Found Deceased CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 **ARREST** #39

[MassGuy]

RSBM
While certainly rare and undoubtedly macabre, it does happen.

I recall a case not too long ago where a father went nuts offed the kids and took them and crossed several state lines before he got rid of them.
In bags.
Timothy Jones Jr.

I believe there was another in WA state, left in N. Cali - quite a few years ago.

I can't recall the name of the monster (or victim) in that case but I seem to recall it was a little girl.

In any case, point being, if TS was even a passive true crime reader, she may have recalled these or other similar cases, since they are examples of (as you say) the unfathomable, and unthinkable.

After all, she surely does seem to love to have everyone's attention.

Also, it certainly wouldn't be the first time some up and coming murderer followed infamous criminals and/or idolized them.

jmo

Yeah, I was referencing circumstances like this:

A premeditated crime, with intense media attention, a focus on you as a suspect, and a purposeful attempt to cover it up.

People who drive around with multiple bodies, live in the same house with dead bodies, and have no expectation of actually getting away with it, are very different.

Everything she did had a purpose, crazy as it was. This wasn’t a crime of revenge, where someone hasn’t thought ahead, or has thought ahead and doesn’t care.

She cared.

 

[HaikuMommy]

Believe me it's not only stepmoms who kill children by far. Iirc, those murdered by a step parent or live in boyfriend or girlfriend are around 4 to 5% of those who murder children.

All anyone has to do is look at the many cases right here on WS, both active, and recent murder cases to realize way too many bio moms are murdering their precious children or are willing coconspirators in carrying out horrific abuses, gross neglect, murders, and helping to discard their children's bodies.

The last data I read on the maltreatment of all children in the US it is done 59 to 60% of the time by their own biological mothers.

It's also biological moms who are selling their little children to pedophiles or are raping, molesting their own small children while video taping it, and selling it online to other pedophiles.

I've also read bio moms, and bio dads by far murder their children much more often than steps or live ins do.

This case is absolutely horrendous no doubt...committed by the most evil stepmom imaginable, but we cant lose sight of who the majority of abused, grossly neglected children had/have to fear the most during their childhood if they survive, and its bio parents.

Children who suffer neglect, abuse, and being murdered are also committed by a bio parent the majority of the time.

I would put the links up now, but I'm away from my computer. Since my recent hospital stay I cant sit up for long at my computer or I would link them all myself like I usually do.

We can't pretend that children only have to fear someone that doesnt have the same bloodline as they do for it simply isn't true.

I read almost every single day about another child being abused or killed, and most often the suspect is one of their own parent who brought them into this world then feel they are burdens they no longer want to carry instead of the true blessings from God as all children are.

To think the cure all for protecting all children is for the bio mom to be raising them is unrealistic,and baseless since so many of them are the very ones causing great pain, suffering, and death.

Maybe another poster would be so kind to put the links up for me. If not, I will try my best to do it tomorrow.

As a childhood abuse survivor, I think it's very important for all to know who children have to fear the most, and who is the greatest enemy they have to face behind closed doors of their home.

The facts, no matter how brutal to take, matters... especially when it comes to the maltreatment of precious innocent children.

Jmhoo

As far as stepparents vs. bioparents being more likely to harm children, remember: the vast majority of children live with at least one bioparent, and not every child has stepparents. If 87% or more of kids live with their biological mother (who also does most child care) and 59-60% of maltreatment is done by bio-moms, those numbers might actually mean they're LESS likely to abuse than either biodads or stepparents.
Childstats.gov - America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2019 - Family Structure and Children's Living Arrangements

I see stats showing stepchildren who LIVE with a stepparent are anywhere from 40 to 100 times as likely to be murdered or maimed as those who live with two biological parents in the household. (ETA: This being exactly the case with Gannon, sadly.)

So yes, I think we can tell lots of kids are abused by bioparents, because lots of kids live WITH bioparents. But it's not a cliche about stepparents for no reason.
Why Are Stepparents More Likely to Kill Their Children?

 

[gingergina]

I would like to mail you blue morning glory seeds, if you're able to find the location and are willing to plant them. It's no more than scratching the dirt, covering it a bit, but they love this area and come back...and they're blue. I'll be over this summer but if you or any locals can do this, please msg me.

This

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

Has there ever been a case like this one that’s not serial killer related? I ask because I’m hoping that something good comes this.
Something like the FBI studying her & getting bits and pieces to put toward a new type of profile, to eventually stop a predator. This would be, in my mind, something good coming out of this case. Anything else, no. Because someone(s) has lost someone. And there is always grieving with that. There is always sadness and depression and anger and hurt and so many other things. Yes, usually temporarily but still sadness anyway you look at it.
Has anybody ever been in a bad relationship. And that relationship ends. You grieve the loss of other person even though the other person was not good for you or not even a good person in general. But that doesn’t stop you from loving them instantly & it doesn’t make you feel better at that time. Eventually you see the light and you are better for it but initially you still have to go through the horrible pain of losing the person & everything bad that comes along with the grieving process.

But if you see something good coming out of this other than what I mentioned please enlighten me, please.

ETA: I don’t have a relationship with my mother anymore. I had to end it in 2015 because she got sick and her personality radically changed and having the relationship with her became detrimental to my mental health stability. I grieved the loss of her even though it was my choice. I still care for her and think about her. I think about our relationship and the what ifs of trying to repair the relationship. But I always remind myself of all of the emotional & mental abuse, her threats, her taunts & more. But I miss not having a mom, not having the one person who understood me like no other & up until she got sick having the one person who I could depend on no matter what. I think about the people in this case who have lost this type of special person to them. Whether it’s a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife or whatever. T was something special to at least one person. And I understand that pain. So maybe yes something good will come out of this but NOT WITHOUT pain & loss.

 

[10ofRods]

Well, I sure as hell stand corrected. I thought for certain he was in Colorado, close to the house. I posted my revised theory of when and why she moved him at 4:00 this morning. I couldn’t sleep and kept turning everything over in my mind. I’m firmly in the “will not plead” camp. I think she’s another Arias and will love every second in the spotlight, telling her story her way. She is vile and inhuman.

But I think you were right about the basic principle - I think the warrant shows that she did kill him closer to home, in CO (and it may very be that she hid him initially very close to home, indeed).

 

[helpfulcharlie]

I feel like she originally left him in a dumpster, perhaps at Petco, but panicked when she realized they would search landfills and find him, went back & retrieved him, perhaps moving him more than once before the great road trip.

I also wonder whether the multiple charges for multiple potential weapons indicate a number of injuries that the initial autopsy could not confirm the exact weapon used -- perhaps they left that for Colorado forensics to determine -- and charge with all possible, dropping the ones that don't apply after further forensics. Does that make sense or am I way off base?

 

[pepper 34]

Yes, and an unconfirmed video of Sunday night that supposedly shows a lot of activity and her leaving and returning allegedly after midnight.

Does anyone know whether carpet people were listed as potential witnesses for the state. I don't know if it's ever been substantiated that the carpet people "fixed" the carpet Monday morning, before he even went missing. Didn't she even at one time point the finger at the carpet people?

The Walmart near me is open all night. I wonder if there's a Walmart near where she lived? I'd like to see a video of her buying a suitcase at Walmart on Sunday night just for one more cherry on top of an already overloaded ice cream sundae of a prosecution case. Meanwhile... they must be begging for work in C-Springs if she managed to get a carpet company out to her house by Monday morning. Is that even possible? Maybe they just came to give an estimate at that time on their way to another job? How would they even know what kind of carpet to bring to a job at her house so soon?

 

[10ofRods]

I feel like she originally left him in a dumpster, perhaps at Petco, but panicked when she realized they would search landfills and find him, went back & retrieved him, perhaps moving him more than once before the great road trip.

I also wonder whether the multiple charges for multiple potential weapons indicate a number of injuries that the initial autopsy could not confirm the exact weapon used -- perhaps they left that for Colorado forensics to determine -- and charge with all possible, dropping the ones that don't apply after further forensics. Does that make sense or am I way off base?

I thought of that too. They do not have to have full forensics to get the basics in place. If there are any signs of injuries from any form of trauma, they'd list it by type. The firearm may have been used to threaten. It may have been used to intimidate people into cooperation or silence. If she was in possession of a firearm at any point along this crime spree, they'd probably lay that charge, IMO.

I don't think they have to know that it was an actual knife if there is evidence on bone of a blade cut (it could be a saw blade, it could be a scraper rather than a knife, but it indicates there's such evidence on the bones, to me). They would send that to a couple of forensic anthropology labs, takes time.

 

[magnetic]

Ok. Let's assume she did have a knowing accomplice....who would knowingly drive to florida, dump a child's body on the side of a road?

Ok. Let's assume she had an unknowing accomplice...who would drive to Florida to dump a suitcase on the side of the road and not question it?

I'm undecided on an accomplice. And I don't like indecision.

If accomplice, I think it would be a family member that she met half way.

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

And even LE didn’t know where he was. Someone literally came upon his body in another state. It’s nothing short of a miracle that he was even found.

AMEN!

 

[Love Never Fails]

Exactly. If you asked me early on if she moved the body, I would have said “no way.”

After she was arrested for murder, I figured she must have done that, as that’s the only way I could see there being enough evidence to prove that he was in fact dead, and she “tampered” with the body (forensic proof).

After her arrest, I would have told you that Gannon would definitely be found in the state of Colorado, and it would likely take until Spring before someone found him.

To take his body with her, and drive all the way to Florida, is absolutely unfathomable. It’s unprecedented, atleast under these specific circumstances (the heat was cranking up, and the country was looking at her).

What she did breaks just about every rule (in regards to a crime like this).

In some cases there is a question as to if someone could potentially get away with it. There are absolutely no such concerns here.

There’s going to be enough evidence to convict her a dozen times.

Agree with all you said. For whatever it is worth though, you were right that it would take until Spring to find him, as Wednesday, March 19 was the first day of Spring.

 

[RaspberryMama]

I just can't get over the fact that Gannon has been found, by a random person, in a completely different area than the search for him.

I mean, does that strike anyone else as unusual? I know that occasionally someone stumbles over the remains of a missing person and a cold case is reopened (or at least closure happens for family members). But how often is someone found within a couple of months of going missing, by someone other than a search party member? And to top it off - hundreds of miles away?

Did she intend for him to be found? I highly doubt it, especially if a suitcase that could be tracked back to her was used (moo about the suitcase).

I know many of us were praying that he would be found. I just can't figure out the odds of it happening like it has. Seems pretty unlikely to me... And yet here we are.

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

***Warning- Disturbing content***
Unless he was put in a tight fetal position at the time of death, rigor mortis would prevent his body from fitting nicely into a container without dismemberment.

Back to game hunting ... after killing, some hunters drag the body to a creek or stream, then cut a carotid artery (neck) allowing it to bleed into the water. Also, they will disembowel (gut) it leaving the organs as food for scavengers. Gannon was small.

The brutal reality of what happened to Gannon was reflected in the eyes of DDA Michael Allen during yesterday's news conference. (esp at 1:28)

I actually think he has a good poker face & most definitely I think he has a great poker voice!

 

[gingergina]

Was looking at the neighbors video a moment ago and realized “Evil Woman” was playing on Pandora. I think it was a sign from God.

 

[magnetic]

IMO she will adapt quite well in Prison. Her "type" typically do. Others may try to make it tough for her but she strikes me as a fighter. Eventually she will have her own circle, those she can manipulate and those who fear her. Pathetic life if u ask me but to her probably not so much. Her needs she thrives on will once again be met. Manipulation, power and control. IMO

I don't know, I think she is gonna get stomped! She will be the biggest coward loser in there cause I don't think most of the women in the prison are there for killing children. That is unacceptable even by other murderers. I am for the death penalty but not in this case cause I do believe her life will be a living hell in there and I hope they don't keep her away from the general population to protect her.

 

[Abstar80]

I am not a car person at all, so I may be very wrong here. But, if she drove from CO to Florida to dump Gannon then she would have had to stop for fuel yeah?
Surely she couldn't do that in a round trip without refilling the gas tank could she. Even if she paid cash there would have to be surveillance of her at a gas station along the route.
All the gas stations on the witness list IIRC were in Colorado Springs.

None of this is making sense to me. I have said from the start that Tee had told us where Gannon was indirectly everytime she spoke."he could be out of state by now." I don't reckon she was the one who dumped in Florida. Occams Razor and all that, she just can't have been.

You just can't drive around with a dead body, in a suitcase or container or whatever, without it being an issue I imagine. Deceased bodies leak fluid and all kinds of nasty things not to mention the smell. The swell and aren't the easiest thing to fold up and put in a suitcase.

She also said in her statement that she knows who the person was, and why they came. Of course she does. She organised it. I don't think it was HH who drove to Florida on her own, but knowing just how manipulative Tee is I have no doubt that she would have someone in her life that was scared of her or enamoured by her enough to do this.

 

[katydid23]

LOL I was wrong on so many levels in my thinking. For starters, I never thought she'd ever revisit the body, let alone move him. And Florida never entered my mind.
I'm still in shock.

There is an easy explanation for you guessing so wrong. I assume you are NOT a histrionic, narcissistic psychopath. Therefore, you cannot possibly think like she does. Thank Goodness.

 

[Abstar80]

I don't know, I think she is gonna get stomped! She will be the biggest coward loser in there cause I don't think most of the women in the prison are there for killing children. That is unacceptable even by other murderers. I am for the death penalty but not in this case cause I do believe her life will be a living hell in there and I hope they don't keep her away from the general population to protect her.

Having watched quite possible too many shows about women's prisons, I imagine she will rise to the top of pile very quickly and get too comfortable and fall as quickly as she rose. It's going to take a lot of talking and fighting on her part to survive for the long term.
Willing to bet she gets shanked or severely beaten within the first 18 months of being in gen pop.

 

[Mountain Misst]

The result of DNA swabs from inside the 'potential' suitcase may prove to be of interest.

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

My husband is convinced she had help from someone. He said he had to be in some sort of container or bag? What does everyone else think?

The more I see the more I'm convinced she had help. Check out Spencer Wilson,and the interview he did with LS. You can follow him on FB,and Twitter.