The Trial of Leticia Stauch (Gannon Stauch Murder Trial)

Who was Gannon?

Gannon Jacob Stauch was born on September 29th, 2008 to Albert Stauch and Landon Hoitt in South Carolina. The parents referred to their baby boy as their “miracle child”. He was born premature, weighing only 1 pound, 6 ounces. The doctor’s didn’t think he’d survive, and if he did, it would likely be with severe disabilities. Despite the frightening prognosis, Al and Landon watched as their son fought and grew into a healthy child.

Three years later, Al and Landon had their second child, a girl named Laina. In 2013, while playing on a local softball team, Al and Landon met Letecia Hardin. Though the couple had been married for almost ten years, their marriage was reportedly struggling. They separated during 2014, with a divorce following shortly after. Sometime during this, Al began dating Letecia Hardin. Letecia was also previously married, and had a daughter named Harley. In 2015, Al and Letecia were married, and splitting custodial time of Gannon and Laina with Landon. 

Landon also remarried, to a man named Mike Hoitt. The couple lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Gannon and Laina spent the school year with their mother. They spent their summers with their father and his new wife, who had moved to Alaska for Al’s job. Al worked with the US National Guard and was stationed in Alaska, much to Leticia’s dismay. It’s unknown exactly how much Al knew about Leticia’s past, but there were red flags flying from her beginning as early as her high school years. 

In 2001, Letecia, who also went by “Tee” or “Tecia”, graduated from Lumberton High School in North Carolina. One website describes her high school career by saying, “she excelled in sports and academics, and she also made a fake bomb threat”.  Shortly after graduating, she was charged with simple assault and communicating threats, but the charges were eventually dismissed. She was then arrested and sentenced to 45 days in jail for stealing a vehicle. 

Letecia obtained her doctorate in education at Liberty University. While living in North and South Carolina, she was charged with several offenses, including domestic violence, battery, and theft charges. She ended up losing her teaching certificate in both of the Carolinas. 

After remarrying, Gannon’s mother, Landon became pregnant with Gannon and Laina’s half-sister. The pregnancy was high-risk and Landon was put on bed rest. Al grew concerned with her ability to care for Gannon and Laina, and reportedly had concerns about her new husband’s drug use. In 2018, Al and Letecia gained full custody of the children. 

Letecia made it clear that she didn’t want to be living in Alaska. Later during trial, Letecia’s daughter told the court that her mother made comments about suicide if she was forced to continue living in Alaska. Letecia ended up filing a sexual assault claim against two men who worked with Al, one who was his captain. Many believed that she did this in hopes of getting Al stationed somewhere else. If that was Letecia’s intent, it worked. In 2019, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Though the move was difficult for the kids, Gannon made friends and was enrolled at Grand Mountain School in El Paso County. He was a smart kid, who could be a bit quiet and shy, but when he was around friends, he opened up. Like a lot of fifth grade boys, Gannon loved video games and playing his Nintendo Switch. He especially loved the game Sonic, and had even started trying to make videos of him playing the game to put on YouTube with friends. His favorite food was tacos and he spent a lot of time building Legos. Gannon’s family and close friends referred to him as “G-Man”, while his little sister always called him “Bubba”.

The Day of the Disappearance

On Monday, January 27th, 2020, Letecia called Gannon’s elementary school and told them that her 11-year-old stepson would be staying home sick from school that day. She was supposed to start a new job teaching at Mountain Ridge Middle School, but called out, telling the school that her stepfather was killed after being hit by a car. 

Gannon’s father was out of town in Oklahoma for work, so Letecia was in charge of the kids. She sent pictures of Gannon laying in bed with his Nintendo Switch right next to him, to Al, letting him know that Gannon had a stomach ache and was resting. The photos were taken around 8:15AM

The two ran some errands that day, including going to Petco, then returned home. Just before 7PM, Letecia called 911 to report her stepson missing. She was instructed to call the non-emergency number for El Paso County. She told them that Gannon had left the home to walk to a friend’s house to play video games around 3:15PM. She said that he should’ve been back home an hour ago. Letecia reported that she’d gone to neighbors and looked around, but wasn’t able to find him. Initial reports said the child was a possible runaway and Gannon was entered into the state and national databases as an active runaway at 7:32PM.

Around 10PM, deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the Stauch home in the 6600 block of Mandan Drive located in the Larson Ranch neighborhood. Deputies spoke to Letecia, asking her about Gannon and what had happened that day. She allowed them to look around the house and in the garage, but Gannon was nowhere to be found. 

Deputies asked which friend Gannon had gone to visit and where they lived. Letecia didn’t know, telling police that she didn’t really keep track of his friends. She told deputies that Gannon had stayed home from school that day because he’d had a stomach ache since the night before. She also told them about an incident that had happened the night before.

Letecia said that she came downstairs to find the carpet on fire. She said that Gannon had knocked over a candle and that it had caught the blanket he was using caught fire, as well as the carpet. She even showed investigators where the carpet was burned and how she’d used the rug to cover it up, but that everything was fine.

Unfortunately, deputies were unable to locate Gannon and none of the information that Letecia provided seemed to indicate where the 11-year-old might be. Letecia notified Al that she’d called 911 to report Gannon missing and Al booked the next flight home.

None of this makes any fucking sense.

On Tuesday, January 28th, Letecia rented a 2019 Kia Rio from Avis Rent-A-Car and picked up her husband at the airport at 8:50AM. Al asked his wife why she’d rented a car when she had her Tiguan at home. She told him that she didn’t want to put too much mileage on the Tiguan since it was a leased vehicle. 

That afternoon, deputies brought in investigators from the sheriff’s department to help with the search for Gannon. Detective Jessica Bethel was assigned as the lead detective, and quickly contacted Letecia to talk to her about the day Gannon disappeared. 

Letecia had a scheduled interview at the Sheriff’s Office at 10AM on January 29th. She told investigators that she didn’t want them to come to her house because there were children there who shouldn’t hear what they were talking about. Letecia arrived two hours late, driving her Tiguan SUV. They noticed that the vehicle was wet and looked to have been very recently cleaned.

Now this interview got real weird, real quick. Letecia brought written notes with her on several pieces of paper. When investigators began asking questions, Letecia asked if she could just read her notes. As she told her story of what happened on the day Gannon disappeared, it was wildly different from what she’d first told police. 

Letecia explained that when she arrived home at 2:30PM on Monday, she disarmed her security system and went down to the basement. There was a Hispanic male in the basement named Eguardo who attacked her, holding her at gunpoint. Then, Eguardo let Letecia go upstairs to greet her young stepdaughter and tell her to go outside to ride her bike. When Letecia went back down to the basement, she claimed the Eguardo raped her and that she possibly hit her head and blacked out. 

Letecia told detectives that during the attack, Gannon jumped on Eguardo’s back and the man threw him off. Eguardo then held the gun to Gannon and requested a suitcase from Letecia, which she provided. She said that Eguardo then abducted Gannon. After they left, Letecia did not call 911. She proceeded to clean up the room and straighten up Gannon’s room.

In the affidavit later used to obtain an arrest warrant for Letecia, Det. Bethel explained the serious amount of red flags this conversation put up.

“I know from training and experience that if any individual holds another person at gunpoint, he or she would likely not allow the person to have the opportunity to escape as Letecia described…Most crucially, if Letecia’s story was accurate, any reasonable person would have immediately called 911 and reported the home invasion, rape, and kidnapping of their child. Letecia called law enforcement hours later, and did not report the alleged rape until approximately two days later.”

Though Letecia had clearly fabricated this story, detectives did their due diligence to corroborate her statements. They reviewed video footage from a neighbor’s security camera that did not show a man entering the residence. After Letecia’s report, detectives offered to take her to the hospital to have an exam done in hopes of getting evidence about her attacker. Letecia declined. 

She told investigators that she’d met Eguardo the day prior to Gannon’s disappearance. After Gannon reportedly burned the carpet, Letecia drove around the neighborhood to an area where construction was taking place. She met Eguardo and asked if he could fix her carpet. She said he agreed and that she gave him their garage door code, and he was to fix the carpet the following day.

At the end of the interview, Letecia began stuffing tissues in her pants. She started complaining of shortness of breath and chest pain, so the officers called EMS. Letecia was transported to the hospital, where she QUICKLY “recovered” and left the hospital without telling investigators.

If investigators hadn’t been suspicious of Letecia’s involvement in Gannon’s disappearance, they sure were now. On January 30th, Gannon’s case was upgraded from a runaway to an endangered missing child. Help was requested from NCMEC and the FBI. For the next several weeks, law enforcement continued to search for Gannon or any signs of where he might be. Each day that passed, they seemed to find more inconsistencies with Letecia’s stories and her actions surrounding her stepson’s disappearance. As the investigation and search continued, Letecia left Colorado Springs with her 17-year-old daughter after renting a moving van, with the intention of starting over. 

The Arrest Warrant 

Throughout February, detectives gathered evidence and testimony that seemed to all point to one conclusion: Letecia Stauch had murdered her stepson. Believing they had more than enough evidence to prove Letecia’s guilt, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office submitted an affidavit on February 28th, just over a month after Gannon disappeared, requesting a signed warrant for her arrest. The affidavit outlined Gannon’s disappearance and what they’d found during their investigation.

They determined that on the day Gannon was reported missing, he did in fact stay home from school. The photographs that Letecia sent of Gannon laying in bed to Al were timestamped, which proved that he was still alive that morning. A neighbor’s security camera footage showed two individuals, which were believed to be Letecia and Gannon, leave their home in Al’s Nissan Frontier around 10:15AM. Though the camera was a few houses down, these assumptions were based on size and physicality, which matched Letecia and Gannon. The Frontier returned home around 2:29PM, and Leticia is seen getting out of the car and going into the home. Gannon was not seen on camera, however detectives believe that he walked back into the home as well.

Letecia left her cell phone at the house, which was very strange considering how much she normally used her vehicle. There was a text from Gannon’s cell to Harley, his older stepsister, telling her that Letecia left her phone at the house, and to text him if she needed her. 

Investigators obtained surveillance footage from the Petco in Colorado Springs, which showed Letecia making a purchase around 11:22AM. Gannon was not on the video footage, though Letecia had said earlier that he’d stayed in the car due to not feeling well. It’s unknown where the two were between the time they left Petco and 1:22PM. At 1:22PM, Letecia was seen on surveillance video at the same Petco making another purchase. 

Gannon’s cell phone received a text from his dad at 12:06PM, to which he didn’t respond until 1:21PM. His response asked his father if he could play Zelda, to which his dad told him not today. This is believed to have truly been sent from Gannon. At 1:43PM, an internet search was made on Gannon’s phone, saying “can my parents find my cell phone.if its off”. Detectives believed this search was made by Letecia due to the content and the period between two of the words. It was very similar to how Letecia typed.

Though the two arrived back at the house around 2:20PM, Leticia’s cell phone did not unlock for 25 minutes after she got home. Again, referencing how much and how often she was normally on her cell phone, this was odd.

The Stauch family had an ADT Security System, which had a motion detector inside the home. During the 25 minutes where Letecia’s phone remained locked, there was motion activity noted both upstairs and downstairs. (Gannon’s bedroom was downstairs) Gannon’s little sister, Laina, arrived home from school at about 3:15PM. She told police that Letecia told her that Gannon was asleep in her bed and she couldn’t see him. After this, Letecia told her stepdaughter to go outside and play. 

At 3:55PM, Al texted his son’s cell phone, which was not read until almost four hours later. There was no reply. Harley, Letecia’s biological daughter picked up Laina from the house around 4:45PM. Just before 5PM, Letecia texted Harley and asked her to bring home carpet cleaner, trash bags, and baking soda. 

Detectives believed that Letecia murdered her stepson after arriving home, likely before Laina got home from school. When she sent her stepdaughter outside to play, she was likely cleaning up the murder scene.

It was immediately suspicious to investigators that Letecia had rented a vehicle the day after Gannon disappeared. She’d refused to tell anyone where her Tiguan was parked, until detectives learned that it had been parked in the airport short term parking. Letecia went and got her Tiguan on the evening after Gannon disappeared. Detective Bethel noted, “I submit Letecia could not pick her husband up in the Volkswagen Tiguan because it likely would have revealed evidence of Gannon’s murder, including blood or the actual remains of Gannon himself.”

Bethel wrote that they believed that Letecia used her Tiguan to transport Gannon’s remains out of the home. *Remember when she arrived for her interview at the sheriff’s office on January 29th, the vehicle appeared to have been recently cleaned* Video footage was found that showed a vehicle matching Leticia’s at a car wash prior to her interview. A search warrant granted them full access to the Tiguan. The vehicle had been backed into the garage at Letecia’s home on the day Gannon disappeared. There were several areas where the forensic team found “evidence of suspected blood”. This included the vehicle’s back bumper and the step plate of the bumper. Evidence of Gannon’s blood was found on the garage floor, coinciding with where the trunk of the Tiguan would’ve been located.

A search warrant was also submitted to obtain the data that would give estimated locations of the Tiguan during the time surrounding Gannon’s disappearance. During the times of 8:30 and 10:20PM on January 28th, the day after Gannon was reported missing, car data indicated that the Tiguan was in a few different areas in the northwest area of Colorado Springs. It showed that the vehicle was in the area of Hwy 105 and S Perry Park Rd. Between 9:15 and 9:30PM. Detective Bethel wrote in the affidavit that she believed that this was when Letecia disposed of Gannon’s remains.

The affidavit continued on to detail Letecia’s later claim that she was raped and that Gannon was abducted by the mysterious Eguardo. She had claimed that the assault took place between 3:30 and 4:30PM, however there were several text messages sent and a phone call from Letecia’s cell phone during that period. None indicated that Letecia was being held at gunpoint or had been assaulted. 

The house’s motion security system also tracked whenever a door was open or closed. During that same hour period, the back door on the main level of the house was open and closed ten times, which didn’t track with the assault and abduction story. Detectives compared the average motion activity from the basement during the hours of 3 and 5PM on the day that Gannon disappeared to the average motion activity in the same location on other days. On January 27th, the amount of motion was significantly higher. Detectives believed this was due to Letecia going up and down the stairs multiple times after murdering Gannon to clean up the scene.

The House

The Stauch residence was searched by detectives multiple times after Gannon disappeared. The two story home had a two-car attached garage. There were two bedrooms in the basement, including Gannon’s. There were two other bedrooms upstairs. While searching the home and using a test similar to luminol, there were several areas that indicated the “likely presence of blood”. There were traces in the hallways leading from the downstairs utility room to Gannon’s room, up the staircase, and into the garage. 

There was obvious visible blood in Gannon’s bedroom. In a corner of his bedroom, blood appeared to have seeped through the carpet, the pad, and into the concrete below. Additionally, there was blood spatter on the wall. Gannon’s mattress had a red stain on the corner that matched up with where the blood on the wall and carpet were found. 

Detective Bethel explained that the blood found in Gannon’s room aligned with where his head and torso would have been on the bed. There was other evidence of blood that had been attempted to be cleaned up on the baseboards and electrical outlets covered. 

Further searches of the home found multiple carpet brushes with fibers on them in the dishwasher, along with an empty gallon container of vinegar. 

SO MUCH EVIDENCE

Letecia’s cell phone activity indicated that her cell phone may have been manually disconnected from the network for several hours on January 28th. Detectives looked at her Google search history from the days leading up to Gannon’s disappearance. Many of them were concerning and, like everything else, indicated that Letecia was trying to conceal something. 

Though it’s important to realize that all people act differently when presented with stressful situations such as a missing child, detectives believed that Letecia’s behavior was extremely strange. The rental car, turning her phone off, refusing to let investigators meet at her house for the interview, the multiple changes in stories, and the fact that she didn’t participate in any of the searches for Gannon all added to belief that Letecia was solely responsible for his disappearance. 

Despite Letecia constantly lying to and attempting to evade investigators, Al, Gannon’s father, did everything he could to help, including recording phone calls between himself and his wife. When investigators asked Letecia to provide them with Gannon’s toothbrush so they could get his DNA, she immediately texted her husband, telling him that she thought the police were hiding something because they asked her for toothbrushes.

Her stories continued to change, even when talking to her husband. During a phone call in mid-February, Letecia told Al that Gannon was burned by a candle on the night before he disappeared, and that the burns on his arms were so bad that his skin was bubbling. She told Al that Gannon peeled the burns, then wiped the blood on his bedroom wall, despite Al not having mentioned anything about blood.

Two more stories developed about what Letecia said happened to Gannon. She then identified her rapist and Gannon’s abductor as Quincy Brown, a male who’d been on the El Paso County’s Most Wanted list in early February. She said that Brown followed her and Gannon home from Petco, laid down in the road, and when she stopped to avoid hitting him, Brown forced his way into the car and made her drive him to their house, where the “attack” took place. She said that she knew it was Brown because an ID card fell out of his pocket during the attack.

But wait, Letecia then explained that Gannon was riding his bike on January 27th, fell off, hit his head, then was abducted by Brown. Detectives believed that after Letecia learned they were searching in an area very close to where she’d left Gannon’s remains, she invented a story that would explain why he might be found with a head injury.

After Letecia’s Tiguan was seized by police, she began driving a 2020 Nissan Altima. A search warrant was granted for police to place a GPS monitor on the vehicle. This showed that on January 31st, around 5PM, the Nissan Altima was driven to the same location where Letecia’s Tiguan had been on January 28th; the area of Hwy 105 and S. Perry Park Rd. In Douglas County, Colorado. Detective Bethel believed that since Letecia had initially dumped Gannon’s remains at night, she returned back to the location on the 31st to make sure that nothing was visible from the road during the daytime.

After obtaining the data from the vehicles, investigators conducted a search in the area of Hwy 105 and S. Perry Park Rd. On February 15th. They found a piece of particleboard that had a stain on it that appeared to be blood. Further testing revealed that the DNA on the particleboard matched the DNA profile of Gannon. Continued searches of the area still did not find Gannon.

On February 18th, Letecia contacted a company called fakepolygraph.com. She’d paid for a test where she was intending to receive fake polygraph results for questions that she’d submitted, but still hadn’t received her test “results”. The man on the phone explained that they had the right to block any reports that contained illegal activity. When investigators contacted the company, they gave them a list of the questions/answers that Letecia had submitted to have on her fake polygraph report, including:

“Did you participate in any way in causing harm to your stepson? No.”

“Did you participate in any way causing the death of your stepson? No.”

Detective Bethel explained the obvious in her affidavit, saying, “I submit to the court that if Letecia had nothing to hide, she would not have had to pay for fake polygraph results.”

The affidavit provided PLENTY of evidence to obtain an arrest warrant for Letecia. On March 2nd, Letecia was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and charged with the first-degree murder of her stepson. Though they hadn’t found Gannon or his remains, with the blood evidence found, detectives strongly believed that Gannon was no longer alive. 

The Discovery

On March 17th, two bridge inspectors were doing a routine inspection of the Escambia River Bridge on I-90 near Pace, Florida, not far from Pensacola. One of the inspectors saw a suitcase underneath the bridge and walked over towards it. He noticed that it was really heavy and had a strong smell coming from it. The man opened the suitcase and was horrified at what was inside. He later testified that first saw “two little feet with football socks”, which told him it was human remains. 

The body was quickly identified as belonging to 11-year-old Gannon Stauch. He was more than 1300 miles from his home. Dr. Susan Ignacio performed the autopsy on the remains, ultimately determining that he’d suffered 18 sharp force injuries, 4 blunt force injuries, and one bullet wound to his jaw. His manner of death was ruled as homicide. Additionally, the toxicology report found Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and Hydrocodone. Al later told the court that he had a prescription filled for Hydrocodone for an injury, but it was kept in his nightstand, away from the kids.

Additional charges were filed against Letecia, which now included first-degree murder after deliberation, eight counts of committing a crime of violence, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased body, and tampering with evidence. 

Gannon’s mother, father, and little sister were absolutely devastated. They couldn’t believe that their favorite little boy had been so brutally murdered by someone that they’d trusted to take care of him. In a written statement, Al wrote, “My little boy is not coming home. We will never play Nintendo again. No more taco Tuesdays…no more G-man for the world…the person who committed this heinous, horrible crime is one that I gave more to anyone else on this planet, and that is a burden that I will carry with me for a very long time.”

The trial start date stalled as Letecia’s attorneys filed motions to have her bonded out of jail. These were obviously denied. She had multiple other charges added to her case after she slipped out of her handcuffs on the way from South Carolina to Colorado and attacked a deputy. She also formed a plan to escape from the El Paso County jail and was charged on that as well.

Two mental health evaluations were performed on Letecia, which both ruled her competent to stand trial. On February 26th of 2021, the judge agreed to let Letecia represent herself. Less than a week later, the court announced that she would not be representing herself and will be getting new public defenders. LOL idiot. Letecia originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, but in February of 2022, she changed her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. The case was yet again delayed, this time so Letecia could be evaluated at a state hospital. 

The defense continued to stall, telling the judge that more time was needed for her evaluation. After the first evaluation reported her as “sane”, her defense requested another evaluation with their own experts. A date for the trial was set for March of 2023. On March 22nd, the defense reported to the judge that their most recent evaluation stated that Letecia was “insane at the time of Gannon’s murder”.

The Trial

The prosecution addressed the jury on the first day of trial, explaining to them that they were to determine whether Letecia was guilty by reason of insanity. He said that the evidence that the prosecution had to present would clearly show that she knew the difference between right and wrong when she murdered her stepson. 

The District Attorney played a video that Letecia had recorded the night before, presumably after the carpet was burned at the house. Gannon was crying, telling Letecia that he was really worried about his burns. Letecia was telling the 11-year-old how they were going to have to sell a bunch of their belongings to fix the carpet so their landlord wouldn’t kick them out. 

The defense argued that Letecia had suffered decades of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, that had now resulted in her being diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. They explained to the jury that there was no motive and that Letecia’s actions at the time didn’t make sense. That indicated that she wasn’t sane at the time of the murder.

Al was the first witness called to testify at the trial. He told the court about Gannon and how he doesn’t believe his son was scared of Letecia. He explained where he was on the day that Gannon disappeared and what Letecia told him. Al was questioned about his and Letecia’s relationship, the sexual harassment claim she’d filed against his co-workers in Alaska, and how she’d lied to him about being pregnant.

On day 6 of the trial, Letecia’s half-brother, Dakota Lowrey was called to the stand. He said that he’d helped Letecia move out of the Stauch home a few days after Gannon disappeared. He recalled that Letecia was struggling to carry one of the suitcases. He’d offered to carry it, but she said it was fine, that it was full of softball equipment. When shown the photo of the suitcase that Gannon’s remains were found in, Dakota identified that as the suitcase that Letecia was carrying to the rental truck. He said that when they found Gannon’s remains in the suitcase in Florida, he knew that Letecia had done it. Visibly upset in court, Dakota blurted out, “why Tecia?”

Letecia was clearly unbothered. She sat with her head down most of the time, with her long hair covering her face. The judge even had to threaten to remove Letecia from the courtroom after she was seen giving the middle finger to witnesses and family members. 

One of the most difficult witness testimonies for those in court to see was Harley Hunt, Letecia’s biological daughter. She was just 17 when her mother was arrested. Harley said that initially, she didn’t believe her mother had killed Gannon. She was in the rental van with Letecia as they drove to Florida after Gannon disappeared. When asked if she questioned her mother about why they were going to Florida, why weren’t they helping look for Gannon, Harley said that she didn’t question her mother. She told the court that if she did, Letecia would tell her that she was being disrespectful. Sometimes she’d even slap her in the face. 

When the pair arrived in Florida, they stayed in a hotel room. Harley said that she didn’t know that Gannon’s remains were in a suitcase in the rental truck they were driving, but that she believes she was asleep in the hotel room when her mother threw the suitcase containing Gannon’s body off the bridge. 

On May 8th, 2023, after deliberating for just eight hours, the jury returned and delivered a verdict. They found Letecia Stauch guilty of first degree murder. 

Al gave a victim impact statement at the conclusion of the trial, including a written statement from his daughter Laina. He expressed how thankful he was for the bridge workers who found Gannon’s remains and brought their son back to him. Al said that from the moment that he went to look for Letecia’s Tiguan at a nearby elementary school the day after he disappeared, which is where she said it was parked (when it was really at the airport), and didn’t see it, he knew that she knew where Gannon was. 

Al told the judge that he was not seeking restitution from Letecia, that he didn’t want to have anything connecting him to her. Al described how different Letecia seemed when he first met her, “ a far cry from the nappy-headed murderous, narcissistic and arrogantly flippant human being that sits in our midst today.”

He called Letecia a coward for not admitting what she’d done to his son and that she was too much of a “lily-liveried, self-centered, pathological liar to ask for forgiveness”. Al spoke of how he felt that he’d lost two children, Gannon and Harley. He loved Harley, but didn’t know if their relationship could be saved. 

It’s clear that Al felt overwhelmed with guilt as he apologized to his son for leaving him alone with a murderer. He disclosed that he and Landon had both apologized to each other, that they’d let Letecia manipulate them both, causing problems. 

Finally, he addressed the judge, saying that if he could have any input as to Letecia’s sentence, he asks if she could be stripped of his name. Despite having finalized their divorce in the same year that Gannon was murdered, Letecia kept Al’s last name, he believed, in an effort to spite him.

“Secondly, I ask for every mile that she drove Gannon across the country, she spend one day in solitary confinement…after that, I recommend her sentence to be equal to every year she stripped off of Gannon’s life…lastly, for every year of Harley’s life that she abusively manipulated that child, she should have an additional year of prison…”

The judge sentenced Letecia to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge also sentenced Letecia to another life sentence to run concurrently, for the first degree murder of a child under the age of 12. Additionally, he gave her 12 years for tampering with a body and 18 months for tampering with evidence. Letecia is currently serving her sentence at the Colorado Department of Corrections. 

Gannon was finally laid to rest in September of 2020 in his home state of South Carolina, seven months after he was murdered in his own bed. Gannon’s mother spoke about his smile and how had the heart and spirit of an old man. She said that he’d do anything for anyone. Gannon’s little sister described him as the nicest person, her only brother and favorite brother.