The search for missing Colorado boy Gannon Stauch continued on Friday as the FBI evidence response team and search crews focused on a private wooded property in Douglas County.
FOX 31 reports that search crews with the FBI, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office congregated around South Perry Park Road on Friday afternoon, and poked through the snow and mud with shovels and long poles.
Although there is no specification as the why searchers are focusing on that particular area, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that officials started the search on Thursday and returned again on Friday. Around 82 people were seen in the area on Thursday, in one of the many ongoing searches for Gannon.
GANNON LATEST: Search continues in Douglas County for missing Gannon Stauch. I’m seeing search and rescue crews teaming up with FBI evidence response along South Perry Park Rd. Crews are using shovels and very long poles to poke through dense snow and wooded private property pic.twitter.com/yEXfTXKMQs
— Nicole Fierro (@FierroNicole) February 14, 2020
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Gannon’s stepmother, Tecia Stauch, previously told police that she last saw him on January 27, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., as he left their home near Colorado Springs on foot to visit a friend in their Lorchan Ranch neighborhood.
Stauch claimed the boy never returned home. None of Gannon’s friends remember seeing him that day, according to reports, and police confirmed he did not attend school on January 27.
Neighbor Roderrick Drayton said he started doing some investigating on his own after Gannon mysteriously vanished.
These teams are not leaving a single inch of ground untouched. They’re combing with shovels and poles while walking shoulder to shoulder pic.twitter.com/e90U4BUDys
— Brandon Thompson (@BThompsonNews) February 14, 2020
“I couldn’t sleep so I just stayed up and I started looking through [surveillance footage],” Drayton said. “I looked through on my tablet, then I said, ‘Let me look on my TV to be sure.”
Video footage taken with Drayton’s security camera apparently showed Tecia and Gannon getting into a red truck in the driveway of their residence at around 10:15 a.m. on January 27.
Around four hours later, security footage captured Tecia Stauch arriving back home in the truck, but she was alone.
Drayton reportedly showed the video Gannon’s father, Al Stauch, who immediately started sobbing after watching it.
“He just broke down crying and said, ‘she lied. She lied about the time. He didn’t go to a friend’s house,’” Drayton told ABC 11.
Drayton added that investigators told him that the footage was the break that they needed. However, officials added that the video is only a piece of the investigation as a whole.
“This is just one piece in a very, very, very large puzzle,” El Paso County SO spokeswoman Jackie Kirby told the outlet.
Meanwhile, Kirby added that search crews will search the Douglas County area “as long as [they] need to be out there.”
Gannon is described as a white male who stands 4-feet-9-inches tall and weighs around 90 pounds. He has brown eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue hooded jacket, jeans, and athletic shoes.
Anyone with any information on Gannon’s whereabouts is urged to contact the El Paso SO’s “Investigations Tip Line” at 719-520-6666. or the El Paso County SO 719-390-5555.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Gannon Stauch/Handout]
