THE stepmom accused of murdering an 11-year-old boy smiled as she insisted she “didn’t run” from cops when she appeared in court via video link today.
Leticia Stauch was seen in public for the first time since her arrest Monday in Myrtle Beach.
She was caught on camera smiling several times during her arraignment hearing – including the moment she walked out of the courtroom in South Carolina.
Staunch implied she was booked during a traffic stop and referenced a paper license plate on her car – but police declined to say exactly where they arrested her.
"Yeah I didn't run from you guys," she said.
"I didn't have any trouble from you guys."
She opted to waive her extradition and return to Colorado, where she faces several charges including first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.
A judge explained during her nearly six-minute hearing that should she choose to fight extradition, a state attorney general from South Carolina would hold an extradition hearing in 90 days, in which he would have to verify Stauch's identity and that she is wanted for a felony in Colorado.
Officials suggested that Leticia would be held for days if not weeks at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway after her hearing Tuesday.
She was booked into custody by the Horry County Sheriff's Department at 10:03am, but was released four hours later, prison records show.
Stauch was out by 2:33pm, beginning the process of her extradition to Colorado.
The Sun reached out to federal and state authorities in both South Carolina and Colorado, but none would reveal how Stauch would be transported or when she was due to arrive.
Little Gannon was last seen on January 27 when he left his home in Colorado to walk to a friend's house – that same day, Stauch reported him missing to police.
Police investigated the Staunch family home in Colorado, where the accused murder said her husband found a "saucer-sized pool of blood" in the boy's bedroom from repeated nosebleeds.
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El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder announced during a news conference Monday that the boy was pronounced dead, CNN reported.
Landen Hiott, Gannon's mother, tearfully told reporters she "got the worst news and the best news" upon hearing of his death.
"Obviously we know what the worst news is, but the best news is that justice will be served, and I'll make sure that justice is served because my boy did not deserve any of this that has happened to him," said Hiott.
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