EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (WBTW) — Letecia Stauch, accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch, was charged after planning an escape from prison, deputies said.
Deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado, where Stauch is being held, were notified by another inmate, Theresa Borchard, that Stauch gave her letters containing written plans for escape, according to an affidavit.
Bourchard told deputies that Stauch often stops by Borchard’s cell and passes notes to her and other inmates.
According to the affidavit, Stauch is classified as “segregation from all,” meaning she can’t be moved around the facility with other inmates, and is also classified as a “full restraint escape risk,” meaning she can’t be transported outside of the facility without full restraints of her wrists, ankles, and her wrists tied to a belt on her waist.
Deputies went into Borchard’s cell to interview her, where she turned over two letters that were given to her by Stauch, and said Stauch was looking for her help making plans to escape, according to the affidavit.
Borchard told deputies that on May 18, Stauch told her she planned to break out of her cell window using a broom handle, and even measured herself to see if she would fit out the window, deputies said.
Deputies asked Borchard if she planned to help Stauch escape, and she told deputies no because she didn’t want to make her situation any worse by doing “something stupid.” Stauch thought that she could get her to help by offering her money, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, one letter said that “G-pa” was putting $75,000 in an account for a private attorney, but Stauch said she would “much rather use the money to survive, if you know what I mean,” and “You have my word to make sure we are MIA. I got us covered.”
Deputies said Stauch wrote the letters partially in code because her letters got opened. In one letter, Stauch said she had a visit at 8:00 p.m. that night. Stauch did have a visit with a social worker that night at 8:00 p.m., which deputies said confirmed the letter was written by Stauch.
The second letter said she already measured the window and drew something that resembled the window in her cell and at the bottom of the second letter, according to the affidavit. Stauch wrote in the letter asking Borchard to check the broom piece, and that she was “dead serious” and asked Borchard to “just think hard.”
Deputies said the handwriting in the second letter was similar to the first letter, which deputies confirmed was written by Stauch, and at the bottom was written: “throw the note away in the toilet.”
Later in the night, deputies went to Stauch’s cell and moved her to a cell in the medical section, according to the affidavit. When checking Stauch’s cell, a third letter was found addressed to “Sweetie” with handwriting similar to the first two letters.
The third letter said if “something comes up on the news like she is no longer in the jail or is missing to not be afraid,” and on the back Stauch’s daughter’s name was written, which is the same name listed for Stauch’s next-of-kin in her booking information, deputies said.
On May 19, deputies placed the three letters into an evidence locker to be preserved until they could be permanently entered into evidence.
Read the full affidavit below: