Gannon Stauch’s father condemned as “evil” a YouTuber who sold pictures of his dead son’s autopsy. The YouTuber, Zav Girl, obtained the photos via a freedom of information request and sold them on a Patreon page for $3 apiece.
In a recent interview, Al Stauch, the child’s father, said, “This is about respect for a little boy who tragically lost his life and did not deserve this. The word I use to describe it is evil.”
Stauch said he does not have it in him to take legal action against Zav Girl because he is “maxed out” following the criminal trial and the devastating loss of his son. The host of the crime YouTube channel has since apologized for her actions and deactivated her Patreon account.
In a case that horrified America, 11-year-old Gannon Stauch went missing from his Colorado home in January 2020. His stepmother reported his disappearance to law enforcement but came under suspicion when the child had not returned a week later. At that point, the FBI Child Abduction agency became involved, and officers located video footage showing stepmom Letecia Stauch leaving home with the boy but returning alone.
Over a month after Gannon vanished from his home, Sheriffs arrested Letecia Stauch in South Carolina – where she’d fled – and charged her with first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence.
Gannon’s body was found in Florida almost two months after his disappearance. A jury convicted Letecia Stauch on all counts in May 2023 and the judge sentenced her to life in prison without parole. The jury rejected Stauch’s defense of insanity after a Colorado state mental institution testified that she was legally sane at the time of the murder. Judger Gregory Werner said, “The facts in this case are the most horrific I have ever seen.”
