The following is a transcript of the Gannon Stauch Family Press Conference announcing the arrest of step-mom Letecia Stauch, held on 03/02/2020.

[Begin Gannon Stauch Family Press Conference Transcript]

SPOKESWOMAN JACKIE KIRBY: Thank you for coming today. We thank you for your patience as we work diligently to piece together what led to Gannon’s disappearance. Our speakers today will be Sheriff Bill Elder, Lieutenant Mitch Mihalko, FBI Denver division Special Agent-in-Charge Dean Phillips, District Attorney Dan May, and Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Allen. We will not be taking any questions at the conclusion of the press conference, however, I will be reading a statement from Gannon’s father Al. Landen may or may not speak. Please respect the family’s request for privacy as they begin to absorb and process the devastating news they have received today. Sheriff Elder?

SHERIFF BILL ELDER: Thanks, Jackie. Welcome everybody. Today marks five weeks since the investigation into the disappearance of Gannon Stauch. We’re holding the press conference to update you on some significant developments. While we’ve yet to locate Gannon, this morning just after eight o’clock AM east coast time, Letecia Stauch was taken into custody in Myrtle Beach South Carolina without incident by law enforcement officers from the El Paso Country Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, Horry County Sheriff’s Office, the Denver and Columbia divisions of the FBI, the Myrtle Beach South Carolina Police Department, the Horry County South Carolina Police Department and Sheriff’s office. Letecia will be held without bond in the J Reuben Long Detention Center in Horry County, South Carolina where she will remain until she’s extradited back to Colorado Springs on the following charges. Charge 1: Murder in the First Degree of a Child Under 12 years of age by a Person in a Position of trust. Child Abuse Resulting in Death. Tampering with a Deceased Human Body, and Tampering with Physical Evidence. 

I cannot stress enough what a difficult time this has been for Gannon’s family. Like Jackie said, they’ve provided a written statement and they won’t be providing any interviews at this time, and I ask that you protect their privacy. This has been a rapidly developing and highly complex investigation, and it underscores the importance of teamwork in the law enforcement agencies in our community. While our hope is always that tragic cases like this never happen, it is precisely why the extremely close relationships we enjoy with our local, state, and national law enforcement partners becomes the most important. The list of people from around the country that have worked many, many long hours and invested themselves so deeply is long and impressive. I offer my sincere thanks to each and every one of you for all that you’ve done in the investigative efforts so far. The safety of the citizens of this community is the top priority to all of us standing before you today. We’d like to thank the thousands of members of this community for your compassion, your kindness and your thoughtfulness, your generosity, and your support while we’ve taken on the tireless search efforts over the past five weeks. On behalf of the Sheriff’s Office, all of the investigators, the staff, the volunteers involved in this investigation from all over the United States, we’d like to express our deepest sympathies to Gannon’s family and friends. There is no way to express the depth of our sympathy, and our hearts break for you. But I make this promise: this team will continue its work. These partners will remain steadfast and diligent until the conclusion and final prosecution of this case. We will not stop, and this investigation has only begun. Letecia’s arrest photograph will be made available to the media as soon as we can following the press conference. Jackie will have the details, and now I will turn this– the microphone– over to Lieutenant Mitch Mihalko. 

LIEUTENANT MITCH MIHALKO: Good afternoon. We will not be going into detail about the information in the investigation which ultimately resulted in the arrest of Letecia. But I can tell you this has been a methodical and time-consuming, multi-state operation with investigators working nearly around the clock to find Gannon. There have been thousands of hours of investigation and search efforts. This includes large-scale searches in addition to small, specific searches with drones, horses, canines, and other resources. While we have not yet found Gannon, information has been developed that is helping us narrow our search. As you can see from the arrest, sadly, we do not believe Gannon is alive. Our work is only just beginning, and you will continue to see many law enforcement officials in El Paso County in the coming weeks, and possibly months, as we continue our relentless pursuit of justice for Gannon and his family. On behalf of the investigators and staff involved in this investigation, we would like to express our deepest sympathies to the family and the friends of Gannon. The death of a child is something no parent should ever have to endure. This case has not just been an investigation for us, this case has become very personal and will forever remain in our hearts. We will continue to work closely with the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and other partners to the conclusion of this investigation. At this time I’d like to turn this over to FBI Denver Division Special Agent in Charge, Dean Phillips.

DEAN PHILLIPS: Thank you for being here today. On behalf of the men and women at the FBI, all the special agents, investigative analysts, support staff, and our task force officers, we express our deepest condolences to the family, the friends, and the loved ones of Gannon Stauch. To the press, I also ask that you give the family space and time in order to process the information that they’re dealing with now. To the community: thank you for your patience and understanding, for your assistance, and for the support you’ve provided to the law enforcement community as we’ve worked through this investigation. The law enforcement community, I want to recognize in particular the El Paso Country Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Springs Police Department, the Douglas Country Sheriff’s Office. Our partners… our taskforce partners in Pueblo, the Pueblo PD, Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, and the Colorado State Patrol. All of these agencies have worked tirelessly and seamlessly together throughout this investigation. Although this is not the outcome for which we had hoped, we continue to work this aggressively, and we will continue to work it through to the end. As far as the FBI is concerned, we’ve brought significant resources to bear to include agents, special agents, investigative analysts, technical support, evidence response teams, and Behavioral Analysis Unit support. But we are not done. We will be here with our partners until the end. We will continue to help law enforcement and the prosecutor see this until the very end. And know this– when it comes to the loss of a child, the FBI will always bring all available and logical resources to bear to help our law enforcement partners. When called, we will answer the call. To the community: I want to tell you that at this point, all the evidence points to Gannon’s disappearance being the result of foul play, but we have no reason to believe there is any information or intelligence indicating a threat to other children in the community. Thank you very much.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY DEAN MAY: This is not the outcome that anybody here wanted. We wish today, as we were standing here, that we had little Gannon with us to be able to present to our community still alive and doing well. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation. As you have heard an arrest warrant was issued for First-Degree murder of Gannon in this case. Unfortunately, we’ve had to get to know the family now as part of our prosecution family, and they’ll be with us for the next many months going forward. It’s an unfortunate thing that we are here today. I do want to thank all those who have been involved. The FBI’s been amazing. John Cronin, who’s the Special Agent in Charge here in Colorado Springs has spent… literally his team… 24/7 for weeks across this country. We could not have done this without their support. Bill Elder’s team has been fabulous in terms of their work. Working tirelessly again 24/7 for many weeks hoping we would find Gannon. Unfortunately, we are not. Colorado Springs Police Department… Kevin Clark came over and it’s been amazing, the work he has done, which I understand he may get a special recognition from the FBI in terms of what he’s done on this case. My lead prosecutor on this case has been Michael Allen. He will continue to be the lead prosecutor throughout this case. And with that, I would like to introduce him to fill you in on some of the things we expect going forward.

PROSECUTOR MICHAEL ALLEN: I want to let everybody know that the affidavit in this case supporting the arrest warrant remains sealed. We do understand why this case has drawn the attention it has from across our community and also across our country. But we want to do everything we can to make sure we achieve justice for Gannon, so we’re not gonna talk about the facts of the case going forward. We want to make sure that we protect these criminal proceedings. Any time a child goes missing, it’s natural for people to want to help out. And we encourage people if you have credible tips to still report those tips to the Sheriff’s Department. We are going to continue this investigation, and really it’s a two-pronged investigation at this point… or process, I should say. One: we still want to bring Gannon home so that he can have a proper burial and his family can achieve the closure that they need. But we also want to hold the person that we are charging, Letecia Stauch, accountable for what she did in this case. She has been arrested on the following charges: Murder in the First Degree, Child Under 12 by a Person in a Position of Trust. That is a class-1 felony and carries a potential penalty of life in prison without parole. The other charges are: Child Abuse Resulting in a Death, Tampering with a Deceased Body, and Tampering with Physical Evidence. The extradition process is where we are now. We will proceed until will get Letecia back here to face formal filing of charges, which will be sometime in the coming days. We do have a team of folks in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina right now: two prosecutors from our office, FBI agents, and members of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. They are collecting evidence even in South Carolina even as we speak, and that will continue until they exhaust that effort. I do want to add too that all defendants, Letecia included, are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That will be the case. It’s our burden to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. We are confident that we will be able to do that, but because we have that burden we want to protect these proceedings. We won’t be commenting again on the facts of this case. Thank you very much.

LANDEN HIOTT [GANNON’S MOTHER]: I really am not in the correct mindset to be even standing up here, but if I had to say one thing, that when he said “Gannon is no longer with us”, I’d have to say Gannon is with us. After the stories of people from all over the world, he’s not only my hero now, he is the world’s hero. So, I thank the community, the positive support from a state that I’ve never visited other than two or three times. I’m astounded by the amount of love that’s not come from me, it’s came from my boy. I never thought I’d be standing here! It’s a nightmare! I’ve had to put trust in people I don’t know. Today, I got the worst news and the best news. Obviously, we know what the worst news is, but the best news is that justice will be served. And I’ll make sure that justice is served because my boy did not deserve any of this and it’s happened to him! So I urge media, one more time, just to hold off on questions until we know that this person– the stepmom– that I even trusted, that she will pay one-hundred percent for this heinous thing she done! And I know that that will be done. So I ask you guys, I beg and plead with you, if you’ve know or if you see this story… all of you seeing this story, please hold that very close to you. Because I want to live on this earth knowing that justice was served for my boy. I know that you’ve seen pictures, you’ve seen stories, you’ve seen my little man. He is truly my hero, and I’m gladly giving that to you guys too, so he can be your hero. I’ve heard stories of people that have not prayed in years that have finally fell on their knees to pray. And I know where my son’s at, without a shadow of a doubt. So many families are being brought closer together because of this. I know my boy is special, and I’ve told my people and my family and friends that Gannon has a testimony. That Gannon has a story. He’s special! And this is his story. So make that story magnificent, who my child is, and I’m putting my trust into you guys to do that. So thank you for allowing Gannon to be your hero, and sharing him with us.

SPOKESWOMAN JACKIE KIRBY: So now I’m gonna read a statement from Al, Gannon’s dad:

“In a moment on September 29th 2008, my heart stopped as my baby boy entered this world way too early, weighing only one pound six ounces. His infectious smile and constant laughter made an impact on every single person he’s ever met. Although I’ll miss the years when he was learning to walk, learning to talk, and he had welcomed his little sissy home from the hospital, I’ve been looking forward to his teenage years and the fun we had ahead of us as he became a young man. In a moment on March 2nd 2020, my heart stopped again with what we have heard up to this point. My little boy is not coming home. We will never play Nintendo again. No more Taco Tuesdays. No more smooth-looking hair cuts. No more ‘Big Bubba’ for my Layna and no more ‘G-Man’ for the world. The person who committed this heinous, horrible crime is one that I gave more to than anyone else on this planet, and that is a burden that I will carry with me for a very long time. But the God I believe in is the owner and decider of justice and vengeance. Only he can repay. Although I am selfish and want my baby boy here now and forever, how can I question God for bringing Gannon home to him? Because Gannon believed in God, and I will never stop believing. Thank you to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI for the thousands of hours it took to uncover the truth as we know it, and may they stay strong and focused as they move forward.”

The mugshot for Letecia will be available on our social media platforms as soon as she is formally booked into the Horry County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility. I do have press packets available for the media, which will be available at the conclusion of the press conference. As Senior District Attorney Michael Allen said, all investigation questions should be directed to the District Attorney’s Office. All search effort information will continue to come from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. Right now I’d like to take the time to thank the media for your constant coverage and not letting this nation forget Gannon. Our work is not done. Let’s continue to work together to find him. Thank you for coming.

[End Gannon Stauch Family Press Conference Transcript]