Stepmom accused of murdering Gannon Stauch, 11, appears in court in ‘anti suicide vest’ after being extradited
THE stepmother of Gannon Stauch has arrived in Colorado, where she will face murder charges in the 11-year-old's killing.
Letecia Stauch was booked at the Criminal Justice Center in El Paso County Thursday following a nearly 48-hour cross-country trip from Myrtle Beach, where with first-degree murder.
While behind bars Thursday, the 36-year-old accused murderer donned a black suicide safety smock, which helps prevent prisoners from taking their own lives in jail.
She was advised via video link on the charges she faces, but she'll be present in court to receive formal charges in court a week from today on March 11, Senior Deputy DA Michael Allen told reporters outside El Paso County Jail in .
Allen remained tight-lipped on the details of whether Gannon's body has been found and Stauch's arrest warrant, which is still being sealed for investigative purposes, he said.
He added that law enforcement made the decision to transport Stauch to Colorado by land rather than by air.
When asked what he would say to the Stauch family, Allen said: "I would just ask them to remain patient."
"This is going to be a long and drawn-out process and they need to keep that in mind. We're in the justice system and it's going to take a long time."
Stauch Tuesday as she told police "she didn't run from" or have trouble with them before walking out of the courtroom in South Carolina.
She spent Wednesday night in Salina, after being extradited from South Carolina before continuing on to Colorado sometime between 3am and 4am Thursday, Salina County Sheriff's Office said.
More than 130 volunteers aided police in the search for Gannon, who was reported missing on January 27 after his stepmother claimed he left home through a side door to visit a friend at around 3:15pm.
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Five days later, a neighbor came forward with that showed Letecia and a boy believed to be Gannon getting into her pickup truck the day he disappeared - but only one person returned hours later.
Cops investigated the Stauch family home in Colorado, where the accused murderer said her husband found a "saucer-sized pool of blood" in the boy's bedroom, .
In the days following his disappearance, his mom Landen for anyone with information to come forward, saying: "I'm afraid I may never see him again."
The search for little Gannon ended Monday when local authorities revealed they "do not believe" the boy is alive, but that they had found enough evidence to charge Letecia in his disappearance.
Stauch is being held without bond at the El Paso County jail, where she'll remain behind bars.
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