39: Could The Killer Stepmom Be Set Free? | Everything You Need To Know About Letecia Stauch

Okay, I have to be on a fine flight. I saw a split video on it, fixed the ball, and it was almost 7 feet on me, it looked okay. What's your thing? The fire thing went off. It started saying, "Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!" Yeah, it was a gun. Oh, shoot! Hey, we're got it. I don't know what's happening from there. I really don't know what's happening here at all. It's hard to imagine anything worse than a missing child. I mean, the kind of fear that a parent must feel not knowing where their child is, or if they are even okay, it's basically every parent's worst living nightmare. And that is exactly what made the disappearance of 11-year-old Ganon Stauk back in January of 2020, so devastating. This little boy vanished, gone, in the middle of a Colorado winter, with his parents desperately trying to find him. However, what really sent this case into the headlines wasn't just that Ganon was missing, but it was everything that started coming out afterward. Because his stepmom, or rather step monster, Latisha, was one of the very few people who was supposed to be caring for him, supposed to be out there searching for him, and loving him and desperately wanting him to come home. But as it turns out, she knew a lot more than she was letting on. And when Ganon was unfortunately eventually found horrifically murdered, the entire image that Latisha had been presenting, it just completely unraveled. Because it turns out she wasn't a concerned parent, not at all. She was a monster who ripped a page straight out of the Casey Anthony playbook. Now, the first time we covered this case, we did a complete deep dive. I'm talking, breaking down every single red flag from the minute that Ganon disappeared, all the way through the moment that Latisha was finally arrested. We also covered the entire full trial, proving Latisha's guilt, over here on 10 to life. Every shocking piece of evidence, piece by piece. And in the three years since then, since that trial took place and she was convicted and found guilty, it has looked like Ganon and his family finally received some justice. That Latisha would spend the rest of her life exactly where she belongs, locked up in the gutters. However, this year, there has been a massive update that has changed everything in quite possibly the worst way possible. And as soon as I saw the headlines, I knew I had to crack this case back open. I had to come share it with you, talk with you about it because it is one that hisses me off to no end and just enrages me. So today, that's what we're doing. We're going to get pissed off together and I'm going to break it down completely for you. The backstory, the red flags, what is happening now and how it looks like there might be a question if Ganon and his family truly do get justice, we will go through all of it. As a reminder for reopened episodes, I will be bringing back parts of my original deep dive just so that you get the full story and I'll be adding in, you know, things along the way, updates, new perspectives, maybe things my opinions have changed on, all the new information, new footage that has come out since we last covered the case. But with that, there will also be some changes in audio you may notice because my equipment has changed over time. But we're going to break down this new latest update that has a quite literally everyone on edge and we're going to talk through what this means together as well as everything that led up to this point. So you know the drill, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, I'm Annie Elise and today we are reopening the case of Ganon Stalk and Latisha Stalk. Let's get into it. Ganon Stalk was born on September 1st, 2008, to parents Al and Landon. Ganon was known to be very kind and a cheerful child who loved video games and spending time with his family. He was a big brother to his sister Lena and he was very quiet, very smart and a fighter, his entire life because he was born weighing just over one pound and he miraculously survived. When Ganon was around seven or eight years old, his dad Al married a woman named Latisha. Latisha had a daughter with her first husband before marrying Al in 2016. Some people call her Tisha or T but we are going to call her Latisha. Together this blended family lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Al was a member of the Colorado National Guard and would often be a way at work, leaving Ganon under his new wife's care along with the other children. Fast forward to a few years later, in January of 2020, Ganon was in the fifth grade at Grand Mountain School in El Paso County, Colorado. But on Monday, January 27th, 2020, everything changed. Ganon didn't go to school on Monday because he had a stomach ache from the night before. On Monday night, Latisha reported that Ganon had gone missing from their home. She claimed that Ganon had gone to play at a friend's house sometime between 3 and 4 pm and he hadn't returned home. Latisha said that she didn't know what friend's house he went to, but that the friend's house was somewhere in their neighborhood, just a few streets away. After hearing the news from Latisha that Ganon was missing, Al returned home as soon as he possibly could. And according to Al, within a few hours, he said that his wife knew something was wrong when Ganon did not come home. He said, and I quote, "Ganon's not really the type to just walk off. We kind of do the street light rule. When the street lights come on or it gets dark, they better be home." And it was maybe 30 minutes past that, so we started to worry at that point. Then I started texting all of the friends that we know he went to, and nobody had seen him. He repeated what Latisha had told him that Ganon didn't say which friend's house he was going to in the neighborhood, and that this was unlike him, and that's why they were obviously very concerned. So that's when they decided to call the police. Search parties formed on Monday night, and drones were also brought out to try and find Ganon. Now January and Colorado can reach dangerously chilling temperatures if you're out at night, especially if you weren't planning to be out and don't have the right outerwear. So because of Ganon's age and the weather conditions, finding Ganon was of grave importance, and everyone was on high alert. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office was working to do everything they could as well to help find Ganon. Law enforcement officers conducted a massive search effort, scouring the neighborhood and the surrounding areas for any sign of Ganon, but nothing. Ganon's cell phone was at home also, so there was no way to contact him or vice versa. Monday turned into Tuesday, Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and Wednesday to Thursday, and still there was no sign of Ganon anywhere. A press conference was held for Ganon's disappearance to get the message out about Ganon, and all of his information in case anybody had seen him. And at the end, Ganon's parents pled for his return. Just think, why is this happening to him? I have no clue. My kid deserves to come home. My kid has a purpose. My kid has a life, and it's important to me and it's important to everybody that's standing in this room. Ganon, Baba, Little Man, Mommy's Hero, wherever you're at. Mommy and Daddy's here. We're begging and pleading for you to come home. I know that's your biggest wish, as I say, Mommy and Daddy standing here. We're here, Baba. We're here for you, and I can't wait to your found because I have hope that you are going to be found. You are my hero. You are the reason why I have life. It's so special to me. I don't think many people can understand. My child was a one pound six ounce baby. He had a 10% chance to survive. If he survived, he will be profoundly disabled. None of that is accurate. He's gifted and talented. Do anything for anybody. So I'm begging, I'm pleading if anybody has any type of lead. Push yourself in my situation. Ask yourself, what would you do? My savior is a great savior, and I know I have hope, and then my son's going to be here. Please come home, baby. Please come home. Yeah, I'd like to reiterate what Lane did said that well, what an incredible community we have. I mean, everybody in the team, an incredible team that I came out my front door. I think it was Tuesday and there was 300 people out there searching my neighborhood. They blew me away. So thank you, everyone. Thank you. The policy of the Sheriff's Office was to investigate reports of missing children aged 10 and older as runaways until evidence was found to prove an abduction or that a kidnapping had taken place. So for now, Ganon was considered a runaway, even though that wasn't like him at all. Despite the extensive search efforts, Ganon was nowhere to be found, almost like he had just vanished into thin air. Rumors in the community and social media began to spread about Ganon's stepmom Latisha and about her behavior since Ganon's disappearance and her story. Investigators said they had checked home security cameras in the neighborhood and had not identified any images of Ganon on any of them when he had been supposedly walking to his friends house. There were also rumors of Latisha not cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation. So was there something more going on here? Not long after he went missing, El Paso County upgraded the search for Ganon from runaway to an endangered missing child. Latisha spoke with the media to dispel any rumors about her involvement and to say that Ganon was at home Sunday night. But the statement really didn't make Latisha look great because she was kind of ready to throw the blame on anyone but herself. She even blamed Ganon's biological mom. She blamed El. She blamed the sheriff's office. And honestly, she just made the whole statement about how she was the victim, how she deserves an apology. I took care of Ganon for the last two years in our home because his mother didn't want to do it. And I would never, never, ever hurt this child. And I know there's some questions out there about, okay, so tell me what happens. That's up to the investigations when they end up letting you guys know, but I've cooperated with them. The rumors have gotten so bad. I pretty much have been told at least 10 different ways that these people have these conspiracy theories. I guess they watch a lot of law shows and maybe they have all these theories on how Ganon is dead and that's what they're saying. So I'm like, why are you saying Ganon is dead? He is not dead. We are going to find Ganon. And that's the main goal that we all have. My family has just because you haven't seen us. We have that same goal. We've been out searching. My aunt has been out searching. My family has been out searching. We all have been doing that together so that we could protect each other. How does it feel when not only you have a lost child who you are in care of, but then people blaming you for that child nothing? You know, I'm just ready for Ganon to come home. Most importantly for him to see his family, but second, I am going to be so ecstatic when I'm able to say to people that I hope they have a really sincere apology for all these theories that have came out online. For all the things they said that I have done or people have done, and I just want everyone to know that we're going to find Ganon. And I love him so much. I have helped taking care of him for so long. I think that a lot of people can see that I'm not missing and see that I am being cooperative. But to me, it's okay that they think those things because the way someone thinks about me, I don't have a problem with that. My main thing is I will never want someone to think that I would hurt Ganon or any of the children in our home because that's just not the case. I've sent my whole entire life working so hard in education. Any message for Ganon? The message for Ganon I have is, Ganon, when you get here, you'll be able to truly tell what happened. And then I really hope I get a sincere apology from everyone who has made all those things, especially from my husband. A few days after Ganon ran away or was missing, a snow storm was hitting Colorado, and it was expected to reach up to six inches. But the El Paso Sheriff's Office said that it would continue their search as long as conditions allowed. If Ganon really was somewhere out there, alone, without the proper clothing and with a snow storm approaching, things weren't looking good for Ganon at all. Then, seven days after Ganon's disappearance, a Metro Crime Lab team spent hours at the South Residence. They went in with gloves and tools and left with several evidence bags. Many people started to believe that maybe Ganon wasn't missing after all, and maybe just maybe something more sinister had occurred. The next day, one of the neighbors, Roderick Drean, reviewed some surveillance footage from his home security footage from that Monday, January 27. The day that Ganon was reported as missing. The neighbor of missing 11-year-old Ganon Staukes says this security video shows the boy getting into a red pickup with his stepmother on the day of his disappearance. My ex-finity camera. It picked it up. It picked up. The young lady taking him. Well, it picked up him, getting into the vehicle and her taking him off about 10-16 in the morning. Four hours later, and then she returned about to 16 without him. Ganon was reported missing by his stepmother later that day. The neighbor showed this clip to Ganon's father, Al, and he broke down cry and said she lied. She lied about the time he did not go to a friend's house. Finally, having all of the puzzle pieces beginning to connect and realizing this person is not who you thought she was, and she just lied about your young son going to a friend's house when there is no proof that he actually did that. This was a major problem now for Latisha. With the police presence at the house, the crime scene lab van and the media capturing what appeared to be evidence bags leaving the house, this new surveillance video put a target on Latisha's back once again for being involved in the crime. And as criticism high end, she finally released a statement. This statement read, "Saturday night, G was helping me unload in the garage and cut his foot because there are a lot of tools because Albert does woodworking." He sat on the edge of the car and we bandaged it up. He was good to go. He always loved helping his dad in the garage, building things like his Lego tables and the flower pot they built for me as a gift. After this, I noticed G kept going to the side of the house. He told me he was checking to see if the gate was locked because he was the only one with a gate key. It made him proud to be the man of the house while Albert was away. Fast forward, we did a hike on Sunday, cleared, and shopped on Monday, cleared as well for him getting out of the other side. Please don't think for a second that there isn't enough of technology to determine shadows and movement around the truck. There was also proof from my phone that we had taken a selfie in the truck in our driveway which was timestamped. We always send pictures to Albert when we are out and about or whenever he is away. That can be scanned for actual time verification. Last, from day one, the Sheriff's Office has known a description of the person/friend whom Ganon left with. I explained to them and provided evidence. They had information about G having the key to go out the side gate. Last, they have more in-depth details that go along with this, pointing to who sent the person or why he may have come. Again, I repeat, they have had this. Initially, I was asked to keep quiet about it so they could have the best shot at doing their job and bringing G home. The last thing that they needed was a hindrance to their investigation. I encourage you to think of any suspicious cars that may have been in the area watching a few days prior and keep praying for G. Signed Tisha Stalk. Now, that is a very lengthy statement. One where she very confidently and boldly says the police have more evidence. They just haven't released it because they don't want to handle the investigation. Saying they've seen the shadows in the truck. They have the description of the friend. They verified through time stamps. They verified on photo metadata. I'm not involved defending herself and saying, you know, the police knows more than they've released. So back off. But you could either consume that statement with that mentality or conversely, you could hear that statement and say to yourself, boy, this woman sounds really defensive. This woman sure has an excuse for everything. This woman sure is dropping time stamped photos more they take in intentionally so they would have a time stamp. It could be looked at either way. But the last half of that statement is pretty cryptic without knowing all of the investigation details that law enforcement knew and that the public didn't. Like, why is Tisha saying that the sheriff's office has known the description of the friend or person who Gannon left with? She said that she didn't know what friends house he went to at all. So how does that add up? Why is she talking about something that happened in the garage where Gannon cut his foot in the garage two days before he was reported as missing? Was it to explain blood that would be found? And then pointing to who sent the person or why he may have come, it was an extremely bizarre statement. Now, let's talk about the timeline because it was not adding up. So Saturday evening, according to Tisha, Gannon hurts his foot while helping clean the garage because there are tools and his foot is bandaged. But then Sunday, the family goes hiking at the garden of gods with a hurt foot. Monday, Gannon is then too sick to go to school and has a doctor's appointment, but Tisha takes him to go run errands. And then we have the surveillance video from the next day where it seems like Gannon is taking a very long time to get in the truck or possibly Latisha is helping him get in. Some people after seeing that even speculated that he could have possibly been drugged. And then Monday afternoon, Gannon leaves home between 3.15 and 4 p.m. to play with a friend, yet there is no surveillance showing him walking anywhere in the neighborhood. And at 655. 5 p.m. on Monday, he's reported as missing or a runaway. As the police investigation progressed, inconsistencies began to emerge in Latisha's story. She initially claimed that Ganon walked to a friend's house, but then when that friend was questioned, they denied having seen Ganon at all that day. And these inconsistencies weren't small inconsistencies. Her story dramatically changed multiple times over the days following Ganon's disappearance. And then on March 2nd, just over a month since Ganon was last seen, Latisha was finally arrested. And the arrest affidated it, revealed shocking and extremely disturbing information. According to the affidavit, police believed Latisha actually murdered Ganon on that Monday and that he was never missing at all. They think that this took place around 2.14 p.m. in Ganon's bedroom based on physical evidence that was recovered from the house, which supports the fact that a violent event occurred in his bedroom, which caused a bloodshed, including blood spatter on the walls, and enough blood loss to stain his mattress, soak through the carpet pad, and stain the concrete below his bed. Of noten Ganon's room is the large stain in the south-east corner of the room. The markings that you see on the wall are marking spatter marks that were denoted by the Mitchell Crime Lab. Then Ganon's remains were brought through the house, into the garage, and loaded into the back of Latisha's Volkswagen SUV. After cleaning the murder scene, Latisha drove the Volkswagen SUV to transport and dump Ganon's remains on the evening of January 28th, 2020. But let's go back to the events leading up to that afternoon. On Monday, January 27th, 2020, Ganon stayed home from school. We know that. Based on text messages from Latisha to his father, Al, Ganon was up most of Sunday evening with a stomach problem. Latisha did tell Ganon school that he would be absent on Monday. Latisha also told Al that, and I quote, "I'm just going to give them an excuse at work and I'm going to stay with him," which she did. She told her employer via text message at 4.37 am that her stepdad was killed after being hit by a car and that she would not be able to come to work that day. I mean, a pretty bold excuse. Why not just say, "Hi, my son is sick and I have to stay home. Why kill off your stepdad? It's bizarre, but not even the most bizarre thing in this case." Latisha then took pictures on her phone of Ganon, sleeping in his bed at 8am on the 27th. In one of the pictures, Ganon's Nintendo Switch, which is a video game console, was lying next to him in his bed. Lena, the daughter, returned home from school around 3.15 pm on the 27th. During a recorded forensic interview with investigators, Lena stated that when she returned home, Latisha told her Ganon was asleep in her bed and that she could not see him. Latisha told Lena to go outside and to play. At 3.55 pm, Al sent a message to Ganon's phone, saying, "Hey buddy, investigators believe Ganon was already murdered by Latisha at the time that Ganon's phone received that message. This message was not read until 7.40 pm, but not by Ganon since his phone was at home that night when he went missing. So who read it? He never saw that message from his father." At 4.52 pm, Latisha sent a text message to Harley, her daughter, requesting carpet cleaner, trash bags, and baking soda. Harley purchased these items, and investigators located a receipt documenting the purchase. Harley refused to speak with investigators at that time, but she doesn't appear to be associated with Ganon's death in any way other than innocently picking up the items for her mom. Bodycam footage from when the police came to the stalk residence on the 27th showed that Latisha's Volkswagen was backed into the garage and the position of the car in the garage was significant, specifically because of the confirmed presence of Ganon's blood in the garage right below the area where the rear hatch of the SUV would be. And the positive reaction of blood from luminal testing that was done on the SUV's rear bumper. Also in the bodycam footage, the pillows and blankets on Ganon's bed were completely different than that picture that she took of Ganon's sleeping that morning, leading investigators to believe that they were removed by Latisha to cover up any evidence of blood on those items. And not only that, investigators looked for that same bedding and blankets five times at the family house and never found it. Then on the morning of January 28th, 2020, the day after Ganon was reported as missing, Latisha rented a 2019 Kia Rio from Avis Rentacar. Then Latisha picked up Al from the airport right after she rented the Kia and drove back home in that Kia. Now the timing of the rental of the Kia is very suspicious and combined with forensic evidence later obtained from the SUV tends to place the additional importance on why Latisha felt compelled to rent a vehicle that morning. Investigators located no evidence that the SUV was not mechanically functioning or any reason why it could not have been physically driven. Instead, the SUV remained parked at the Colorado Springs Airport short-term parking lot until approximately 7pm on January 28th. And then she returned the Kia the next day. Now Latisha's SUV was important to investigators because they believed that Latisha used it to transport Ganon's remains or dump him. And that's why she couldn't pick up Al in the SUV considering it would have revealed evidence of Ganon's murder, including blood or the actual remains of Ganon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Given all these red flags, investigators wanted to interview Latisha as soon as they possibly could. So they brought her in for questioning on January 29th. Investigators were granted a search warrant for the SUV which was seized from Latisha at her interview and then towed to the evidence facility. The search revealed possible traces of blood on the rear of the vehicle, the rear passenger seat, the front passenger seat, and an area near the glove box. In the beginning of the interview, Latisha drastically departed from her initial statements that were given previously regarding Ganon's disappearance. Now get this, according to the affidavit, Latisha had said that she had been held at gunpoint and that she had been attacked in a (beep) way by a Hispanic man that she knew as Aguardo and that Ganon was then abducted by this male after he finished attacking her. Now get this, Latisha stated that she met Aguardo on January 26th, 2020, the day prior to Ganon's murder. She generally described him as a Hispanic man with brown hair and brown eyes but could not provide any specific identifying information. Instead, she told investigators that Ganon had knocked over a candle on Sunday, causing the carpet to burn. After that incident, she drove around the neighborhood where residential construction was taking place and she met Aguardo, he was working on a house and she asked him if he would come and repair the carpet in her home. Now apparently, Aguardo agreed and Latisha provide him the garage doorcode and they agreed that he would repair the carpet while she was shopping the next day. If Latisha's story was accurate, any reasonable person would have immediately called 911 and reported the home invasion, the attack, and the kidnapping of their child. But instead, Latisha called law enforcement hours later and didn't even report the alleged attack until approximately two days later. Instead, she made up the victitious story that Ganon walked to a friend's house. She also denied killing Ganon and gave explanations as to why there was blood in the car, blood in Ganon's room, and other things. Which brings us back to that bizarre statement Latisha gave where she talked about Ganon cutting his foot in the garage and how he sat at the edge of the SUV while she bandaged him up. However, Latisha actually incriminated herself then because at this point, the presence of blood detected was not known to the public or her. So it was obvious that she was preemptively attempting to lie to explain things away or give an alibi for her whereabouts. Towards the end of the interview, Latisha said that she wanted to leave. Investigators seized her phone and detained her while they applied for a search warrant to obtain DNA collection. Latisha began stuffing tissues in her pants and said that she was having chest pain and shortness of breath. Investigators immediately requested medical assistance and paramedics from the Colorado Springs Fire Department arrived. When she later went to the hospital, she was acting evasive. And even though she wasn't physically in custody, Latisha left the hospital in an escape-like manner. Which doesn't make any sense at all because why would she not want to take the tests to cooperate her own story and help identify who attacked her and who kidnapped Ganon. The, because it's BS. After investigators seized Latisha's SUV, she rented a Nissan Altima, which investigators installed a GPS tracker on and started to monitor where she was going. One of the locations the GPS revealed was that she traveled to an area north of Palmer Lake and along Highway 105 South Perry Park Road in Douglas County, Colorado. Investigators believed Latisha rented the Altima to go back to the area where she dumped Ganon's body. And when investigators went out there, they found a piece of particle board with Ganon's blood on it. So now not only did she-- go out there in her SUV, but she also went out there in the Altima, which law enforcement believed that since she didn't have any real reason to be out there, no friends, no family, no business, in that area essentially, there would likely be no legitimate reason to be out there, other than disposing of evidence. Specifically, their theory was that Latisha disposed of Ganon's remains at nighttime, and likely was nervous about the location that she chose and may not have even remembered exactly where she dumped Ganon's remains. Then a couple of days later, she went back to the area to view the area while sunlight was available, to ensure that no evidence was viewable from the road, also to ensure that his remains were covered so law enforcement wouldn't find him, and to see if there was any police activity in the area. Now let's get into Latisha's cell phone, where if she hasn't already incriminated herself enough so far, she absolutely buried herself. Now her Google searches honestly speak for itself, and I always say Google is going to be the death, no pun intended, of all of these dumb, dumb criminals. So let me walk you through these Google searches, find real military singles. Parenting should be four people, not one. I'm overdoing all the work for my stepkids and their mom doesn't help. Mom advice for stepmom. If you aren't involved in your kids, life you are crappy. My husband's ex-wife does nothing for her kids. I wonder if my husband's ex-wife is sending me a Valentine's Day card since I raised her kids. One day some people will wish they treated you differently. Why should my husband choose me over family? Find me a rich guy who wants me to take care of his kids. Find a guy who wants me to take care of his kids and get paid. It's crappy some parents don't care for their kids or buy them presents. Parents are those who put their kids before their nails. My son burned the carpet. How do I fix it? Will a humidifier help if exposed to smoke? Smoke from fire affects will humidifier help. Colorado law for kids staying at home. School is out. Is it okay for my kid to stay at home alone? Sun is sick but I have to go to work. Sun is sick. Can he stay home? Suede repair for sofa. El Paso sheriff's office number. What is the process for our runaway child? Police steps for our runaway. Police steps for our missing child. Today's flights okay see to COS. Can Nintendo find my switch? Carnet Volkswagen. They are asking for our son's toothbrush but said nothing is wrong. Find me a new husband book. I feel like I'm just a nanny not a stepmom. Husband uses me to babysit his kids. Are there any free money to move away from bad situations? My husband never posts about me but does everything else. My husband only cleans up for the army not me. I'm just a glorified babysitter. Find a new husband. Sent my husband sexual messages and he ignores them. Make my husband want me more. I feel like my husband uses me to babysit his kids. Find a guy without kids. Now a lot of the Google searches are weird, 1000% but at the same time most of them are statements or feelings. They're not really questions that you would ask Google. However either way I mean it's clear to me that Latisha's resentment was building. Especially her resentment toward Al and her feelings like raising the kids just completely fell independently on her. Al provided law enforcement with recorded phone calls that began on February 13th. So two weeks or so before she was arrested and two weeks after Ganon was missing or ran away she gave four different stories of what happened. Story number one. When the police came to the house on January 27th 2020 the abductor was stealing her residence and she tried to signal to deputies that there was somebody in the residence which obviously is a lie but also deputies searched the entire house for any sign of Ganon and they knew there wasn't any other person there. Story number two. She was attacked in a simple way by Quincy Brown at her residence and he abducted Ganon. Apparently she knew this guy's name because she saw a paper and his ID out of his pocket and it had a name on it. Well can you imagine that? Then Latisha sent a screenshot of where Quincy Brown was listed as a most wanted suspect in an internet article related to other charges. Story number three. Quincy Brown followed her from Petco and at some point was lying in the middle of the road in front of her car when Latisha stopped to avoid running the man over. Then he jumped into her car and made her take him to her home to attack her in a way. Story number four. Latisha and Ganon were near county line road highway 105 when Ganon was riding a bicycle in that area and fell off. He hit his head and then he was abducted by Quincy Brown. In this version of events Quincy Brown was driven by a man named Terrance. Now we got a new player in this. I mean seriously what is going on here? The fact that she was so blatantly lying and making up the craziest stories is insane and I'll agree. He let Latisha know that what she was saying was not adding up not by a long shot. So he asked her point blank. Did you hurt Ganon? Did you kill Ganon? I need to know. I need you to answer me. Yes or no right now. I can't believe you asked me this. I just got to know you. I told you to be straight up. I got to know what's happening to my son. I see why you think I killed Ganon. There's a lot. There's a lot of unknowns. I mean you being straight up again you change your story again to me for the fourth time. Now I changed my story. You did. This is the fourth version of the same story. Okay. Like half of what you told me today cut foot and now he's got burn arms and picking it and his butts bleeding. All this stuff is it's new to what you told me the other day. And the other day you told me to clean up the area where you got raped so nobody would see it. But now you told me you just changed clothes. I just don't know what the hell's going on. Then Al confronted her about all of that blood that was found in Ganon's room. How did the blood get there? Okay. It was a significant amount of blood. How did it get there? In the corner of Ganon's room under his bed. What you told me the breads were pushed together. So how did the blood get there? Are you done yelling at me? I'm not yelling. I'm not yelling. All I believe is what I saw blood on the floor in my son's room and my son is missing. Okay. That's the two things I know. Ganon was hurt in my house. How many times do I have to say this to you? I don't know. You don't know how he got hurt. Okay. You can just feel her anger in that call. As she in my opinion she knows that the walls are closing in on her. And honestly good on Al for sticking his ground and finally standing up to Latisha. But then investigators also found something else in Latisha's phone. Something completely separate from Al. She had been calling a random phone number which turned out to be connected to are you ready for this? Fakepolygraph.com. Latisha was actually calling an unknown male at this company over and over again because she had not received her fakepolygraph results. The unknown male stated that her report was blocked by management based on the content of the questions and stated that with any illegal activities they reserve the right not to send the report. You can't make the stuff up guys. Even fakepolygraph.com has a better moral compass than Latisha. So investigators called fakepolygraph.com to see what the questions and the answers were that Latisha provided. And these were them. Did you participate in any way in causing harm to your stepson? No. Did your stepson return with you to your home? Yes. Did you participate in any way in causing the death of your stepson? No. So based on all of that, based on all of that guys, Latisha was arrested in Myrtle Beach South Carolina for first degree murder for attacking a child resulting in a death. Tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. All felonies. Latisha waved her extradition hearing and was eventually transported to Colorado. On the way there, somehow Latisha managed to get out of her handcuffs and began attacking one of the officers in what was believed to be an escape attempt. Now this is how the investigators described the whole thing. You can see her leaning back in her seat, manipulating her wrist to escape those handcuffs. She grabbed a large full unopened can of monster energy drink and she slammed it into her macala james space. She lunged for deputy james has gone two times. It was very dangerous for dealing with a murderer who escaped out of her handcuffs and struck a deputy in the face. What did keeps on dropping me? I will have stopped him. She keeps on. Well, she got out of her strength. She keeps on threatening me. I will for you. "What's your arm then?" "What's your arm?" "What's your arm then?" "What's your arm then?" "What's your arm then?" As all of this was going on with Latisha, the community was still doing everything that they could to find Gannon. But then on March 17th, 2020, after almost two full months from his disappearance, they got the news that they had been dreading. Gannon's body was found, but not in Colorado, where he lived, but rather 1400 miles away in Florida. A construction worker had found his remains under a bridge, stuffed in a suitcase just completely thrown away like he was trash, 11 years old. The autopsy later officially identified and determined that he had been stabbed, shot, and strangled before being dumped in Florida, over 1,000 miles away from his house. Police said that Gannon suffered from a fractured skull, a gunshot wound to the lower jaw, 18 sharp force wounds, and what appeared to be defensive wounds on his hands. The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound with blunt force trauma to the head. Absolutely appalling, revolting, and heartbreaking. Finally though, it seemed like Gannon and his family were going to get justice when Latisha went to trial three years later in April of 2023. Latisha pleaded non-gilty by reason of insanity. So that means that both sides agreed that she did kill Gannon, but the only question was, did she know right from wrong when she did it? And the defense really tried to answer that question during their opening statements, arguing that Latisha had serious mental health problems and they stemmed from her trauma during her childhood. They claimed that she had disassociative identity disorder, otherwise known as multiple personality disorder, which to them, according to them, it meant that she didn't even mean to kill Gannon. She meant to kill quote demons from her past. The prosecution though, I mean, they shut that down immediately. They said that it was obvious that Latisha knew that what she was doing was wrong. I mean, just look at everything she did afterward. The lies, the cover-ups, the constantly changing stories, the fake polygraphs, all of that. That's not someone disconnected from reality. That is someone trying not to get caught. So to get ahead of the defense's whole mental health argument, prosecutors called Dr. Christine, the mental health director at the El Paso County Jail, and she testified that on March 5th, 2020, just a couple of weeks before Gannon's body was found, Latisha told her that she had absolutely zero mental health problems. Latisha said the same thing too and follow-up meetings all throughout March. It wasn't until after Gannon's body was found that Latisha suddenly started mentioning mental health issues and started demanding to be evaluated, which to me, that just shows that the mental health claim is completely bogus in Latisha's case. The prosecution also brought in Dr. Jackie Grimit, a forensic psychologist who evaluated Latisha in December of 2020. Now she testified that Latisha reported some bizarre symptoms, things like claiming that she was being visited by vampires and things like that. But the doctor also said that she did have some traits consistent with borderline personality disorder, also narcissistic personality disorder, but ultimately she concluded that Latisha was actually exaggerating most of her symptoms. Surprise, surprise. The prosecution's last psychologist basically said the same thing. That Latisha's claims about her mental health all changed all the time. At one point, she said that she never had any treatment for her mental health, but then suddenly she would change her story and said she had treatment in Canada. She had treatment here, there, everywhere. In the end of the psychologist admitted that Latisha did probably have a personality disorder, but was definitely legally sane at the time of the murder. So then it was the defense's turn, and they started with Dr. Rhonda, a clinical psychologist who had treated Latisha before all of this happened, way back in December of 2019, back when she had prescribed her hydroxide or hydrox design or something like that for anxiety, which I have to say that's kind of a weak argument in my opinion, because plenty of people deal with anxiety and take medication for it, and they don't end up stabbing their children to death. Hey, I'll tell you right now, I have beta blockers prescribed to me for any time I have to do public speaking or go on tour 'cause I get anxiety, and I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I'm not gonna be out there committing murder because of that. It just doesn't make sense. Then the defense called who they thought was their star witness. Dr. Dorothy Lewis, an expert in Disassociative Identity Disorder, who testifies in these kinds of trials quite honestly all the time. Now Dr. Lewis said that Latisha showed classic signs of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The more I study her and the more I remember what happened in COVID, she has such a variety of differences of signs, symptoms, and behaviors. She has many of the signs, symptoms, behaviors of a Dissociative Identity Disorder. She also, if you follow the material that says, you were called, I could not remember it clearly. If you follow the parts that I couldn't remember, they are confused, they make no sense, they are psychotic, they are incomprehensible by an ordinary human being. She testified that Latisha had different personalities, including a personality named Maria, who get this, supposedly spoke in a different accent. I recall her kind of serious sociating all over. And she talks about her grandmother and family shooting things out the window and always needed people to guard funerals. That it had a chaotic quality and it happened shortly after, as I recall it, shortly after I became aware of her seeming to move into her Maria persona and her more aggressive, more scary persona. And then it is just rambling and doesn't make sense in coherent or psychotic. According to Dr. Lewis, it was Maria, not Latisha, that killed Gannon. To her, that meant that not only was Latisha insane at the time of the crime, but she didn't even have the ability to understand what actually happened to Gannon. - About the time that Gannon was killed, she was psychotic at the time. She was not in touch with reality. And she did not, I don't think she knew the difference between right and wrong. I don't know whether she even knew what she was doing. (dramatic music) - In the defense's closing argument, they reiterated what Dr. Lewis had said and they also added that the sheer brutality of what happened to Gannon was proof that Latisha must have had some kind of psychotic break, which, no, I'm sorry, in my opinion, that's not what proves this at all. That doesn't prove she had a psychotic break. That proves that your client is a vial, calculated, disgusting child killer. Now, obviously, I'm not a doctor, but I don't buy this insane thing for a single second. To me, Latisha was completely sane. This was premeditated and it was just straight up evil. And the prosecution basically said the same thing in their closings. They argued that all of Latisha's attempts to cover up the murder clearly showed that she was sane. In their view, this wasn't someone out of touch with reality. This was someone who knew exactly what she had done and she was doing everything that she could possibly do to manipulate the situation and throw the investigators off her trail. And then there's also the question, of course, of motive. The prosecution pointed yours all the way back to Latisha's Google searches, which showed she presented Al. She didn't wanna take care of his kids, especially Gannon. And to really drive it home, they reminded the jury just how much Gannon suffered. They showed photos of his t-shirt and his jacket both riddled with stab wounds. His pillow had two bullet holes in it. And the jury was even shown the bullet that was removed from Gannon's head. Which I mean, how does someone do that to a child? So with all of that, the case was finally in the jury's hands. And on Monday, May 8, 2023, after nearly eight hours of deliberation, the verdict was in. - With respect to count number one, church. March of murder in the first degree, effort, deliberation. We the jury find the defendant, Latisha Stalk, guilty of count number one, murder in the first degree, after deliberation. With respect to count number two, charge of murder in the first degree, child under 12, by a person in a position of trust. We the jury find the defendant, Latisha Stalk, guilty of count number two, murder in the first degree, child under 12, position of trust. With respect to count number three, charge of tampering with a deceased human body, we the jury find the defendant, Latisha Stalk, guilty of count number three, tampering with a deceased human body. With respect to count number four, charge of tampering with physical evidence, we the jury find the defendant, Latisha Stalk, guilty of count number four, tampering with physical evidence. But even with that closure, there was still the question of sentencing. Gannon's parents gave absolutely heart-breaking victim impact statements, asking the judge to give Latisha the maximum sentence possible. Al even asked the court to legally strip Latisha of the last name stout. And honestly, I completely agree. She does not deserve to share the same name as the little boy who she murdered. Now when it was time for the judge to hand down the sentence, he pretty much said what everyone was already thinking and he completely ripped Latisha and her shitty defense apart wholeheartedly. You betrayed your stepson and you took his life. You took away everything he was and everything he could ever become. I can't imagine the terror and confusion that he must have felt in the last moments of his life when he knew his life was being taken by someone he trusted to protect it. Your claim that a mental health issue caused the murder in this case is a disservice to all those who struggle with mental health issues every day. Your claim is that it was another personality that murdered Gannon, but there is no time during the minutes, hours and days following the murder. Where Latisha came out and wondered, "Gee, why am I carrying a body around in my luggage?" That just isn't credible. You knew what you were doing. You made a number of clear and conscious decisions to cover or disguise what you had done. Before finally handing down Latisha's sentence, the judge said that she is the worst monster he has ever seen. I have handled hundreds if not thousands of criminal cases over the years. I can, however, say without hesitation that the facts in this case are the most horrific I have ever seen. Your conduct in this case deserves the maximum punishment that I can impose under Colorado law. As such, with respect to the charge of first degree murder after deliberation, I remand you to the custody of Colorado Department of Corrections for the remainder of your life with no possibility of parole. And for three years, it really felt like that was the end of the story, that nothing, of course, could ever bring sweet little Gannon back, but at least his family had some sense of justice knowing that his killer would never see the light of day again. But then, on April 2nd, 2026, more than six years after Gannon's murder, everything turned upside down. Because in a total bombshell, the Colorado Court of Appeals threw out Latisha's conviction and they ordered a brand new trial. It turns out that one of the jurors in her original trial was the father-in-law of someone who worked in the district attorney's office. So the appeals court said that the juror should have been dismissed immediately, like shouldn't have even made it past first round of jury selection. Which I agree, but here's the wild part in all of that. The juror wasn't trying to hide anything. They were forthcoming. They actually told everyone about their familial connection. The prosecutor knew about it, the judge knew about it, yet he was still allowed to stay on the jury. So now, because of that, the entire case is basically reset, which it is so frustrating I could honestly scream. I think I actually did scream when I first heard the news. Because it's one of those cases that really shows how important it is for everyone, from crime scene investigators, to interrogators, to judges, to just be super meticulous and do everything, absolutely everything by the book. Because when even one tiny thing slips through the cracks, you end up in a situation like this, where someone who is so very obviously guilty suddenly gets another shot at walking free. It's just sickening. Now, of course, this was absolutely devastating for Ganon's family. Al said in a statement, quote, "I am truly torn by the emotions of potentially having to repeat this process. My resolve, however, has never been greater. My desire for justice has never wavered, and most importantly, my love for Ganon will never fail. The end result will be the same, and although we do not wish to journey this path again, we stand with those who will handle this case and believe wholeheartedly in their ability to finish it once and for all." Which I agree completely. I don't think there's any question that this gutter trash sewer human being, or subhuman, I should say, is going to be found guilty again. I think that's a no-brainer. However, she gets the perk of not only putting people through this all over again, selling her manipulation, her twists, her stories, but, you know, trying her best for another shot at this, which I don't think will ever land. But you're putting the family through all of this again. You're wasting resources for her. It's more time to get out of the prison system and go to a courtroom and dress up, or, you know, not even dress up, but, like, be there. And, like, almost like she's going on a recess for a while, not recess in the courtroom, but, like, recess in the play. Or, you know, like, it's a break for her. And this woman deserves no breaks at all. So what happens now? I mean, the good news is, Latisha is not going anywhere for now. Her sorry ass is still behind bars. The prosecution has also appealed the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court, and there are basically three ways that this could go. They could overturn the appeals court's ruling and say that the trial was fair. They could agree with the appeals court, or they could decide not to take the case at all. And if it's either of those last two, then Latisha gets a brand new trial. And Ganon's family has to go through all of this all over again. Which if that happens, I already am looking for ways to bring you those updates. And honestly, I would love your input. What kind of coverage do you want to see here? Whether it's us actually getting myself or a team member over to Colorado to be in that courtroom, or bringing back our trial correspondent from the Karen Reed trial to host live streams as it's happening and break everything down in real time, or give you the recaps as things unfold in our weekly segment of headline highlights on Thursdays. You tell me because let me know however this plays out, my mission is I want to make sure that Ganon's story stays front and center. And I want to make sure that that monster stays behind bars. Before you go, don't forget, subscribe on YouTube. And if you are listening to this on the audio version on a podcast, make sure that you follow the show on whatever podcast app you're listening on. I appreciate it. I appreciate the support and I will keep you updated. I'm Annie Elise. And as always, thank you for tuning into another episode of "Ten To Life." I will be back with you on Tuesday with an all new episode. And in the meantime, if you need even more true crime, you can listen to my other true crime podcast seriously between the two of them. New episodes are coming out every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday. So for all my podcast listeners, make sure that you're following both of them. And until the next one, guys, stay safe. Bye.