Letecia Stauch faces new charges in alleged jail escape attempt

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Letecia Stauch, the woman accused of murdering her stepson, 11-year-old Gannon Stauch, is facing new charges after deputies found evidence indicating she was planning an escape from the El Paso County jail.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by KRDO, a deputy received a tip from another female inmate on May 18 that Stauch was plotting an escape through her jail cell's window.

The inmate told Deputy Katherine Draper that Stauch had been passing notes to her through the door jam. The notes, believed to be written by Stauch, asked the other inmate to aid Stauch's escape attempt and also detailed her escape plan, according to the affidavit.

Draper learned from this inmate that Stauch had already measured herself for the window and was confident she'd be able to squeeze through. The inmate gave Draper two letters she claimed Stauch had written her. In those letters, the writer indicated that a grandfather was putting $75,000 for a private attorney and for her daughter's use. The author wrote, "You have my word to make sure we are MIA." The author also wrote about a visit at the jail she had scheduled at 8 p.m. Deputies say Stauch had a scheduled visit with a social worker at that same hour, so they concluded the letters were in fact written by Stauch.

The second letter provided by the second inmate described Stauch's intent to use the window in her cell as an escape. In that letter, the author wrote "it's perfect," next to a drawing of the window. The author also told the other inmate to "think hard" and that she was "dead serious." The sheriff's office says that both letters have similar handwriting.

The other inmate told Deputy Draper that Stauch had mentioned planning to use a broom handle to break the window of her cell.

Draper asked the inmate if she had been planning on actually helping Stauch escape. The inmate said no; she had heard about Stauch's charges and wanted no part of it.

"No way, that is why I told you about the letters to begin with," she told Draper.

At 11 p.m. that evening, deputies went to Stauch's cell and moved her to a new cell so that they could search her old cell for evidence. During the shakedown, deputies found a third letter apparently addressed to Stauch's daughter, Harley.

In that letter, which deputies said has similar handwriting to the first two, the author writes, "[if] something comes up on the news like she is no longer in jail or is missing to not be afraid." The letter also contained underlined requests to just keep acting normally.

The letters are considered evidence in the ongoing investigation, according to the affidavit.

Stauch is now facing an additional charge of solicitation to commit escape, a class 5 felony.