, 2020.

Wilson testified that he came into contact with Letecia Stauch while in the Lorson Ranch neighborhood when she approached Wilson to "chastise" him for KKTV's reporting of Gannon's disappearance.

Wilson went on to interview Letecia Stauch and testified that he felt Letecia Stauch was "absolutely" more concerned with her own image than the well-being of Gannon.

“I talked to neighbors who were more worried about Gannon," Wilson said.

Letecia Stauch's trial will resume Tuesday morning.