EL PASO COUNTY, CO — The murder trial of Letecia Stauch, the El Paso County woman accused of murdering her stepson in 2020 continued Wednesday with the long-awaited sanity evaluations from mental health professionals.
The first witness to be called to the stand this morning was Dr. Jackie Grimmett. She worked as a forensic psychologist at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo in 2020. Dr. Grimmett conducted a competency evaluation on Letecia Stauch in December 2020.
Dr. Grimmett said she met with Letecia Stauch for about 3 hours and 40 minutes. This was a court-ordered competency evaluation requested by the defense.
Before meeting with Stauch, Dr. Grimmett reviewed the discovery in the case, which included police reports, video, and a lot of information pertaining directly to the case. She said she noted a lot of consistencies in the report and was concerned about that.
Early on in her testimony, Dr. Grimmett said during her interaction with Letecia Stauch, “She was humming to herself, she was hitting her head on the wall. She seemed happier than she should’ve been."
“At some point, she turned around to talk to somebody else, then turned around to talk to me. She said she was talking to a vampire,” said Dr. Grimmett, talking about her interaction with Letecia Stauch.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch was complaining about nightmares and anxiety and mentioned being bipolar. Dr. Grimmett said she consistently observed Stauch not having mental health issues, hallucinations, etc. and Stauch did not mention anything about dissociative identity disorder.
Stauch told Dr. Grimmett she was impulsive all her life, was hyper, and would be manic for a few minutes to a few hours. Dr. Grimmett said she didn’t rule out anything at first.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch mentioned two instances where she found herself in places where she hadn’t planned on being. Stauch also told her she had various personalities, and she named them.
She named Taylor, Tecia, Jasmine, and I believe Jasper,” said Dr. Grimmet, when testifying about the different personalities Letecia Stauch claimed she had.
Dr. Grimmett said she didn’t see any signs that Letecia Stauch was changing personalities. She said she considered dissociative identity disorder as a diagnosis. She also said she has never reviewed someone with dissociative identity disorder.
Dr. Grimmett said dissociative identity disorder affects up to 1% of people. She said it’s a very destructive behavioral disorder and can be very frightening because people don’t know what’s happening to them.
She added dissociative identity disorder can be strange, and people can’t hold down jobs or hold down relationships. She said when talking to Stauch, Stauch’s history didn’t support that.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch had selective names based on things she liked and aspirations she had. She added, "alter egos present themselves to you," and people don't create them.
When testifying about Letecia Stauch referencing vampires, Dr. Grimmett said, “Mrs. Stauch introduced a vampire called Justice and said there is a button in her cell where she could summon Justice and Jasmine.”
Dr. Grimmett said Letecia Stauch said she’s been experiencing the vampires since her stay in Alaska. She said Stauch referenced the vampires throughout the interview and also directed Dr. Grimmett toward the movie Twilight.
Grimmett said she didn’t ask Stauch about vampires initially. “It sounded like a fabrication… It seemed like she was conveying a story from fiction," said Dr. Grimmett.
According to Dr. Grimmett, it seemed like Letecia Stauch was presenting symptoms that she didn’t have, and there were some suggestions she wasn’t as impaired as she was portraying.
Dr. Grimmett said she believed Letecia Stauch has personality dysfunction, including borderline personality disorder and a narcissistic personality.
Dr. Grimmett also said Letecia Stauch talked about Gannon and his death. She said Stauch, based on her religious beliefs, believed Gannon could be brought back to life. Dr. Grimmett said, “clinically it appeared delusional,” but it was something to explore further.
Dr. Grimmett said the symptoms Letecia Stauch presented, seemed to be an effort for Stauch to achieve something for herself. She said Stauch was trying to feel better and make sense of her situation while making efforts to portray herself in different ways.
Dr. Grimmett said there was an absence of mental illnesses, but some behavior was present, which included borderline personality disorder and a narcissistic personality. Dr. Grimmett believed Letecia Stauch was competent to stand trial.
During cross-examination of Dr. Grimmett, defense attorneys questioned how sexual abuse and assault as a child can impact an adult, and how it’s more traumatic if it’s a family member as opposed to a stranger.
The defense also questioned how mental disabilities impact someone’s ability to hold a job or keep relationships with people, and how someone who can’t do either of these may be showing signs of a mental disability.
The defense also questioned that diagnosing dissociative identity disorder can take years and that dissociative identity disorder and borderline personality disorder can be caused by childhood trauma.
This ended the testimony of Dr. Jackie Grimmett.
The next witness to be called to the stand in the trial was Dr. Loandra Torres who works in the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health for the state of Colorado. She testified as an expert in the field of forensic psychology.
Dr. Torres said she got involved in the Letecia Stauch case in 2020, and conducted Stauch’s initial competency evaluation along with Dr. Thomas Gray. After Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in 2022, Dr. Torres and Dr. Gray also completed another sanity evaluation.
Dr. Torres is testifying about the competency evaluation she and Dr. Grey completed on Stauch in mid-2020. Dr. Torres said Stauch was staying at the hospital for about two weeks before they saw her, which allowed for some observation.
Dr. Torres said during the 2020 competency evaluation, Stauch never mentioned being psychiatrically hospitalized. Dr. Torres said during the sanity evaluation in 2022, Stauch said she was psychiatrically hospitalized in Canada but wasn’t able to tell them what hospital or in what city.
Dr. Torres said when Stauch arrived at the mental health hospital, she told staff she heard voices in the past related to an ex-husband, wasn’t currently experiencing hallucinations, had past trauma and flashbacks, had panic attacks several times a week, etc.
During the evaluations, psychological testing was performed on Letecia Stauch. Dr. Torres said some of the results were invalidated due to exaggeration by Stauch and/or the scales of exaggeration were elevated.
During the competency evaluation, Dr. Torres said they noted Stauch showing features of a borderline personality and a narcissistic personality.
For borderline personality, they noted her mood swings, intense reaction, and impulsiveness. For a narcissistic personality, they noted entitlement and touting her intelligence.
Video of the insanity evaluation conducted on Letecia Stauch on March 24, 2022, was shown to the courtroom and jurors. She begins by saying when she was 10 or 11 years old, she created the personality of Harmony and let Harmony get molested, and not herself.
Stauch talked about her other personalities. Taylor is her main personality. Maria is the protector. Victoria has empathy. Letecia is bipolar and “doing the most.”
Earlier in her testimony, Dr. Torres also testified saying there were notes that Stauch at one point asked staff whether or not they could tell when a patient is faking instability or illness. Dr. Torres said you don’t see that very often in the records, you see it on occasion.
Jurors saw more videos of Stauch’s interview during her sanity evaluation in 2022. Stauch said the devil is telling her to do things. Dr. Torres testified saying that's not a credible symptom of dissociative identity disorder, which Stauch’s lawyers are claiming she has.
Jurors were shown the video again of Stauch hitting a deputy in the head with a monster energy drink during her transport from Myrtle Beach, SC to Colorado Springs.
Prosecutors asked Dr. Torres if it appeared that Stauch switched personalities to Maria, and said Stauch claimed she switched personalities when she did that.
Ashley Portillo who has been in the courtroom all day said, "I am sitting right behind Stauch and I heard her say, 'I never said that.'"
Prosecutors asked Dr. Torres, "What is your take on Stauch saying she turned into Maria when Gannon was killed?"
“I would think, or that my understanding of dissociative identity disorder, these different personality states have their own details associated with them", said Dr. Torres. "To me, in terms of Mrs. Stauch’s self-report, her presentation, it has always been confusing to me how all of the personalities seem to have an awareness of Mrs. Stauch’s own history."
The trial will resume on Friday morning at 9 a.m. Testimony from Dr. Torres will continue, and more videos will be played for jurors of her sanity evaluation on Stauch. One more witness called by prosecutors will be testifying too.
The prosecution said they could rest their case on Friday or Monday.
Letecia Stauch’s attorneys today said they’re calling their two witnesses to testify on Monday. Therefore jurors could reach a verdict in the trial sometime next week.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is learned. Tune in to News5 tonight to watch the latest updates of the trial at 4, 5, and 6 p.m.
Follow updates from the courtroom with News5's Ashley Portillo on Twitter. As is normal in Colorado courts, media coverage of the events will be limited. No cameras are allowed in the courtroom to cover the actual trial process. However, anyone can watch using the virtual courtroom option from the El Paso County court system.
PRIOR COVERAGE:
Mental health doctor testifies in Letecia Stauch trial, believes Stauch exaggerated mental health symptoms
Stauch murder trial enters week four ahead of schedule, verdict possible next week
Jurors watch videos between investigators and Letecia leading up to her arrest
Jurors listen to multiple calls from Al Stauch searching for more answers about Gannon's disappearance
Investigators testify on blood patterns and 'violent' scene in Gannon's bedroom
Letecia Stauch's daughter takes the stand and testifies about her mother's actions
Jurors shown video of Letecia Stauch alleged escape attempt
Jurors see first police interview with Letecia Stauch when questioned about Gannon's disappearance
"I knew she did it," said Letecia Stauch's half brother, referring to murdering her stepson
Testimony from the medical examiner on Gannon Stauch's injuries.
Gannon's father says his ex-wife was 100% sane
READ THE ARREST AFFIDAVIT FOR LETECIA STAUCH
Gannon's father says his ex-wife was 100% sane
Prosecutors challenge insanity claim
Gannon’s disappearance
At the time of his disappearance, law enforcement began a search for Gannon based on information provided by the stepmother who claimed he had gone to a friend’s house and had not returned.
Following several weeks of law enforcement and community-led searches for the missing boy, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrested Letecia Stauch in early March on charges of murder, child abuse, and crime of violence before his body was recovered.
Throughout all efforts to locate Gannon, investigators were already focused on Letecia Stauch based on her statements to law enforcement and evidence found at the family home and within her car.
During an initial interview with detectives, Letecia Stauch claimed a Hispanic male had raped her and kidnapped Gannon. According to court documents, she refused to undergo a medical examination to find evidence of a sexual assault and refused to provide any further description of an attacker. She later provided many different versions of events, which investigators detailed in the arrest affidavit.
Investigators believe Gannon was shot, stabbed, and beaten in his basement bedroom by the stepmother on January 27, 2020. A forensic search of the family home found blood stains were found on the boy’s mattress, carpet, baseboards, and electrical socket by his bed.
'My little boy is not coming home': Parents react to news of stepmother's arrest on murder charge
Police say Gannon’s body was loaded into Stauch’s Volkswagen Tiguan to hide his body before she parked the car at the Colorado Springs Airport where she rented another vehicle and picked up his father after he traveled for military service.
One of the areas searched by law enforcement was a stretch of Highway 105 in Douglas County where investigators recovered a piece of bloody wood. The arrest affidavit states investigators believe Gannon’s body was originally dumped at this location using her Volkswagen, but she later returned to the area in another vehicle.
Gannon’s remains were eventually found on March 17, 2020, inside a suitcase dumped under a bridge near Pace, Florida. Investigators believe the stepmother dumped the body during a trip to South Carolina.
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