The stepmother of 11-year-old Gannon Stauch, who went missing two months ago, has been arrested ‘on suspicion of murder.’
El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies took Leiticia Stauch into custody on Monday morning and said they would discuss a break in the case on Monday afternoon.
Gannon, 11, was last seen on 27 January near his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ms Stauch originally reported the boy missing, telling police that she had last seen him between 3:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. before he left to walk to a friend’s house.
ABC7 News reported that Gannon’s disappearance was initially being investigated as a runaway situation, but was reclassified as a missing/endangered persons case on 30 January.
According to a neighbour, security camera footage captured Ms Stauch driving away in the morning with Gannon in her car and her arriving hours later by herself.
Authorities said the footage was “one piece in a very, very large puzzle.”
Roderrick Drayton, the neighbour whose camera captured Ms Stauch leaving with the boy, said that Mr Stauch broke down crying after seeing the video.
“[Albert Stauch] just broke down crying and said ‘She lied, she lied about the time. He didn’t go to a friend’s house,’” he said.
In an interview with KKTV, Ms Stauch denied having any hand in the boy’s disappearance.
“I took care of Gannon for the last two years because his mother didn't want to do it,” she said. “I would never, ever, ever hurt this child … these people have these conspiracy theories .. I’m like ‘why are you saying Gannon is dead?’ He is not dead. We are going to find Gannon.”
Gannon’s mother, Landen Hiott, told ABC News that she was certain her son would not run away.
“That is not my boy, 100 percent without a shadow of a doubt, my boy would not run away,” she said.
Ms Liott told the station that her son was “her hero.”
“He’s my hero. He gives me life, he gives me energy. If a bad day is going bad I just hear his voice and it makes it better,” she said.
When questioned about the incriminating video, Ms Stauch claimed that Gannon simply exited the truck on the side of the vehicle facing away from the neighbour’s camera.
