Doctor testifies about santity in Letecia Stauch trial

Posted at 8:01 PM, April 25, 2023

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (Scripps News Colorado Springs) — The murder trial of Letecia Stauch, the Colorado woman accused of murdering her stepson in 2020 continued Tuesday with the long-awaited sanity evaluations from mental health professionals.

Testimony began Tuesday with FBI Special Agent Kevin Hoyland, who is assigned to the Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He analyzed data on four cell phones, including Letecia Stauch’s two phones, Gannon Stauch’s phone, and Letecia’s daughter Harley Hunt’s phone.

READ MORE: CO v. Letecia Stauch: Daily Trial Updates

Agent Hoyland showed and described his analysis of all four cell devices on January 26 (the day before Gannon’s disappearance) and January 27 (the day of Gannon’s disappearance), as well as the day after. That also included data from the Life360 Tracking App and Letecia’s vehicle.

The analysis corroborates what had already been testified to, including Letecia and Gannon’s movements to the Garden of the Gods and Petco and Letecia’s trip to pick up Al at the airport.

Hoyland testified that at approximately 7:30 p.m. on January 27, Gannon’s phone placed two outgoing calls, and that it’s likely Gannon did not place the calls himself since he had already been reported missing at that time.

Hoyland said that data recovered from devices showed that on January 28, at approximately 8 p.m., Letecia’s vehicle was in the area of Palmer Lake, where a blood-stained board was later recovered. Hoyland said this was the first trip to the area and that Letecia’s phone was disconnected, which meant it was intentionally placed on airplane mode or turned off.

RELATED: Judge: Stauch verdict possible next week

Data also showed that prior to Letecia’s interview at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office on January 29, her vehicle went to a carwash for 5-6 minutes.

On February 4, Hoyland testified that the cargo van Letecia rented was powered up at 4:15 a.m. less than two miles away from where Gannon’s body was found in Pensacola, Florida. At noon, Letecia’s device and cargo van were leaving the area.

The next witness called to the stand was Dr. Christine Mohr, the first mental health professional to testify in the Letecia Stauch murder trial.

In March 2020, Dr. Mohr was the Mental Health Director at the El Paso County Jail. On March 5, 2020, she did an assessment of Letecia Stauch.

Dr. Mohr said she remembered Letecia being calm and polite throughout their conversations. Dr. Mohr said that given the nature of the crime, and Letecia not having any criminal history, jail can be traumatic and scary, and she wanted to make sure Letecia was safe and stable.

Dr. Mohr said Letecia told her about being diagnosed with anxiety and having general symptoms. Dr. Mohr said Letecia denied having any disorders, in-patient or out-patient treatment and also denied any past suicide attempts.

Dr. Mohr said she placed Letecia on suicide watch because of the alleged crime and it being her first time being in jail, and Letecia didn’t agree with that.

When asked if Dr. Mohr noticed Letecia having any mental health issues, she said “Not anything overt.” Dr. Mohr said Letecia was anxious and nervous, which seemed consistent with her self-report of having anxiety.

This story was originally published on April 25, 2023, by KOAA in Colorado Springs, an E.W. Scripps Company.