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Step-mom arrested in Colorado case

notsurehowtodeal's picture

The step-mom has been arrested in the missing child case in Colorado. This was discussed in an earlier blog about 11 year old Gannon Stauch who was reported missing in January. Even though I was hoping it wasn't her, I figured it was only a matter of time until she was arrested. Authorities are not releasing any details, but she will be charged with first degree murder and tampering with a body (which has still not been found.)

She said she last saw the child when he left on foot to visit a friend, but a security camera showed her leaving their house with him in her truck and returning a few hours later without him. Authorities have been searching in different wooded areas.

BM lived out of state and the father was in the military, so it sounded like the step-mom had been doing a lot of the child care. After the child went missing, BM came to Colorado and stayed in the family home. I'm not sure at what point step-mom left the state - she was arrested in South Carolina, which is where they were all from originally.

BM has been in the press quite a bit, I have never heard the father say a word in any of the new conferences. Sad for all involved.

Comments

hereiam's picture

I always thought it was strange that she specifically reported him as a runaway.

Exjuliemccoy's picture

So sad. I saw a missing person post on YouTube outlining the case, and it included video from the neighbor's security system that made it obvious the SM was lying. I hope she never breathes fresh air again.

In my region, there was a recent case where a little boy went missing and then was found dead near his home. This was in the downtown part of a small foothills town where things like that never happen. Police have been tight lipped, but it seems the child had very little stability in his short life. Mom was a veteran who lost custody due to addiction issues, Dad got custody but had a new gf or wife who had a pack of her own kids. They moved across country for work, had very little money, lots of stress... I have a feeling that poor boy knew his killer.

I think it's financially very hard to be a parent here in the US, yet social mores have deteriorated so we have more children being born to people who aren't well equipped to care for them. People are getting pregnant who hardly know each other, from hookups and booty calls, etc. We see posts on ST from members who've had a child with someone they've only known a few months. Kids deserve better. Families deserve better. Children of people serving/who have served in our military deserve better. I don't have all the answers, but change is needed.

Crspyew's picture

The social safety net and  coupled with an economy that really isn't working well for the poor or lower middle clas and the result is increased stress on those least able to deal with it.  My heart breaks for this little boy.

Crspyew's picture

And the social safety net is not just welfare ya know

thinkthrice's picture

its a different case and I know about "safety nets." I used to work for Section 8 subsidized housing.  It's a huge stretch to try to politicize a SM who should have stood up for herself and not had skids dumped on her by trying to blame the fact that more people are off welfare and are working.

These things happened under the previous administration is my point.

Crspyew's picture

But hey does it matter?  And my point is that we don't have services in place to help families who may be struggling.  It's a stretch to say It was an attempted to politicize a very sad situation.  Families are better offf when they have family and churches and other social networks to support them in difficult times, nor just welfare.  And if stepmom was so stressed out she could have contacted dad or CPS.  But she didn't and ultimately it was this poor kid who suffered.

tog redux's picture

Where are you getting any of this from the article? 

And BTW, my state has lots of services in place to help struggling families. I'm not clear how that was the issue though - taking a kid somewhere and murdering him and then lying about it implies a level of sociopathic thinking that probably wouldn't have been alleviated by some help from a social worker.  The vast majority of stressed out parents/stepparents don't murder the kids.

whoaminow's picture

I have been following this too on facebook. I was sick to my stomach in the beginning when they started speculating the SM. As much problems as I have had with my SD and DH I would never kill a child. She should have called the dad or something if she was having so many issues with him. I hate reading all the comments to on facebook and news stories about it, about the SM should have loved him like hers and all the stuff we hear. It just gives us SM a bad name even more. I'm not condone what she did for a second but people just don't understand that haven't walked in our shoes. 

Simpleton21's picture

I have been busy with work and not watching the news lately so I didn't know about this case until I read about it here.  

I am curious, does anyone know why the SM had the boy instead of the BM if the dad was deployed??  

Exjuliemccoy's picture

I'm guessing the BM either lost or gave up custody due to her drug problems. She may not have been in a position to care for her child, or not been keeping in contact. Dad moved on, married an Instamommy who had kids of her own, and probably thought they were one big Brady Bunch.

notsurehowtodeal's picture

I don't think he was deployed. He was away when the boy disapeared, but I believe it was for training, not deployment. He is in the Army National Guard.

advice.only2's picture

Tweakers man!  We need to start having mandatory sterilization of all these damn tweakers! 

Exjuliemccoy's picture

I wish there was a way to temporarily sterilize everyone at puberty, and then require people to go through a licensing process for a reversal when they're ready to start a family.

I can dream, right?

Monkeysee's picture

I dream of this all.the.time. ALL the time. It won’t stop people from making idiotic decisions like my husband choosing to marry BM after knowing her 3 seconds, but it would’ve stopped his first kids birth for sure & maybe made him stop & actually think of wtf he was doing marrying that manipulative witch in the first place. Ugh. 

Either way, this is a horribly sad story. How awful for that little boy. It’s a shame it was the SM, and the BD & BM are making such a show of it for the cameras. Maybe if one of them had stepped up for their own kid, or, I dunno, *stayed together* considering how cozy they are, he’d still be here. He didn’t deserve this. Yet another reason it’s so important to be your own advocate and draw clear boundaries around what you will & won’t tolerate. Everyone failed in this situation, not just the SM. Sadly no one will see that but the people on this site.

sharlyns's picture

Karma and guilt will follow through..

You'll see! My prayers are with you!

hereiam's picture

taking a kid somewhere and murdering him and then lying about it implies a level of sociopathic thinking

This is what kept me awake all night. Why did she do this?

She didn't kill him in a moment of rage or in an argument where she pushed him, or whatever, and accidently killed him, then covered it up. He was alive and conscious and she took him somewhere and did God knows what to him. That is cold blooded, premeditated murder. Not a moment of insanity, not a moment of , "Oh my God, what did I do?", but a calm, calculated plan.

That first interview with her? So phony. Everyone will owe her an apology when Gannon comes home? She really thought she got away with it. And sadly, they may never find his body.

Several years ago, a baby disappeared and the parents claimed she was kidnapped. What most people, including law enforcement, believe is that the mother accidently killed her and her brother and her boyfriend helped cover it up. The baby's body has never been found and nobody has been charged or even arrested.

Apparently, Letecia did not do as good of a job cleaning up after herself. I hope they have what is needed to put her away for life.

tog redux's picture

Yes, exactly. This is not an overwhelmed mom who snapped and killed her stepkid. This is a cold blooded killer who wanted her stepson out of her life permanently.  Most people are not capable of what she did no matter how bad their circumstances.