Found Deceased CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 **ARREST** #42

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First - in HH's case, what actions? LE has said at this time they do not believe she was involved. The only actions I see according to the affadavit is that she was not cooperating with the investigation. My comment, as others, was an attempt to understand why she was not cooperating with the investigation. For all we know, she may be cooperating now that he mother is no longer around to play her like a puppet. Second - It is a proven fact through PET Scans that the frontal lobes of the brain, the area that governs reasoning and judgement, are not fully developed until around the age of 21. Hence, why you have so many teens thinking they are 10 ft tall and bullet proof. Case in point, all the college kids who went on Spring Break during a coronavirus epidemic thinking they were invincible. I simply mentioned this that due to stress at the time and the manipulation of her mother, HH may have been duped by her mother to believe LE was trying to frame her mother and would twist anything HH may say. That is where my comment on the frontal lobes of the brain come into play. This serves to demonstrate how it may be easier to dupe a 17 year old vs a 21 year old. Being that LE at this time does not think HH had any involvement in the crime, further arguements on at what age should someone be held responsible are a strawman's arguement. Bottom line, at this time LE says they do not think HH was involved. So how much longer are people going to post insinuating she was?
Frontal lobes or not ... If you are old enough to hold a driver's license, you are expected to know right from wrong. :D
 
I have a question.

Being that his body was found in Florida, the autopsy was done here. Florida has very "public friendly" laws regarding such things; can anyone (smarter than myself, ha!) weigh in with an idea of whether or not we might see the report?

Great post! I would think that unless the Florida Coroner's office was under seal or honoring a specific request from Colorado jurisdiction not to release their work then it would be available under normal Florida public records information request. I also don't recall if FL has anything on the books exempting the autopsy of minors from the state's generous freedom of information laws.
 
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First - in HH's case, what actions? LE has said at this time they do not believe she was involved. The only actions I see according to the affadavit is that she was not cooperating with the investigation. My comment, as others, was an attempt to understand why she was not cooperating with the investigation. For all we know, she may be cooperating now that he mother is no longer around to play her like a puppet. Second - It is a proven fact through PET Scans that the frontal lobes of the brain, the area that governs reasoning and judgement, are not fully developed until around the age of 21. Hence, why you have so many teens thinking they are 10 ft tall and bullet proof. Case in point, all the college kids who went on Spring Break during a coronavirus epidemic thinking they were invincible. I simply mentioned this that due to stress at the time and the manipulation of her mother, HH may have been duped by her mother to believe LE was trying to frame her mother and would twist anything HH may say. That is where my comment on the frontal lobes of the brain come into play. This serves to demonstrate how it may be easier to dupe a 17 year old vs a 21 year old. Being that LE at this time does not think HH had any involvement in the crime, further arguements on at what age should someone be held responsible are a strawman's arguement. Bottom line, at this time LE says they do not think HH was involved. So how much longer are people going to post insinuating she was?

IANAL, but in some jurisdictions, withholding information from LE about a murder is still a crime.

So "not cooperating," if it turns out to be "not saying something that could have been helpful" or saying "I don't know" when the person does know...can turn out to be a crime.

I do not buy the "frontal lobe" business (and I study this stuff) except insofar as yes, American teens are underdeveloped. The rest of the world has different standards. I would even go so far as to say that HH appears to be particularly immature (at 17) than some 17 year olds (you know, people who were on their own in the Great Depression from age 14 and grew up fast).

I agree it has nothing to do with her age. That's why we have juries. I don't think she'll ever face major charges, but I do think she will be compelled to testify and that she better grow up - fast - and get her own lawyer before doing that.

I think you are very mistaken about what the most recent documents say about HH, btw. There's clearly a path of implication in 30+ pages. LS could have protected HH more by not having her approach the cameras and not having her in a vehicle which may have carried Gannon's dead body. If HH is ever in trouble, it is obviously her mother's fault.

I don't think she'll be prosecuted. But she will face something that is perhaps worse: lifelong association with the lengthy testimony she will surely be compelled to give.

I think Laina may avoid testimony if the DA thinks HH will do as a witness instead.
 
A "like" was just not enough. You painted the perfect picture (something I tried to explain yesterday but didn't do nearly as good of a job as you've done here) of why I think, obviously "jmo" that HH is in fact another victim in this case. And yes I will say it, even IF she did have some suspicion her mom was somehow responsible for Gannon being missing (and there is no reason to think that she did), that girl has 17 years of experience on why it's best to not rock the boat, with mom.

I mean, if we encounter adults who were raised by someone like TS, we immediately (and rightly) feel compassion for them and would readily agree that they were in fact underage victims of definitely psychological, but likely also verbal and emotional abuse, as well as most possibly physical abuse.

I suppose I'm just a softy when it comes to kids, but I do think HH deserves the same compassion.

jmo
I was watching that "I am a killer" series on Netflix and many of them have sad childhood stories. One especially stuck out to me, with the abuse and horrible childhood. But in the end, you see the victim families and while they may have compassion, they don't waiver at all from wanting any punishment fully served. So while it may be true that HH is a victim, she's not as much so in my mind as GS's parents and sister (or obviously GS himself). Before the AA I did lump her into that same group. In that sense I can feel sorry for her situation, but at the same time also question all her actions and want her held accountable for anything that may have made this entire nightmare worse. Nothing released yet that shows that she has done anything other than inaction. But the inaction is enough for me to lose some empathy towards her.
 
Frontal lobes or not ... If you are old enough to hold a driver's license, you are expected to know right from wrong. :D

Couldn't agree more. The studies on which this "they aren't mature until they are 25" are entirely based on current crops of US students. Students. Not the general public, even.

When I first began research of this type (at a VA hospital 37 years ago), we saw brain differences between veterans who were 18-19 when they ended up in psychiatric care and those who were 30. However, the only thing that neuroscientists are looking for in terms of brain maturity is a relatively stable physiological state. The brain remains somewhat plastic until 25, but is pretty much dialed in by 14.

The fact that American youth (we had Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, Chamorrans, Mexicans, Guatemalans in our studies) were slower to stabilize was known - but the age was more like 20. Military service speeds up the process (I know some of you are saying "doh!")

Inner city kids were more "brain mature." American youths from working and middle class backgrounds reached brain stability more slowly (middle class = slowest).

This research has been replicated, it's a known fact that when we say "American youth are immature until 25" that we are describing an acquired, not innate, state. This explains how youth in India are able to be on their own at 14 (sometimes never seeing their families again, making their own decisions for life). Or in Russia (where the expectation is that 16 year olds should be in the brain stable state). Or China.

Or most of the world, obviously, having named those countries.

It's not innate in the human species to be immature until 25, it's an American thing. We produce that.

All that being said, HH seems to be a typical American teenagers. Should the courts bend to this new-fangled way of raising teens?

I don't know the answer to that. As a jury member, I don't think I could bend that far.
 
Yes. Here is the obituary from 2009.

James Lowry | Robesonian

And the news story

Car strikes, kills man | Robesonian
Wow -- now that's pretty cheeky drawing on a 11- year old tragedy for work absence!

Although LS is named as the decedent's step-daughter in the obituary (i.e., the only step-child mentioned), I noticed no mention of LS's mother.

I wonder if this could be a situation where step-dad raised LS and her own mom nowhere in sight.

MOO

ETA: Correction, date of death was Sept. 21, 2004, obit print date 2009.
 
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I have a question.

Being that his body was found in Florida, the autopsy was done here. Florida has very "public friendly" laws regarding such things; can anyone (smarter than myself, ha!) weigh in with an idea of whether or not we might see the report?
Because this is an ongoing investigation, I think those records will remain under seal, atleast until the case is adjudicated.

I tried to search the 2020 manual, but it’s way too long and I’m way too lazy. The fact that he is a child may also make those records exempt from disclosure, but I’m not sure.

http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MNOS-B9QQ79/$file/SunshineManual.pdf
 
Wow -- now that's pretty cheeky drawing on a 19- year old tragedy for work absence!

Although LS is named as the decedent's step-daughter in the obituary (i.e., the only step-child mentioned), I noticed no mention of LS's mother.

I wonder if this could be a situation where step-dad raised LS and her own mom nowhere in sight.

MOO

bbm

I don't know about that, but its noted here that her uncle was a big influence in her upbringing.

Obituary for Thomas Brian Acquard | Revels Funeral Home, Lumberton, NC
 
I was watching that "I am a killer" series on Netflix and many of them have sad childhood stories. One especially stuck out to me, with the abuse and horrible childhood. But in the end, you see the victim families and while they may have compassion, they don't waiver at all from wanting any punishment fully served. So while it may be true that HH is a victim, she's not as much so in my mind as GS's parents and sister (or obviously GS himself). Before the AA I did lump her into that same group. In that sense I can feel sorry for her situation, but at the same time also question all her actions and want her held accountable for anything that may have made this entire nightmare worse. Nothing released yet that shows that she has done anything other than inaction. But the inaction is enough for me to lose some empathy towards her.

I was just reminded that HH is/was on an early entry program to the AirForce (age 17).

I'm now wondering if HH did, in fact, talk to someone and/or received legal advice. Could it be that she talked to DA's office and not the EPSO?

From the AA, I've only read "HH has refused to speak with investigators." (#48).
 
Wow -- now that's pretty cheeky drawing on a 19- year old tragedy for work absence!

Although LS is named as the decedent's step-daughter in the obituary (i.e., the only step-child mentioned), I noticed no mention of LS's mother.

I wonder if this could be a situation where step-dad raised LS and her own mom nowhere in sight.

MOO

I don't know. But I do know that in NC it's not usual to mention divorced spouses in obituaries (assuming the deceased and TS's mother were divorced. I don't know that either.)

But that issue came up here on WS because some folks thought it was so odd TS wasn't mentioned in her ex-husband's obituary but their daughter was. In my experience it would have been very odd to mention her as they had been divorced for 3 years when he died.

As I've said before, I would very much like to know more about TS's early life.

BTW, he died in 2009...11 years ago not 19 but it still was cheeky to call in using that excuse.
JMO
 
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What? I don't think I'd read this before. I'd be beside myself if my 11-year old was missing and I had to wait on LE for 3 hours to take my report.

Gannon Stauch: Arrest documents outline where and when missing 11-year-old boy was killed

Deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the house about 10:10 p.m., about three hours after Stauch called 911 to report her son missing, and found her car backed into the garage.
That has bothered me. One can only guess that they didn’t take the spcall seriously. Maybe thought he would show up before they arrived at his home? But there is no reason for that.
 
Pure conjecture on my part, but there was a kids bow in one of the garage pics. I would assume AS is a hunter if his son has a kids bow. And it wasn't a cheap one, it was probably a nicer $100 bow that could get some lbs on it so a kid can get used to a real hunting bow. I don't know any bow hunters that don't also have guns. JMO
I wanted to say something to the effect that being in the military & living in Colorado, I can't imagine not having a gun. But I come from a family of hunters and we all have many firearms. Didn't want to *advertiser censored*-u-me too much.
 
From my time as a certified teacher who instructed detainees and prisoners in jail and prison (for the GED program) -- I'm sorry to tell you the other prisoners treated them just fine. More than fine.
How disappointing. I've always assumed child abusers/killers twere lower than dirt in the social prison hierarchy.
 
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