← Back to Day 4

Lieutenant Jason Hess

Lieutenant Hess is with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. He has 26 years of service. He has been a deputy assigned to detention, assigned to patrol, supervisor of the SWAT team. In January 2020 he was a sergeant assigned to the patrol division.

• He became aware of the call of 11-year-old Gannon missing the morning of January 28th, 2020. He started making phone calls about the case.
• He called Gannon's stepmother, Letecia Stauch, using the number from the previous call for service records. It was an unscheduled followup call, trying to get ahold of Gannon's parents or the person who made the report, Letecia.
• A female answered the phone, he believes the voice matched that of Letecia Stauch's when he later met her face to face.
• His first questions were whether Gannon had returned home and whether she had any further information; he didn't and she did not.
• El Paso County Sheriff's pushed his photo in the media and online.
• After a few reports of sightings came in, Officer Hess drove to the areas and searched.
• An 11-year-old child who is unaccounted for during winter months overnight is considered extreme risk; additional resources were immediately put into place to search; the same would not be given to a 16-year-old who had run away and returned five times in the past.
• Letecia Stauch made the initial report that Gannon was missing.
• Seifert visited Starbucks on Mason Ridge Parkway because detectives were meeting with Gannon's parents including Letecia Stauch on January 28th 2020; he sat with them and spoke to them.
• Seifert analyzed Gannon's phone, looking for searches or a Google Maps history that would help him figure out where to search.
• Letecia showed Seifert a photo of a post on Facebook believed to be a sighting of Gannon; he attempted to identify whether it was or was not Gannon. It was not Gannon, someone else recognized their own child in the photo.
• Seifert visited Gannon's home in order to clarify the timeline. Letecia said that Gannon left the home between 3:15 and 4PM while she was cleaning up the burn mark from the spilled candle; she didn't know which friend's house he may have been heading to.
• On January 31st, 2020 Seifert visited the home again. Letecia and her family members were removing property from the house. She and her daughter were wearing smart watches that could have been helpful in the investigation. There was a small cargo van parked outside; Letecia and her family were moving items into the van. Also a silver Nissan Altima.
• Brenda Acquard, Letecia's aunt, was there driving the Nissan Altima. Harley, Letecia's mother Debra/Deborah, aunt, and a male Dakota Lawry were helping her move.
• The phone call on January 28th was only a few minutes long. Letecia told him she didn't know which direction Gannon headed when he left, said she "might have got a little excited during the fire." She tried to put it out with a blanket but it made the fire bigger but she was able to put it out. She also mentioned that Gannon had something on the front of his shirt that has gotten there during the fire (defense tried to object to this).
• Laina was also there. She pointed a direction that she thought Gannon may have gone. She pointed east from the house toward a friend of Gannon's that lived a few houses down.
• sunzu’s note: this is interesting to me because an 8 year old was able to at least guess a direction and Letecia was not.
• Officer Hess has seen probably over 30 runaway or missing persons type of calls. The state asks if Letecia's behavior was consistent with the behavior of others in similar situations, defense objects even though this question was allowed yesterday. Hess says overnight with a child there is usually a more emotional reaction.
• Hess has dealt with people who have severe mental health disorder or disease in the scope of his career, state is asking if Letecia seemed to have one. Defense objects again even though this has previously been allowed; Hess does not believe she had any severe mental health disorder or disease.
• Letecia's answers logically followed questions; she appeared to understand what he was asking; she gave specific answers to the questions.

Cross Examination

• In 26 years, he does not know how many people he has encountered who suffered from DID; he doesn't know what disorder the people he encounters have.

Redirect

• Hess says she did not appear to be suffering from DID.