A Colorado judge sentenced Letecia Stauch to life without parole Monday afternoon, in connection with the death of her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch.
4th Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner took a brief recess before returning to the El Paso County courtroom, where he told the defendant that he had never seen a case with “conduct like this,” referring to the defendant’s “calculated and selfish” actions.
Werner, who appeared emotional before returning to the courtroom, told Stauch she was the sole person responsible for what “every parents’ worst nightmare” is when she decided to stab, beat, and shoot Gannon inside the Stauch Fountain home in January 2020.
Stauch then stuffed Gannon into a suitcase and drove across several states until she reached Pace, Florida, where she tossed the suitcase over a bridge.
“You saw the mountain of evidence against you and this is a mountain the size of Everest; you carefully crafted your new story to avoid responsibility,” Werner told Stauch during sentencing.
“You betrayed your stepson and you took his life, you took away everything he was and everything he could ever become. I can’t imagine the terror and confusion he must have felt in the last moments in his life.”
Watch the full clip below.
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Along with first-degree murder, Stauch was found guilty Monday of tampering with physical evidence and tampering with a human body.
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[Feature Photo: Gannon Stauch/Handout; Letecia Stauch via KRDO-TV/The Gazette/AP, Pool]
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