Letecia Stauch, accused of stabbing and fatally shooting her 11-year-old stepson Gannon in El Paso County and then disposing of his body in northern Florida, changed her story several times in the weeks following the boy’s disappearance, Al Stauch, Gannon’s father, testified Tuesday.

When Gannon was reported missing on Jan. 27, 2020, Letecia Stauch called Al Stauch while he was in Oklahoma and said Gannon hadn’t come home from a friend’s house.

Al Stauch said he became suspicious of his then-wife when he called the parents of Gannon’s friends and none of them said they had seen him. Al Stauch also said it was weird that when Letecia Stauch picked him up from the Colorado Springs Airport, she needed to acquire a rental car. 

“Totally made no sense,” Al Stauch told jurors.

He said that when he went to look for Letecia Stauch’s car, which she claimed she had left at French Elementary School, he could not find it.

“That was when I first thought she was lying,” Al Stauch testified.

Two days after Al Stauch returned from Oklahoma, Letecia Stauch changed her story entirely, claiming that someone had broken into their Lorson Ranch home, assaulted her and kidnapped Gannon. 

The prosecution on Tuesday played a two-hour phone conversation recorded by the FBI on Feb. 13, 2020, between Al and Letecia Stauch. District Attorney Michael Allen told jurors that Al Stauch was being “coached” by FBI agents who were with him during the call.

Letecia Stauch told her husband during the phone call that a Mexican man had entered their home, that she hit her head on a table and “blacked out,” that she was raped, and that the alleged intruder took Gannon and left.

“My mind was completely (expletive) gone,” Letecia Stauch told Al Stauch. “I tried. I didn’t know what was going on. All of it was a blur. … It was like I was in some Lifetime movie.”

As Al Stauch continued to question Letecia Stauch about the incident, she began to cry and could be heard yelling: “You’re treating me like a criminal. … Do you think I did this?”

As the phone call progresses Al Stauch accused his then-wife of “changing her story.” And Letecia Stauch can be heard trying to explain away the numerous differences in her stories, such as why neighbors’ doorbell cameras didn’t record the intruder that she claimed had entered their home.

Eventually, more than an hour and a half into the phone call, Al Stauch asked Letecia Stauch outright: “Did you kill Gannon?”

“Did I kill Gannon? The answer is no,” Letecia Stauch screamed in response. “I can’t believe you’d ask me this. … If you think Gannon’s dead that’s horrible. … What is wrong with you?”

Over more than 20 minutes Letecia Stauch repeatedly denied to Al Stauch that she had anything to do with Gannon’s disappearance.

A word commonly used by prosecutors throughout Tuesday’s testimony was “manipulative.”

Al Stauch described several instances over the course of his marriage with Letecia Stauch that he felt he was being manipulated, such as two false burglary allegations made by Letecia Stauch in 2019, Letecia Stauch claiming she was pregnant with twins — when she was not — and a sexual harassment allegation made by Letecia Stauch against a captain in Al Stauch’s Army unit while living in Alaska, allegedly because she did not enjoy living there and wanted to move.

Josh Tolini, one of Letecia Stauch’s defense attorneys, objected to testimony related to manipulation, claiming the witness was speculating. But those objections were overruled by Judge Gregory Werner.

Al Stauch’s testimony — which lasted the entire day — started off emotionally. He talked about how Gannon was born four months early at just over 1 pound, how Gannon enjoyed playing video games — his favorites were the Mario games, Al Stauch said — and how Gannon aspired to be a YouTube star.

“That’s my boy,” Al Stauch said through tears when District Attorney Michael Allen asked the witness to identify a picture of Gannon.

Al Stauch, the trial’s first witness, will return to the stand on Wednesday morning, when the prosecution is expected to play more phone conversations between him and Letecia Stauch. Allen said the prosecution also plans on calling two witnesses from Pensacola, Fla., where Gannon’s body was found.

During opening statements on Monday, Allen argued that Stauch was sane at the time of Gannon’s death, and the evidence over the course of the trial would prove that.

Defense attorney Will Cook argued that Stauch was found to be insane at the time of Gannon’s killing, and that the prosecution won’t be able to provide the evidence to prove that she was sane.