Coronavirus forces grieving parents of Gannon Stauch to delay funeral for their murdered son after body is discovered
THE family of Gannon Stauch will have to wait to have the young boy's funeral until after the Coronavirus pandemic.
This news comes just one week after the missing Colorado boy's body was discovered under a Florida overpass, six weeks after he went missing from his Colorado home.
A source close to the family tells The Sun that there will be two funerals honoring Gannon's life later this Spring, assuming the pandemic has calmed down.
One will be in South Carolina, where he was born and his mother Landon Hiott still resides, and the other in Colorado, where had been living with his father at the time of his death.
There is not date yet, though the celebrations will likely be public affairs said the source, as the family wants to include the hundreds of people who were involved in the search for the boy these past two months.
Police now believe he was reported missing by his alleged murderer, stepmother Letecia Stauch, shortly after she killed the 11-year-old boy, claim court documents.
Authorities have filed a Probable Cause Affidavit that claims Leticia murdered Gannon on January 27, and then worked to hide his body before claiming her had disappeared when she called law enforcement officials later that same day.
The Sun has obtained a copy of the complaint that was filed in the case, and while the details of the murder are currently under seal the date of each crime is revealed in the filings.
Michael Allen, the Senior Deputy District Attorney for El Paso County, states in his complaint that all four crimes with which Leticia is changed took place on January 27.
This includes the boy's murder, the incident of child abuse that resulted in his death, the tampering of a deceased body and the tampering with physical evidence that occured when Letecia allegedly hid her victim's body.
Leticia is currently in a Colorado prison ahead of her trial, and has been designated as an inmate who might possibly harm herself behind bars.
As a result, she has been outfitted in the bright yellow prison jumpsuit, making her easy to identify when with the prison population.
Letecia was arrested earlier this month in Myrtle Beach on suspicion of first-degree murder in relation to the tragic disappearance of Gannon.
"We do not believe Gannon is alive," said officials, five weeks after they first began to search for the 11 year old.
Letecia is believed to be the last person to have seen the boy, and initially told police he left the house through a side door on January 26 to go visit a friend.
She was charged with suspicion of child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased body and tampering with evidence.
Police had never named her as a suspect prior to last week, and she herself claimed to have been cleared of any wrongdoing by law enforcement.
The Board of Education ruled that Letecia had breached her contract after they failed to substantiate any of her claims.
“In that email Mrs Stauch indicated that she left the district because she experienced harassment and retaliation after requesting to be released fro her contract due to a pending military move, which she claims had been denied,” reads the Board of Education filing on the matter.
“She also alleged that district superintendent’s niece was her husband’s ex-wife and that the harassment and retaliation were due to this relationship.”
An investigation into these allegations failed to substantiate even one of Letecia’s claims according to the order.
The case file also states that Letecia threatened to file a complaint against the district with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if she were not let out of her contract.
It was the district who ultimately filed a complaint though, ruling that Letecia had in abandoned her position and breached her contract.
This decision was also based on the discovery that Letecia had accepted a position in another school district as well that year, the order states.
As a result of this breach in her contract, the state suspended her educator’s certification for 180 days.
On her Linked In profile, Letecia claims to have gone back to work after that suspension and worked as an Education Specialist for the state until 2018.
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The Board of Education confirmed this, telling The Sun that Letecia took a job in Dorchester County in 2017, and the following year in Berkeley County.
She was certified to teach elementary school, special education and secondary social studies Colorado as of March 2019, but is unclear if she ever began at any schools in the area.
She wrote on her LinkedIn that shed was working as a Curriculum Developer at School District 49 in Peyton, but there was no record of her having been employed by that county.