Stepmom says one of her multiple personalities killed son; Missing woman’s husband sues for $15 mil

a word of warning this podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language it therefore may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing hello and welcome to True Crime daily the podcast covering high profile and under the radar cases from across the country every week I'm your host Anna Garcia our cases this week are both from Colorado and they are cases that we have been covering for three years here on the podcast and now there are major developments a man who is accused of murdering his missing wife because she was having an affair is now seeking 15 million dollars in compensation after the charges against him were dropped last year he says that he was wrongly arrested and he wants Justice his wife is still missing and this Mother's Day is the third anniversary of her disappearance so what happens now but first a woman who claimed that one of her multi multiple personalities killed her 11 year old stepson has been convicted of Murder She and all of her personalities will be spending the rest of her life in prison for killing this little boy tossing him in a suitcase and then throwing the suitcase under a bridge we are recording this on Wednesday May 10th of 2023 Our Guest today is Robert Corbett a former homicide prosecutor and a current criminal defense attorney and a friend of the show joining us from North Carolina good morning hey thank you for having me absolutely we're always glad to have you on and today in particular because we have two really complicated cases one so heinous it's hard to have I have no compassion here for um the person convicted of murder and and the other is a complicated case wondering whether the husband in this case will um you know the D.A is still saying that they think he's still a suspect but they've dropped the charges so very very convoluted in a legal way so we can't wait for you to help us untangle this I certainly do the best I can yes you will all right so let's get to our first case which is out of Colorado Springs and um where justice has finally been served yet somehow Robert it feels very very empty a woman has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering her 11 year old stepson now despite the conviction and the prison sentence that will keep her in prison really for the rest of her life the boy's parents and their extended family and the community they are all devastated here this is the case that we've been following for three years on the podcast and we're talking about the brutal murder of 11 year old Gannon Stout in January of 2020 and Robert the thing about this case besides the fact that it was very horrific and heinous from the very reporting the very beginning of it the fact that we've been covering it for several years all along the process I feel like sometimes even when we don't know the people we become very attached to them and that's how I feel about this little boy Gannon yeah I think for this case or cases like it these are the ones that strike the conscious the most when you're dealing with a young child child victim and the perpetrator suspect defendant accused is a person who served a parental role because you start thinking like how could someone um [ __ ] using the word evil but how could someone get to the point that they would want to not only harm a child but in essence harm their own child the one that they were taken care of his stepmother who was married to his father at the time 39 year old Leticia has been convicted of first-degree murder and the judge has given her a life sentence prosecutors say that Leticia stabbed the boy 18 times beat him shot him in the jaw before squeezing his little body into a suitcase and then dumping that suitcase under a bridge in Florida leticia's first story was that the little boy ran away so while all of Colorado is looking for Ganon she knew exactly where he was and what had happened to him which is why I think there's a Feeling by the community that they have been violated they've been violated because they got out there earnestly to help as best they could and meanwhile it was a wild goose chase because the little boy was dead the entire time and there was all sorts of criticism also about the Stepmom because there were some things about her that were odd but I always say just because you're odd doesn't necessarily mean it's criminal and you know we have these conversations a lot so you know that was her first version oh he ran away after going to visit a little boy and that story just totally evaporated none of that you know really existed then she changed the story to say that some man had broken into the house had sexually assaulted her and that he kidnapped the boy you know at this point if you're the authorities you're like how do you go from little boy ran away to a man broke into your house assaulted you and took the child I mean those you cannot mix those up by accident I think that when you factor that in as well as if we're not jumping ahead the defense that she tried to put forth in terms of pleading Not Guilty by reason of insanity and something that I'm sure that the jury was looking at is what ends was what the prosecutor argued is that these attempts as subterfuge to hide what she was doing this shows a consciousness of guilt this shows that she is of rational mind because she's trying to cover up what she did exactly exactly now the family this was a blended family here Leticia had a teen daughter and Al her husband um brought two children from a previous relationship now at the time of ganon's death Leticia worked as an assistant teacher and Al had been deployed for the National Guard from January 25th to January 28th of 2020 that's going to be very important because he was physically not there when all of this happened and I think this is very important because part of the motive here and the thinking is based on what the authorities were able to figure out about her history her search history conversations was that she resented having to take care of Gannon she was unhappy in her marriage say prosecutors and so these were the seeds of her motivation you know what you don't want to take care of a child whether it's yours or not there are a lot of ways to work around that well and I think that maybe in terms of without knowing like the makeup of the jury off the top of my head but sitting as a as a juror thinking what they may have been going through that people could say in terms of the everyday life life can get hard um being in a relationship can get hard if people can relate to that but then when you go to that extra heinous step of saying because I want to get out of this relationship or this situation and the pressures are getting too much to me I think that's one of those things of where the jury and probably rightly so in this case said that's that's enough that's that's too much and we don't have sympathy for you in this situation and part of the reason they voted guilty yeah and I still wonder why it even took seven hours to get there I'm like you didn't have this down in the first 10 minutes of your deliberations but I know that sounding a bit snarky here well and as a defense attorney you want them to stay out at least a a little while when the jury comes back too quickly usually they can Bode um not well for the defense so you want people to at least listen and go through and probably because you had so many charges and it is a in essence a battle of experts then the jury just wanted to make sure that they so not in eyes cross T so to speak absolutely apparently Leticia resented having to take care of Gannon Gannon was complaining of a stomachache so he stayed home that day so it was a Monday that would be January 27th it's believed that Gannon was murdered sometime that afternoon and police say that they ultimately and later this is all as it's all unfolding because again we've covered this several times on the podcast and you all can hear all our episodes on this it's believed that that's the time period in which he was killed and that ultimately police would find blood stains and evidence of cleaning blood stains from walls the mattress the carpet in his room and other places of the house her car numerous numerous locations So at around 4 52 PM Leticia reportedly texted her teen daughter this is Harley she was 17 at the time and said to her daughter in the text quote I asked her to pick up a few things at the store carpet powder and baking soda and trash bags okay you know not suspicious unless you put it into the context of covering up a murder so then a few hours from then at 6 55 Leticia finally reports Ganon missing now she told officers that Gannon had left to play at a friend's house and had not returned at 6 PM when he was supposed to so that's when they start you know entering his name into databases and ultimately the searches will begin police didn't get there till after 10 pm which was about three hours later and I find that interesting because what was the delay in getting there did they think okay well he hasn't come home from school or he hasn't come home from a play date I I don't know as a parent I always want everything to happen immediately because time is of the essence right and I share that that concern in terms of don't think of myself maybe as a helicopter parent but probably just my job is maybe jaded um in a certain way so I like to know exactly where everyone is but in this case I can understand or can probably guess that like you said the call comes in at 7 pm they don't get there till probably three hours later and they're thinking in terms of is it that unusual for you know young pre-teen child maybe staying out a little bit past curfew being with friends and maybe trying to see give them a little extra time to see if he does return home before you start putting everything in motion and it's possible that there may not have been Panic on the part of the stepmother right it may have been a report it's like uh right and if the parent is not in a panic you know then maybe the police I I don't know I I just wonder to what degree she was like oh yeah okay well he didn't show up I'm just reporting it covering my butt yeah I can see either one of those uh being true so the next more morning that would have been January 28th Leticia rented this is important she rented a 2019 Kia from the Avis in Colorado Springs she used this vehicle to pick up her husband who is gannon's Dad Al from the airport he's returning it's 8 50 in the morning again these moments are important because when he meets her he's like where's your Volkswagen why are you picking me up in this vehicle it's a very reasonable question right you know what your spouse drives and she said oh well you know what I didn't want to put any extra miles on the Volkswagen because it's leased so I rented this car mind you Gannon is missing so can someone explain to me why anyone would give a flying you know what about the number of miles on a leased vehicle yeah that's one of the things that probably where her story starts to unravel because that doesn't make sense and that should have been in terms of where she what she would lead off with is that you know your son my stepson is missing and we've notified the police and you shouldn't be concerned with trying to rent another vehicle just because you want to save some miles on your leased vehicle correct unless of course you need time to clean up that vehicle though you know your personal vehicle which is apparently what ends up happening police say that her car was seen at the Colorado Springs Airport in the short-term parking lot and the police would ultimately find a variety of security videos where she was cleaning her car before she went to meet with police that day so they were able to forensically track what was going on and I say that digitally forensically what was going on and things that are not adding up so we understand that when they tested the car they found evidence of blood and have and of having cleaned the blood so again going toward a cover-up here so police interview her this is now the next day and this is when she goes ahead and she changes her story because the whole play date thing well there it it wasn't true because you know the child didn't exist the family didn't exist but he never went anywhere it was just like totally made up and then she goes into the whole someone broke into the house story which of course they didn't believe because one video in the neighborhood did not support that story and secondly they asked her to take um some to submit to some rape kit testing to not just verify what she's saying but if she was indeed attacked to try and collect some evidence of this attacker and she said no and then so and the next one just another thing that adds to it or be thinking of in terms of a thread being pulled on a blanket and as they just keep pulling and pulling until eventually all of her lies are going to evaporate and it also points to or makes me think about why as defense attorneys we always tell our clients to keep quiet um you gain nothing you don't help yourself out by one lying to the police and then compounding that by giving additional lies as she did in this case exactly so I found this interesting and we originally played some of these clips but um there are more parts to it and I want to play this clip of an interview that Leticia did at the time with a local television station it's important for a number of reasons because it takes us back in time chronologically to what was going on because everyone's looking for Gannon now police are already on to her story and she's feeling the pressure so she does this interview for those of you who are listening and not watching we cannot see her face her back is to the camera and she is being interviewed by KKTV now she claimed throughout the course of this interview which you can see online she went on about how she was being threatened and her family was being threatened and so that's why she didn't want to show her face the reporter questioned her about why she hadn't been part of the search another really suspicious thing how how could you not be searching for the child and she claimed again she went back to it's because I'm being threatened well I'm wondering maybe she was being threatened in a very malicious Manner and then I wonder are some of these rumors that she said were out there that were unflattering could they just have been true about her well and that's possible but I kind of think of in terms of we never know how we would react in that type of situation and we all hope that we never have to really consider it um realistically um so but if your child is missing you would think that one that you would be at the Forefront of looking every nook and cranny trying to find where your child could be and the only reason why you wouldn't be is if you were just so overcome with grief yourself that you just can't bear to get out of bed or because of the thought of what could ultimately or what could have happened it's just so overwhelming that it just causes you to just you know be almost comatose but all of those are all just things that keep adding to why law enforcement started raising their antenna and became even more suspicious over tone listen to her tone not only for what it tells you about what's going on then but I want you to remember this when we then hear from gannon's biological mother at court very important so here is Leticia Stout talking to KKTV let's play the clip 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 wow she was taking care of Gannon because the mother didn't want to remember how we said early on there was an issue with resentment that tone the way she phrased that sounds like a bitter woman and we're trying I'm thinking in terms is she trying to make herself seem the Martyr that I'm taking care of a child that's not even my own because his own mother didn't want to do it and maybe in some way in her mind is she trying to cast a light or cast guilt towards the biological mother that this is the woman that didn't want Gannon maybe you need to be looking at her and not at me just just awful just just truly awful so during one of leticia's police interviews she requested to leave the interview and then investigators seized her phone and then they applied for a search warrant because they wanted a DNA swab while all this is going on she claims that she's having chest pains and she doesn't feel well so they call an ambulance she goes to the hospital and it's there at the hospital that Leticia slips out and runs away and she's gone she's gone she's on the run and she is not found until March 2nd again very important because for reasons at the time that maybe didn't seem clear how in the world did gannon's body end up in a suitcase under a bridge in Florida when the little boy lives in Colorado Springs yeah that's one of those things in terms of we know that she's not getting on a plane but at some point that she has to drive down to Florida I think she was like caught in South Carolina but she had to like obviously leave the state and when she's at the hospital you know it's important to know this she's not in police custody so she can leave she can terminate the interview at any time but it's just yet another thing that casts suspicion upon her in terms of why would you do this why would you leave when at this point you aren't a suspect and the police even if they're lying but they're telling her that we are here to help you we are here to help find your stepson Gannon so you would expect her to be as Cooperative as possible there is nothing normal about this reaction this is not what people do in a crisis well most people again it's all very very suspicious so Leticia is finally arrested in Myrtle Beach South Carolina and amazingly again we reported this as she's being transported back to Colorado to be formally charged somewhere in Kansas she slips out of her handcuffs and she attacks the deputy that is transporting her so just to sit in a jail in Kansas for a while until they can get her back on the road who does this yeah someone who was trying to um Escape once again from law enforcement um but that's just a would be another charge that Kansas could pursue but it is not someone it's not the actions of someone who is in grief because their child is missing yes and Gannon still hasn't been found this is this this circus is playing itself out and this woman you know the spotlight's on her yeah no one has found Gannon which of course is very troubling because you always hold out hope that maybe the boy is alive and if he's not alive is he Clinging On to life and if he's not then where is he so that's what's going on in the rest of the world for gannon's family and then there's the parallel universe in which this woman lives so she ultimately is charged with ganon's death on March 11th again Gannon has not been found at this time but the reason she's charged with murder is because police are fairly certain that Ganon is not alive based on the evidence and the blood that they have found and of course they're very worried ganon's body is finally found on March 20th by a bridge inspector in Florida the inspector reportedly discovered the boy's body in the suitcase right below the highway so the medical examiner said that a toxicology report now we've already told you that he was beaten he was shot in the jaw all of this but here's what's also very interesting the medical examiner said according to the toxicology report the Ganon had acetaminophen which is like Tylenol a version of and hydrocodone in his system this is a highly addictive opioid painkiller he's 11. so according to testimony Al his dad said that he had been prescribed hydrocodone for a hand injury and he testified that the pills were kept in a nightstand the kids didn't have access to it although I would say a nightstand is probably not safe enough um and according to Al only he and Leticia knew where the drug was and what it was why would he have this in his system he was like there'd be no reason at all for him to have that concentration or those opioids in his system at all and he said that's not the most secure I mean on the nightstand isn't a secure area but even still he's not going to ingest that amount um that was found in a system so it lets you know as law enforcement know that this was done probably to sedate him um in order to carry out the crime oh yeah in June here's another amazing thing back to the parallel universe that nutty Leticia lives in okay it we've already had her try you know she's run away from the hospital she has been arrested and then she has um slipped out of her handcuffs and and attacked the deputy in Kansas okay well she is not done here she's not done in June of this year of that year when all this happened she's being held in the county jail and another inmate reports to authorities that Leticia was making plans to break out a very elaborate she had written everything out she figured that there was a she could slip I mean we could go on and on with the insanity of this but the other inmate was like Wow given what this woman is charged with I'm telling authorities what she's planning I mean there's just no end to this yeah and you would think in terms of that it couldn't sink any lower but as we know more about this case it does that in terms of for her to try to escape in Kansas to leave the hospital you count that as an escape and now has been arrested in charge and is once again attempting to escape from law enforcement just further shows this is someone that knows what they did and knows what they did is wrong and that was the key probably the key question that has to be determined in a Insanity defense trial yes yes although someone could say well you know she's making really really bad decisions but making bad decisions does not make you crazy well absolutely people will be arrested and convicted if that's all it took was making a bad decision right now I do probably I mean I think there is definitely some mental illness going on here without question but whether it so incompetent that she can't stand trial we're going to get to that because that was like a yo-yo seesaw going back and forth again everything about in Leticia is is a constant it's like constant motion and Chaos through this whole thing and if you listen or you watched any of the trial by the time the family members got a chance to give their statements to the judge the toll that the trial had taken and the toll that these three years with all her Antics had taken on the family because the path was so hard toward trying to get Justice and getting her to sit there and stand trial was really hard on the family was really because at each step there was a delay because she pulled some stunt I think the toll that you mentioned I think that's one of the things that goes under reported that people don't realize the toll that a criminal trial takes really on both sides and everyone involved because there's there's so much emotion these aren't quick um trials and like we see on TV they very often can go on for two three years before you actually reach a trial date and then the trial can last weeks as it did in this case and it brutal because the details are so brutal and no family member should have to hear the details of everything that happened to their loved one in this case an 11 year old boy it just was it's like another injury it was re-victimization it's just the way that the system is so back to Leticia she had several mental health evaluations and they were conducted to determine if she could stand trial so after her second evaluation she's found competent in January of 2021 and then for reasons beyond my understanding the judge agrees and says when Leticia says I am going to defend myself the judge is like okay now I get it that that's her right but this leads to more delays because obviously Leticia cannot represent herself and she doesn't do the work she's not you know everything falls apart and so then the judge has to appoint public defenders again more delays more Antics finally finally by 2022 Leticia enters a plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity which delayed the case because then Leticia had to be evaluated again please explain to me why if she was evaluated previously why is it when she enters the plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity that she had to then be evaluated again well and then that it raises the question of Competency which is whether or not you are competent to stand trial whether or not you can assist in your own defense and the issue of Competency can be raised at any time so like in this case if I have a client and the client is deemed competent in you know the beginning of the year but by the end of the year based on more time that I've spent with a client and I believe the client has decompensated so to speak then I can raise the issue of Competency again and ask for an additional evaluation um and another issue in terms of when you mentioned that she was going to represent herself I'm surprised that the judge didn't just appoint standby council at the very beginning even as she says you're entitled to represent yourself you don't have to have an attorney but for something where the punishment is this severe uh I am surprised the judge didn't just say that you can represent yourself you'll have standby counsel such that if you have questions you can turn around ask but they shouldn't have gone through in my humble opinion and not being in that state they shouldn't have gone through and had her even attempt to represent herself in a first degree murder trial it just seems like a massive waste of time especially when you know you want to get to Justice here all right so then finally by October of 2022 Leticia was deemed competent again and a trial date was scheduled for March of 2023 which brings us to where we are now jury selection began and then opening statements were in April just last month the trial lasted five weeks the defense's argument was and continued the entire time was that Leticia had had a psychotic breakdown and suffered from multiple personalities and hear their names Taylor Jasmine and Maria Sanchez and the defense said because Leticia claimed it was Maria Sanchez who killed Gannon well nobody bought this nobody bought this I I mean it's very possible she had a psychotic breakdown it's very possible she is severely mentally ill but as the judge said and you referred to it that even if she had these multiple personalities which some people indeed do suffer from not one of those personalities within her was struggling with the actions and tried to make amends for anything work all right and then in terms of when you say that could they could she be suffering from some mental defect um absolutely and I think there's an argument I've had um colleagues say that if you commit a homicide then by definition you may be suffering from some um mental um defect and then you know I know that's that that's that's debatable but for for this like I said the question becomes did she understand what she was doing and oh I think so duh Ellie's with the multiple personalities the attempt she makes to cover up the attempts she makes to escape that doesn't overcome the hurdle of her saying that she was insane at the time she committed the offenses yeah I don't know who cleaned up the blood was it Taylor Jasmine or Maria Sanchez or Leticia herself but clearly all of them were functioning in some form of Unison to pull off this crime all right they were very high functioning these people so prosecutors of course their response to all this was this is bullcrap and they argued the leticia's motive was pretty simple it was just anger and resentment that had built up they said that she was frustrated and unhappy in her marriage and that she was sick and tired of taking care of Al's kids you know that's about the only thing here which I'm hearing that may in the slightest bit resemble the possibility of the truth no matter how horrific a an answer that is and disgusting and revolting as that is yeah nothing that would justify but no matter what rationale they could be possibly given they're all revolting and decide for for it to be that you were just tired of being in that relationship so to speak there are Myriad of ways that she could have overcome that um divorce you know what what have you uh but she could have removed herself without having to kill again absolutely so on Monday of this week May 8th 2023 Leticia was convicted on the following charges first degree murder murder in the first degree of a child under the age of 12 by a person in position of trust very interesting tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence the jury deliberated almost eight hours before they finally delivered their verdict I find that interesting that it's there's murder and then there's a special count of murder for a child Under 12 by a person in a position of trust very very specific yeah and in terms of there are different ways that you can get to a first degree murder charge um so one you have the premeditation deliberation you have some other places where if you commit a felony and that can get you to first degree murder so prosecutors can elect to use one or both theories so so in this case in terms of violating a position of trust that what that gave her the additional count but they could have just proceeded on one when you do that it does give an indication sometimes of that it's stacking so to speak that prosecution is adding charges but you know they could basically have just said look we are so incense this is what she did as you said earlier that this violated this community so we are going to charge everything we legally can and seek a conviction on every charge we can and you're not wiggling out of this one this time none of your personalities are no no they're all going to prison so before the judge decided her sentence many people spoke in court including gannon's biological mother you know what I found really interesting about the judges and I don't you know we don't see this a lot of times we'll we'll report there's there's been a verdict and then we'll say say to you you know and sentencing is scheduled for and then we'll come back and we'll update that case the judge in this one he barreled right through he's like I'm done with these delays the jury has brought in their verdict I'm hearing the victim impact statements now and I'm sentencing now nobody's leaving this courthouse today I was like wow you know spare the family more injury and time and the thing that may be in terms of a jurisdiction question of how it may go in different states or if it's a type of case of where um there's going to be a range in sentencing and the defense says well we would like time to present something in my experience though and when I deal like with these types of cases that if there is a guilty verdict we move right into sentencing the judge may take a beat and say okay is the defense ready and then like we go so we don't get a a delay uh much yeah well we don't get a delay at all in State Court very interesting so gannon's biological mother Landon Bullard she was obviously very emotional and she was very emotional as she described how Gannon was born weighing one pound six ounces she said he came into this world fighting for his life and he left this world fighting for his life against someone whom he did love according to his own mother which is brutal to think about that everything this little baby's been through survives unbelievable odds to be killed the hands of someone so evil someone that he thought he could turn to when his tummy didn't hurt what excuse me when his tummy did hurt to stay home and to nurture and care for him horrible statement made by the mom very powerful right oh she's she's talked for some time we're gonna play a clip here we want to play it as long as we can because we really need to hear from her this is gannon's Mom and this is from the court feed that was picked up by lawn crimes Network I've sat here for over a month having to listen to her sick lives even as she tried to destroy who I was in Albert as a father I've had to sit and listen and watch every reenactment of images no one wants left in their mind you wanted to leave us with that knowing it would torture us but you underestimated me I am Landon gannon's mom and that will never change through my hurt anger and pain I will never be the monster that she is I can never be filled with the hate that her heart holds I pray that we will never have to look at her face again I will continue to hold on to my faith vengeance is not mine as I surely wish it could be at times but it's the Lord's I have to trust in that thank you judge Warner for your compassion your patience through this trial I want to thank the juror for their attentiveness and time they took for Joy Justice for my boy to the detectives officers legal team for every single second they've poured out into gannon's case and to the community for your countless hours Tisha that was her biggest mistake you underestimated this community in this defensive team Larson Ranch they searched for and fought for again and within hours and they never believed your lies from the moment they started none of these people ever gave up on him you never looked all of these people I will forever hold close to my heart always getting strong my Gene meant forever Justice been served today it is hard not to become emotional when you hear gannon's Mother and you know I I thought it was really touching when she took a moment in her grief to thank all the people who genuinely looked for Gammon or worked toward this day of Justice I thought wow someone who is hurting so much has the composure and the kindness in her heart to say thank you in a moment of such great grief which is heartbreaking it's just really really heartbreaking so judge Gregory Werner wasted no time after the verdict as we said got straight to it the judge said quote you have shown No Remorse through this process I would say without hesitation the facts in this case are the most horrific I have ever seen that's coming from a judge who's seen it and heard it all just like you you've been in the courts but there are just some cases that are so heinous and this is one of them and I read that in terms of and I think folks should appreciate that how rare I think that is for a judge to make those those type of comments and it's not something in terms of I mean she will enter notice of appeal and her appellate attorneys may take note of the statements made by the judge and say well see this judge is obviously biased oh please what a bunch of bunk well you have to look for it for for those angles um but even still like one of the instructions that the judge typically would give is to the jury is that they shouldn't take anything the judge says or does or any ruling that the judge makes to um think that the judge is biased in any way so just because the judge makes those comments at the end of the trial doesn't mean that someone is going to be able to make hay away I'll be saying in terms of that the judge was biased during the actual trial but that just shows that we'll follow the cases that judge has presided over this one sticks out based on the cruelty um of the these particular facts and this is really the moment when a judge has the opportunity to share with the public with the accused with the victim's family his or her observations of what he or she heard and saw in this courtroom and I agree with you it's one of the most telling moments and I think it's those moments where the judge finally get because this is their say they legally have their this is their explanation for their sentence I am sentencing you to this because this is what I believe has happened here based on the totality of the facts presented in this case and you've even heard judges say when the jury comes back with a verdict that they don't agree with they'll say that too they're like well I respect the jury's verdict I don't know what trial they were watching they're generally not that bold but they will make comments that will lead you to believe it's like even the judge was shocked so I I always appreciate these moments because I feel it it's almost as if when we get to sentencing and everyone has had a chance to say something including you know gannon's parents his father also spoke and grandparents and great uncles and great aunts community members then when we finally get to this moment is that rare complete Moment of clarity enough with the noise and the assumptions and the theories this is it the jury is ruled and it is time it's like that again as I say that little Moment of clarity I don't know if it ever feels that way for you I guess as a defense attorney if it goes against you it's probably not that Moment of clarity well I don't know in terms of Moment of clarity but I do often say in terms of its moment of Reckoning uh in terms of um you're you're fighting with the prosecution you're both advancing your theories and there have been times of where I may know how a particular case will go and client thinks differently but you know based on experience you kind of have that feel of how this jury is going to come back and when they do come back you know against you you know we just say hey that that is the moment in terms of we put up this fight but if they were not well if they were convinced Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and that they find you guilty that is a moment of where you know train you know me station forever meets the road this is where everything comes to a head and you uniquely have sat in both positions you have both prosecuted murders and you have defended defendants who have been charged with murder so you have uniquely sat in both those seats in a courtroom and it doesn't make it yeah and and seeing it on both sides it doesn't make it um any easier you have to have um be able to put your guard up somewhat because otherwise you're just going to be inundated with just so many facts of this of this type nature but there are still disliking way as you mentioned with this particular judge there are still those cases of where no matter how many you have seen or how many you have prosecuted or how many you have defended there are still certain cases they're going to affect you more so than others her attorneys are going to appeal and again it's going to be on whether her mental health and her mental state was a mitigating Factor but I think the fact that there were so many evaluations over the course of this case um I don't know we'll find out but we'll certainly follow it for everyone if anything should change in this case our next case is also out of Colorado and it too is a case that we've been following here on the podcast and it has a very different outcome and I want to have a discussion about this case because so many of you had very strong feelings about this and really the case is not necessarily solved because the woman in this case is still missing we don't know what happened to her so um here's what's happened is that the husband of that missing woman is now suing the police the prosecutors FBI the Colorado Bureau of Investigation everyone who had a hand in his being arrested and up to the time of trial almost trial because he says this entire thing has ruined his reputation and has violated his civil rights he was arrested in connection with his wife's disappearance but the murder charges were dropped right before trial was set to begin it's all very complicated the wife is still missing so we're talking about here 49 year old Suzanne morphew mother of two young women she disappeared on Mother's Day of 2020. that's exactly three years ago because this weekend is Mother's Day and it is believed that she went on a bike ride near her home in Salida Colorado and they found her bike but they never found her okay so one year later in May of 2021 her husband Barry morphe was arrested and charged with Suzanne's murder again Suzanne has never been found Barry who is now 55 spent five months in jail then six months wearing an ankle monitor with restricted movements of course his attorney says that for a year Barry defended himself against these false allegations so when the charges were finally dropped last year he suffered irreparable damage and that is why he's suing everyone for 15 million dollars okay we're gonna get into the details of this case and this lawsuit but what do you make of this well when I when I hear it I think it's going to have an uphill battle but it's going to depend on why they dismissed it for instance it's one thing for the prosecutor to say that we're about to go to trial we are dismissing it at this time but we're leaving it open to refile because we don't feel we have sufficient evidence to get um a conviction um and so so sometimes that would be a reason for the prosecution to dismiss if they dismissed it because they said look my bad we made a mistake this is the wrong person we need to be looking at someone else then I think he has a stronger lawsuit but if it's the former of where they're saying we have insufficient evidence at this time I don't think that's going to be enough prosecutors have it's called prosecutorial prosecutor immunity in that as long as they are doing something within the scope of their job pursuing the case within the scope of their job they can't get sued for for that um so I would want to see probably what more comes out of the case and what exactly were there reasons for dismissing it so in the lawsuit Barry's legal team says that a team of six prosecutors were out to get him and prosecutors say that they drop the charges after the judge refused to let several key Witnesses testify because of an issue involving discovery so without those Witnesses the D.A said we cannot proceed with this trial those Witnesses are very important so here is my question to you Robert I if if the issue is a legal process question where something isn't right in Discovery and there and and the judge has every right to rule it's like you know what you didn't do this quite right in my opinion therefore I'm sorry you cannot have these people testify so which ties the hands of the prosecutors but then I'd go back to well why didn't you do your job right if that was you know if you if these Witnesses are so key would you ever not do everything in your power to protect their ability to testify I didn't understand this Robert yeah so when if they're suing the the prosecutors because he thinks the prosecutors or six prosecutors were out to get him then you have wrongful prosecution and then like a lot of things that they they'd have to show in order to Prevail then but what we're talking about it appears is Discovery all the evidence in the case by law all the evidence the police have have to be turned over to the D.A D.A turns that over to the defense and when you don't turn that over within a timely fashion the judge can issue sanctions and in this case a sanction or punishment was you can still proceed with your case Mr or Mrs prosecutor but you can't call these witnesses to testify um and then while obviously they should have compli complied with whatever court order they should have turned over what they were supposed to and the judge I'd argue did the right thing because this protects the system this protects the defendant by issuing those types of sanctions but I was still I still be reluctant at this point to say that he's going to have be able to proceed he's going to Prevail in terms of suing law enforcement suing the prosecutors because they violated that court order and didn't turn over in time because what's the the recourse you say hey I didn't turn over in time well judge um we got a delay in trial he now has all this information we can go to trial at this point um so if he wants to go to trial you know the D.A said we can still take you to trial but now the case is dismissed that's probably the best benefit that I see him getting at this point so does this mean they can't charge him again no they they can or well if you dismiss it with prejudice or without prejudice uh and you know when you dismiss it without that means that I can refile charges at a later time when I when I get more additional information I can do that and that doesn't happen that often in my experience especially when you've made it all the way to trial and right before trial um at the liveth hour you dismissed the case so the possibility still exists I just don't know how probable it is because they could have if there was an issue and the D.A felt strongly about their case why not then just say fine we are delaying you know and it may sometimes that comes into an issue of if the judge will allow you to delay allow the prosecutor to continue it because you have a Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial as a defendant and the defense could have said well judge we have waited all this time we are ready to go the prosecution is now saying they having they are having difficulty going forward just because they can't go for my clients shouldn't be punished for this so the state could have said we want a continuance the judge says no so you either go forward or you dismiss it and maybe try again another day what a mess what a mess in this case because while all of this is going on and look if we have rules and it goes towards fairness and if the prosecutor did not act in an appropriate manner in a within our legal system and have the time to prepare for this trial you know and the judge who's supposed to be impartial here says hey you don't have your Ducks all lined up and I'm sorry I know you want to introduce these Witnesses but you don't get to write the rules here and this man has a right to a speedy trial I I intellectually and even emotionally I get all of this I get all of this but what bothers me about this is what a freaking mess what a freaking mess because at the end of the day we have a woman who is missing presumed dead obviously or they wouldn't bring murder charges like where is her justice in all of this where where and how where is where is the crime-solving part of this well and I definitely understand that and agree when you say that it's a mess it's sometimes these cases or trials are are messy they they aren't clean and I think you know I've said before that you know the the interest or the the rights of the accused person um they have to be supported and sometimes that goes against of what you know people may think or may go against just common decency because at the end of the day this woman is presumably killed and at the very least she is still missing um but there are certain things that you you have to do and you have to preserve and those are to ensure that whoever sits in that defense chair is entitled and receives a fair trial absolutely and this question goes to Witnesses information and evidence it's still not clear to me what the evidence is against him that is not circumstantial I realize you can bring a circumstantial case but what angers me is again for the person who is the victim in all of this and we could have a second victim here Barry his charges have been dropped against Barry and you know now he's suing it is absolutely his right to sue he feels you know he said in these two years since the moment his wife was reported missing until the charges were dropped that the most unflattering information about him his marriage his life his work his finances have all been made public and he will never be made whole again if he indeed is innocent innocent until proven guilty right and that when we talk about some of the things that people don't realize um the toll that this takes or a trial or criminal charge takes on the individual on the accused all of the collateral damage that the person gets the hit to his reputation he's never going to get that back because even if people hear that the case was dismissed because people will know hey you got charged for killing your wife but even if they hear that it was dismissed that rumor is always going to be lingering because they're going to say well it was dismissed not because you're Innocent but because of a technicality um and this lawsuit may be how he's feeling that this is the only way to try to get some of what was lost back also wonder would this lawsuit have an impact on all the investigative agencies and the prosecutor's office to continue going after him if they believe that he is indeed still their primary suspect does this lawsuit have a chilling effect on that oh I wonder about that because they can't negotiate of we will not pursue charges if you drop this lawsuit um so they they can't do that but there may be in terms of some effect especially if he prevails or receives any type of reward and that those higher up will say because of the mistakes you made Mr once again let's say Mr prosecutor Mrs prosecutor in terms of not turning that information over because of that this these multiple agencies are collectively are going to have to pay out something to this man and that could have in terms of an effect now probably already going to have an effect because DA's don't like to have their cases dismissed or don't like the fact they can't proceed because of mistakes that they did so that in of itself is going to have some effect guaranteed next case that office has they are going to get out of stuff in a timely manner they're not going to withhold stuff and the reason we have that is that when you withhold information you're in essence sandbagging the defense in terms of springing it on them at the last minute and we have seen so many cases that have been there have been guilty verdicts that have been overturned when it was revealed that certain information was not given to the defense whether or not that person killed or didn't kill done free out because the rules were broken as part of your prosecution and your trial exactly so according to court records the marriage between Suzanne and Barry was failing they Suzanne apparently wanted a divorce these are all the things that came out in these two years when Barry says you know everyone suspected him and then ultimately he gets charged and then dismissed that Suzanne was having an affair with an old friend from high school and police say that they found text messages on Suzanne's phone which indicated that the husband and wife had been arguing about the affair so that would go toward these are the things that we see there are patterns that concern police when investigating a missing person a missing spouse so police also this came out in the arrest affidavit and so many other court records and again we did podcasts on this if you want to go back and listen to it all that Suzanne took a note you know she placed a note in her phone that was dated May 8th of 2020 and there were details of an argument that she supposedly had with her husband two days earlier on May 6 and that Barry had accused Suzanne of having a boyfriend now if Suzanne indeed wanted a divorce and she was keeping notes on arguments there was a reason for this She Was preparing for her divorce if this is true again we don't know this is based on information found by police so then on May 9th of 2020 is the last time anyone believes they can verify proof of life for Suzanne when she sent her lover a selfie at 2PM that day now Barry says that she was home you know the rest of the day sunbathing um he put his phone he said this is what he told authorities according to authorities that he put his phone on airplane mode that afternoon at 2 47 so all would that have been 47 minutes after the selfie was sent um because he was chasing a chipmunk around their property with a gun while Suzanne was sunbathing now many of you in our previous episodes were very upset about the fact he was trying to kill a chipmunk um on top of everything else but again this was his story then on May 10th Mother's Day at around 5 58 the Chaffee County Sheriff's office gets a call it's a 911 call about a possible missing person police believe that Suzanne went missing sometime between 8 and 9 A.M that day and authorities initially contacted Barry he claimed that he had seen Susan that morning at five and then he left for his job he had an out of town job in Denver which he did get to you know because he met colleagues there so police find her bicycle later that evening in a ravine near a creek and so here's what police say they found suspicious about the bicycle they suspected the bicycle appeared to be placed there because it didn't have any break marks any skid marks and it didn't look like the bicycle had crashed into any vegetation again we're trying to figure out what happened to Suzanne these are the clues that police have found I don't know what they mean so um then they searched the residents the morphew residents on May 11th and they found multiple Firearms including a 22 cartridge from a rifle in the floor of the master bedroom okay that could mean anything Suzanne is missing but we don't have Suzanne's body if she's still alive then detectives say that they recover tranquilizer darts from the house along with the sheath to one of the darts in the dryer at the residence now Barry said on May 28th he did another interview with police he claimed these tranquilizer darts were all for bucks um in order he he would tranquilize animals before transporting them in a trailer he gets onto you know these these were his explanations these are all things are possible yes Robert yeah and the fact that she's missing and the fact of they were having marital problems you know as you said before suspicion um doesn't rise to conviction um and I think that they were going they meaning the prosecution was going to have difficulty going forward in this case um because you're dealing with a a circum circumstantial case and the jurors are told you can weigh circumstantial the same way that you consider direct but you don't have any direct evidence in this case you don't have any eyewitnesses unless those were going to be the missing Witnesses who weren't allowed to testify but it doesn't appear you have any eyewitnesses to say that I saw him do this and without those and without the body to um to confirm that she was or is in fact deceased I think it makes it extremely difficult case to go forward with yes because you know there was this feeling I believe based on everything I read that the prosecutors seemed to think that they were close to finding Suzanne morphe but you know these charges were dropped in 2022 and we still haven't found Suzanne but Suzanne's body could have a lot of answers they may or may not tie back to anything that was found in the house we have no idea because we haven't found Suzanne so we we don't know there's no context to anything that was found in the house so then on May 14th of 2020 uh the morphew family offered a 200 000 reward for her safe return Barry released a video three days later asking for the Public's help we played that in one of our previous podcasts then on June 2nd of 2020 there's an interviewer authorities with authorities and Barry alleges that Suzanne had started to abuse drugs and alcohol well we don't know and if maybe there were an autopsy if we ever find Suzanne we might be able to figure something of that out but we don't know and so he claimed that Suzanne was probably the victim of an of an abduction and he told authorities that they should catch the perpetrator I suppose that's possible right it is we don't know what happened so around this time here's when things and many of you made comments um during these episodes these were things that you all found troubling well okay again these are just opinions so at the time Barry started to move the property that they owned jointly into his name okay that's his right to do so then this is what really upset many of you ten months after Suzanne's disappearance Barry sells the house that house for 1.6 million dollars and he says he's selling the house because it has nothing but bad memories for him and his two daughters Suzanne's daughters because that's the last place that Suzanne was ever seen alive so yeah so once again there I can understand why people may say well hey why would you do this but there's not enough or that's not the proverbial Smoking Gun so to speak of where you can I think you can you should feel comfortable or confident that you can convince a jury Beyond A Reasonable Doubt because even if you get this information in and it might be an argument that you know it might not even be relevant but even if you get that in of selling the house and you know within the year of selling it it doesn't connect the dots enough to say that this man also killed his wife when like we've been saying that we don't even have no 100 fact that she had effect deceased because she hasn't been recovered yet because unlike our first case Gannon the little boy police say that they found enough blood evidence to indicate that something horrible had happened to him and then ultimately they did find the body even though she had already been charged but that body told a story right so even with that one is where each case is different but you look at in terms of compare and contrast there's some you have direct digital evidence of that she was seen with Gannon around the time period that he went missing you have forensic evidence letting them know that something happened you have video of her cleaning the car then you have in addition to that the multiple lies that she told that it's not it's one thing to tell multiple lies but it's one another thing to tell multiple lies they keep contradicting the previous why you just told and with him even if you say well hey I believe that he's lying they are consistent they can corroborate one another and they can't be ruled out that it didn't what he told didn't occur the way that he said it in terms of yes yeah I'm selling the house for this reason or the evidence of the tranquilizers I have that for this reason sorry exactly people react to traumatic events in different ways he he said he'd he for himself and for his daughters to get rid of this memory they wanted to move on that's their choice there's nothing illegal about that they can do whatever they want and that's what they apparently decided as a family other people may not have liked it but that doesn't matter that doesn't make it criminal so it was almost a year after Suzanne was last seen because I want to chronologically explain to you the things that were going on that for some were red flags that for some were unusual but Barry had answers for these things so almost a year after Suzanne was last seen on May 5th of 2021 Barry morphy was arrested and charged with her murder then on April 19th of 2022 prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case on the evening before Barry's trial was set to begin shocking shocking it was it was shocking shocking okay so here's what I want to get to now that whole time for those two years Barry's daughters Suzanne and Barry's daughters did not make any public statements you know and everyone's like wondering well you know because we always look to family members to give us the outside cues about what's happening within the family who thinks what and so last year after the charges were dropped against Barry Barry and his two daughters did an interview with Good Morning America for those of you who are just listening the three of them are sitting in a line burying the center daughters on either side and all three are holding hands together and we've also seen them leaving Court holding hands together so sending a very clear message even if they hadn't spoken to this point that the daughters supported their father in this situation okay I think this is important so Mallory and Macy morphew say they believe their father is innocent here's a clip from Good Morning America God better than anyone else involved in our mom's disappearance Robert I think what the two daughters have to say is very powerful well it it is in terms of where if you want some insight into the the family Dynamic then they provided that in that interview that without saying anything previously they are saying that we are standing by our dead we support our dad which I think you would you would expect because the alternative is for the child to think that their parent could have committed such a heinous crime and in the lack of any concrete evidence they are showing that they are a united front at least at this point and that no one should expect that they're going to come out and say anything different or anything against their dad and then last week Barry morphe filed a 15 million dollar federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that he was wrongfully arrested jailed and prosecutors and prosecuted for a crime he did not commit the defendants named in the lawsuit include the entire prosecution team of the 17th Judicial District law enforcement officials with the Chaffee County Sheriff's Department investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI the FBI and the CBI say they are not making any comments because of pending ongoing litigation against them and at the end of the day the last thing I have to say here is and Suzanne still hasn't been found it is time for our comments section these are the crimes that you all are talking about on social media here's our producer will Updike hey Will hey Anna how's it going good good to see you Robert hey good see you as well all right so this week we have a case of a job searching go-getter getting got this case comes out of Nashville Tennessee we're a 21 year old member of the Air National Guard is now facing federal charges for allegedly get this trying to get a job as a Hitman and uploading his resume to what he didn't realize was a parody website so it was all a joke oh boy yeah yeah didn't realize that and I'll get into a little bit more about this who is the dummy now okay yeah I'll get a little bit more into this website uh here in just a sec but uh this cut this comes from a statement from the U.S attorney's office for the Middle District of Tennessee where they announced the suspect here Josiah Ernesto Garcia was charged in federal court with the use of Interstate facilities in commission of murder For Hire pretty serious charges there uh so how this all came together was back in February Garcia our suspect here allegedly looked online for jobs as a mercenary because he was in need of money to support his family so you know totally understandable looking looking for a little extra income there don't know about the mercenary part but this search led him to a website called rentahitman.com very straightforward uh I don't know if I would trust anything that's that blunt pretty easy for law enforcement to find that kind of stuff uh but a little bit about this website so this was created back in 2005 and it it wasn't for Hitman it was it was actually to advertise a cyber security startup um but according to the U.S attorney's Office the star Auto Company failed but the website received a bunch of inquiries about these murder For Hire services so they so they kept it running uh the website is kind of funny this got me it includes fake testimonials uh including one from a fake woman named Laura from Arizona who wrote caught my husband cheating with the babysitter and our relationship was terminated after a free public relations consultation I'm single again and looking to mingle thanks Guido and rent a Hitman wow you just can't get any more positive endorsements than that wait a minute will I have to stop you I have to stop you before you finish the story so why is it that she wouldn't be prosecuted here Robert I turn to you and our our other man here right because this is fake like this testimonial is fake this person is fake but how can you prove if this is a parody website that he just has a very Sublime sense of humor and and quite subtle oh we'll get into it because it gets out all right it gets a little bit more serious than him just you know uh saying hey what's good with with employment of this um the site kind of advertises itself on there too there's a part that reads let's face it we've all had a relationship or two that you just wish would go away but didn't know how to end it look no further and let rent a hit man take care of the dirty work for you to get started submit a service request form and one of our highly skilled relationship advisors will provide you a free consultation this part kills me uh I can't imagine you are looking for a Hitman and you think that somehow you're gonna get a free consultation they're going to call you on the phone over all this uh but so our suspect here Garcia getting back to him he allegedly sent an inquiry on the site indicating he was really interested in obtaining employment as a Hitman uh Garcia he submitted official documents and his resume uh and added really looking to get this job that he had gained the nickname Reaper in the Air National Guard because of his Marksmanship and military career he also followed up and said he wanted to get to work as soon as possible really trying to get those extra dollars together but uh so here's how it all like how he ends up getting busted uh Garcia ends up communicating with an undercover FBI agent who's posing as someone who's wanting to get an individual killed so this agent offers Garcia five thousand dollars for the hit and the two men actually meet up in person at a park in Henderson Hendersonville Tennessee so according to the U.S attorney's Office the FBI agent Gabe Garcia a Target packet which included you know a fictional like pictures of a fictional individual uh and some some other information about the fake person that they wanted to be killed they also reportedly paid a deposit of twenty five hundred dollars to Garcia here uh and he agrees to the germs and then after the under undercover agent if he needed to provide a photograph of the dead body the agents the FBI agents arrest him immediately they searched his home they find an AR style rifle um and as I said he is just charged in this uh nothing official innocent until proven guilty but if convicted he would face up to 10 years in federal prison um wow just uh Robert what do you think of a job search what do you think probably the FBI was surprised that he even went of course he even went that far which is probably why they wanted to meet in person and wanted to give half deposit up front because who would possibly believe that a website called rent a Hitman is legit I mean it sounds fake if these things exist they're on the dark web you're not going to have a.com address so they probably think I can't believe that this guy is actually serious it's probably the first one who's ever been legitimately trying to pose as a Hitman or use their services yeah you would think I mean like you would think if you had an actual running Hitman site it would either be so hidden from something that you couldn't Google search or you would think it would be a little bit more coded than to include a Hitman in the URL right I can see probably a lot of 12 year olds um going into the website and making inquiries but not you know probably a grown man and working in the National Guard uh who obviously should have known better yes absolutely uh we got we got a lot of comments on this one Christine G said dream job I I don't know about that uh not not really for me but apparently it was something Mr Garcia was interested in Chief joro said side hustle which this has got to be the worst this has got to be the worst one I mean I could see you know Deliverance of food driving some people around your car or whatever but this uh this is this is a step too far for me s's Diner says imagine submitting your resume in order to commit a crime I just this is the part that would give me pause like a hitman's sight is asking you for a resume like what I I don't understand like what what do you even put on that resume like do you all you have to be really good you have to be a good marks mini he provided evidence of that these are qualities that you look for in a Hitman I was wondering um if if he had to list any references for this like who do you put down as a reference uh Wicked maina had some thoughts about that they said I hear his references were Gary Ridgway Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz um which I I you're not getting uh you're not getting references that a few out of a few of those guys so I don't know how far that one would go um and then we got a comment I gotta end one of our favorite uh commenters on YouTube Haley M uh generally delivers the great puns uh but this week uh they said sorry will I can't think of any killer puns for this story but you know what we're gonna let slide you're still going to make it on the show but we want to see you we want to see you back at your best next week let's you know let's pump that up uh we need some more go-getters like Garcia uh over here in our comments section but that is going to do it for this week's comment section thank you so much to everybody who left those comments you can do that over on our YouTube Community page we're also active on Facebook Twitter Instagram Tick Tock anywhere you want to interact you can definitely interact with us thank you so much for having me and I'll see you all next week oh my gosh well I've got a couple of shout outs myself this week so GG Genovese a student at Trinity College who is also on the Equestrian Team there is a fan of our podcast I know this because I ran into her mother at a party this weekend and I was like you're kidding your daughter listens I love that and then Adam little link on Instagram says that he's a medical massage therapist and listens to the podcast while he works but I don't think he plays the podcast for his clients because I think this would be stress inducing this is not like you know listening to the waves on the Rocks when you're getting a massage kind of thing but you know what Adam Whatever Gets You Through the work day we appreciate it we're very grateful to all of you uh where Robert can people find you on social media um they can find me at Robert K Corbett Esq and I use that for Instagram and Twitter yes and sometimes you comment on cases and sometimes you post some funny things and uh you can find me at energy news Anna with 1n sometimes I comment on cases or otherwise it's just really about life dogs you know that kind of stuff keeping it light because it gets so heavy here yeah so that's our show for this week we thank you all you know that you can get this episode all our previous episodes if you want to especially on the two cases that we've been covering for some time so wherever you get your podcast is where you'll find this and all our other episodes subscribe to our YouTube channel also sign up to receive our newsletter at truecrimedaily.com I'm your host Anna Garcia until next week as we always say don't do crime

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 176,964

Keywords: True Crime Stories, Murder News, Crime News, Legal News, Letecia Stauch, Gannon Stauch, Barry Morphew, Suzanne Morphew

Id: c0Qk0r3IZ4I

Length: 80min 19sec (4819 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023