Thread by @Spencer_WNews

We're back in the courtroom. I've attached a link to our @KKTV11News web story as well that will have the full rundown after today.

Both attorneys are here, about to get started! Was just warned again about keeping my keyboard "clicking" quiet🤫

bit.ly/2X4U1BM

"All rise"

We're back for #LeteciaStauch's preliminary hearing for the murder of #GannonStauch

Next witness coming up.

Sgt. Rozario Hubbell with @EPCSheriff takes the stand. Been with the office for 14 years.

He works with major crimes, which, this counts as.

He monitors all the detectives, he's not out there himself, but he's collecting their data and sorting it. "Has an overview of the case as it unfolds."

They're going over the specifics of when major crimes became involved from a missing person's case to something more.

He says he's the one who sent more deputies out "to follow up."

Hubbell says this eventually evolved into a homicide case (we know.)

Says they had access to #LeteciaStauch's phone, and there were photos of #GannonStauch taken in his bed in his room.

Not sure where they are going with it but they are submitting the evidence.

Exhibit 29:

Photo in Gannon's room in the morning of the 27th. Sheets are off the bed. Morning light is peaking through

Exhibit 30: Gannon asleep in bed. The blanket he is in is one of the blankets we saw earlier from the suitcase. Gannon is in blue PJs. Bedding on the base seems to be the blue shark bedding we also saw, a little hard to tell. But the blanket is 100% the blue and red one.

"Based on this photo is Gannon alive in this photo at 8:15 this morning (27th of January 2020)?"

"Yes he looks alive"

"No major wounds that I can see."

Exhibit 31: Another shot of Gannon sleeping. this is closer, and we can see his head on his pillow.

"The pattern on the pillow is consistent with the photos from the suitcase. It's apparent we are looking at the same bedding (as from the suitcase)."

Exhibit 32: Another photo of Gannon in bed from the base, showing that red and blue blanket.

Not sure why she was taking these photos but sure is making this easy to compare the photos from Florida and his bedding in Colorado. Which again, is grisly, but seemingly damning.

"So the bedding you got from Florida are consistent with the bedding in these photos."

"Yes."

@4thJudicialDA says "do you recall in the body camera footage the bedding was there?"

"It was not."

"So the bedding was changed?"

"It appears so."

On Feb 3rd, @EPCSheriff went back, they had moved to a homicide investigation. Concerned there was foul play and were looking for blood evidence.

They went to the house looking for Gannon's blood. Up until that time, they collected a pair of women's Nike shoes but that's all.

Hubbell is now verbally describing the Stauch home in detail. We saw this on the body camera. Says Gannon's room is indeed, in the basement.

They brought out the Metro Crime Lab, shared resources between @CSPDPIO and @EPCSheriff.

"Those are our crime experts."

They brought out tools (Blue Star) to do a "presumptive test for blood." In low light, Blue Star is sprayed and then glows when it hits blood right away.

It also picks up on iron or rust or cleaning agents, but that's a slow illumination. If it lights up right off the bat, blood is likely the culprit.

Also helps them identify area's that have been cleaned.

Hubbell says he asked his team to photograph their work on this. Sounds like we're about to see the Blue Star test pictures.

Hubbell compares the glow to "glow-in-the-dark stars in kids bedrooms."

Glow strength is indicative to how much blood is there.

We're now looking at exhibit #33. His bed has been removed and there's yellow tape on the walls bordering an area.

"Those areas inside the yellow are blood splatter marks."

(There's also markers next to the marks to help investigators id the spots.)

Says there was also a stain in the corner which went through all the layers of the carpet down to the hard floor.

Carpet is peeled back.

The blood was tested from that stain and came back positive as Gannon's.

Hubbell now points out the corner of the room with the blood stain. I can visibly see a red spot from my seat in the courtroom.

There's more than 10 stain markers on the wall in that yellow outline.

Hubbell tells @4thJudicialDA it was clear the carpet had been cleaned, but that the padding under it and the cement underneath was not.

Says the carpet was "matted and crusty."

"Carpet was stiff to the touch, asked my guys to look into it and we peeled it back."

Exhibit 34:

This is a rough one. A close up of the mattress corner while they were taking it out of the room.

There is a large blood stain, light, yellow to orange colored.

Tested for blood, positive for blood. DNA was tested, matched Gannon.

Says there is blood on the electrical outlet as well in his room. Says yes blood, yes, Gannon's blood.

@4thJudicialDA "Did you notice a pattern of blood throughout the house?"

Hubbell says they started in garage, went to laundry room, hits led to the hallway, then living room, followed down stairs, more hits, past basement family room, through storage room...to Gannon's room.

Says the trail was complete and solid all the way through the house. Says he can see a full trail with Blue Star from his bedroom to the garage.

Exhibit 35:

A shot of the garage, steps up into the house. There's a little rug at the base of the two steps. @4thJudicialDA is asking about wood working, (we know Al does a bit of carpentry on the side.)

Says there was a lot of wood in the garage.

Exhibit 36: First clear Blue Star reaction we can clearly see on that little rug at the bottom of the stairs.

It looks a lot like bio-luminescence at sea, imagine glowstick navy blue splotches all over the rug.

"Positive for Gannon's DNA, it's his blood."

"Any other blood in the garage? On the lumber?"

"Yes, there were three planks of lumber laid out, luminal hit on the carpet and on the wood itself."

"Not large hits but droplets or splatter."

Exhibit 37: The Nike Shoe, blood found on bottom of the right shoe, matches Gannon.

Swabs of the inside of the shoe were tested, came back and matched #LeteciaStauch.

"her DNA is in those shoes?"

"Yes."

"later learned they are hers?"

"Yes."

"Did you see evidence from the Blue Star analysis that there were attempts to clean things up?"

"Yes, some were slower hits, not as bright or dark. It slowly develops, like in the hallway from the laundry area that slowly overtime developed. Large oval shape 2-3 feet."

"When we went into the basement one of the stairs had a long strip go off, slow developers, which tells us they were likely someone scrubbing back and forth."

Exhibit 38: Master bedroom photo.

We're seeing a bed, two night stands, and a TV on top of one of them.

"Was a gun recovered from this room?"

"Yes."

Hubbell points to a gun on top of one of those night stands.

Exhibit 39: A close up of a hand gun, top down. It's a 9mm smithinwessin (sp?) Also in the corner, a photo of Gannon, maybe sitting on the nightstand?

DNA matches #LeteciaStauch from the back strap and trigger guard.

Hubbell was starting to explain specifics about the gun, and Mr. Tolini stands up saying he's not an expert in guns.

Judge overrules, saying he's just giving his understanding of the evidence, not claiming to be an expert.

Says @EPCSheriff was sent the three bullets from Florida.

"Our firearm experts believe those bullets were from this firearm."

"The bullet pulled from his head, was from this firearm?"

"Yes."

Cross examination from Mr. Cook now.

Asking about where the DNA swabs were done on the gun.

"three people hit on that DNA, two of them were male?"

"That's right."

(We know one was Al, don't know the other person mentioned. THIS DOES NOT IMPLICATE HIM, HE'S NOT BEING CHARGED

"There were also 4 people detected on the laser sight?"

"I believe."

"Everything was sent to CODIS (dna database) and there were no significant hits.)"

"What is it that makes Blue Star glow?"

"Don't know the exact process."

"It can hit on cleaning or iron or blood."

"Right."

"Do you know if Blue Star is reacting to the iron in blood?"

"I know that if it hits, we are going to test it. It's just a presumptive test."

"What makes cleaning supplies glow?"

"You will have to ask our people, I don't know how it works just that it does."

6 @EPCSheriff people were there during their Blue Star search.

Hubbell says there was a issue with one of the camera's they were using during that visit. Says their was an issue with the aperture settings (which controls how bright a photo is) on the camera.

At some point the camera crapped out and they started doing hand drawn diagrams.

"Couldn't you have used a camera phone?"

"Uh, the other tecs can explain that. There's a particular exposure that needs to happen."

He's describing low light photos with a delayed exposure speed.

"That's how they get those dark, well lit photos."

"So it's a special camera?"

"Yes, expensive lense, I don't know how to operate it."

"If we had the lights on and used Blue Star here and there was blood, could i see it?"

"Lights need to be off, so no."

Hubbell says "Long hits last about 30-45 mins," for cleaning hits and "15-30 for positive hits" for blood.

Cook is asking if the red blood spatter had been changed chemically with a testing agent and looked different in the photo.

"No, that's just the blood."

"There was some worry you contaminated the scene in Gannon's room?"

"Yes i touched the carpet with an un-gloved hand."

"there's a lot in the report about it."

"Yes I wanted to own up to that, make sure that my guys could learn from it, and if my DNA showed up, that's why."

"So your concern with not wearing gloves that you could be adding DNA to evidence?"

"That is my concern, yes."

That's all, no redirect. Hubbell comes down from the stand.

Special Agent Andrew Cohen with the FBI is next.

Says FBI was mostly supporting role for @EPCSheriff, gave resources, experts, combed through videos, ect.

Cohen is the lead agent on this case for the FBI

Cohen says he know's Gannon's family.

"Is it normal to look at a victim's family after a homicide?"

"Yes."

"But no evidence Al was involved."

"He wasn't even in Colorado, he was in Oklahoma."

"verified though other means?"

"His flight and video show that's the case."

Cohen says he is also familiar with Landen.

"No evidence she was involved?"

"No."

Cohen says he knows who Harley Hunt is as well. That's #LeteciaStauch's daughter.

"Do we know if she was home at that time? (of the alleged murder)"

"She was not"

"Did she go to work?"

"Yes around 8."

@4thJudicialDA says "who was in the house that morning of the 27th?"

"#GannonStauch and #LeteciaStauch "

@4thJudicialDA asks if Harley was involved in the murder.

"The murder, she was not involved in."

^that's a rough quote there, but basically what he was getting at.

@4thJudicialDA "Was there ever evidence that another adult entered the home when Gannon was killed?"

"No evidence."

Now referencing Ring doorbell video we've reported on. Cohen says it's clear that one is #LeteciaStauch, the other was #GannonStauch.

Pickup truck was Al's.

Truck was backed ink, when they return the truck front goes first. Never see Gannon get out. See Letecia.

"No evidence he was hurt in that video?"

"He was not shot or stabbed at that time no."

"So you believe he returned that morning on the 27th alive"

"Yes."

"Where do you believe he was killed?'

"His bedroom."

"Did she try to hide what she had done?"

"Yes."

"Is the board being in Palmer Lake a sign?"

"Yes."

"The body in Florida?"

"Yes."

"The cleaned bedroom?"

"Yes."

Cross examination now with Mr. Tolini. Asking Cohen about his experience. Says yes this was his first lead investigation, has been on 10 or so before this.

"You know CSPD detectives have hundreds under their belt?"

"I know their requirements yes."

"Are you aware that a gun shot will provide a different blood splatter compared to a blunt force object?"

"I'm not an expert so no."

"The back door was open and shut 10 times at the time you were saying he was murdered according to the ADT security system."

"I don't have the report in front of me but that sounds right."

"We don't know if the person coming in and out of that door is on that gun."...

"I have no reason to believe there was anyone coming inside the home who was on that gun."

"But has anyone tried to figure out who those four DNA pieces were on the gun?"

"No sir."

Tolini to Cohen "It's clear that #LeteciaStauch frustrated you guys because she was clearly lying to you."

"It was clear she was lying but I wouldn't say we were frustrated."

"She has a history of fabricating stuff even when not being the subject of a homicide?"

"Yes."

FBI says they were looking for signs of abuse from #LeteciaStauch before this case.

Tolini: "The interviews with her students and neighbors in the reports show she was a good stepmother to him?"

Cohen: "That's what the reports showed yes."

Tolini :"There's a vast majority of child homicides that included abuse before?"

Cohen "In many."

Tolini: "And usually a biological parent is responsible."

Cohen:"Sure."

Tolini :"A step parent is 10% of the time."

Cohen"I don't know that stat but sounds right."

Tolini :"nice house, nice stepmom from your interviews."

Cohen "No one suspected what happened, no."

Tolini : "Al Wouldn't have left him alone with her if he didn't think so?"

Cohen : "I can't speak for him."

Now asking about the "post mortem injuries."

T: "There's a surprising amount of them in this case no?"

C:"I can't speak to that."

T:"Has anyone asked the coroner who did the report if it is possible the gunshot wound or the blunt force trauma was after death?"

C: "Not sure."

On to redirect with @4thJudicialDA, says since they brought up the idea the gunshot wound or the blunt force trama were after death they need to be able to say the report says "Cause of death is gunshot and blunt force trauma."

"What is listed as cause of death Agent?"

"Gunshot and blunt force trauma."

@4thJudicialDA says "you were asked about the likelihood the perpetrator in a child homicide is not the bio-parents. is this a unique case?"
"Yes."
"You were asked about her lies. Was one of them that a construction worker raped her, put Gannon in a suitcase and took off?"
"Yes."

These are going fast, @4thJudicialDA says there was a padlock on the backyard too.

"Can we pinpoint the day he was killed?"

"Yes. Jan 27th"

@4thJudicialDA says they are alllll done, they rest.

Defense rests as well.

Judge now thinking of next steps.

Sounds like they are planning a recess.

Judge now says they are actually able to get #LeteciaStauch back at 3:45, and get this whole thing wrapped up (including her escape charges and the prelim for THAT being waived.)

Judge says he wants to make it sure that #LeteciaStauch is not in quarantine.

^Sorry, clear she is NOT being quarantined for COVID.

Judge now says we won't have a decision today, even though they are bringing #LeteciaStauch back.

Out for a 45 min break, BRB