USAA Tries to Keep Woman Who Murdered Stepson From Cashing in $25K Policy

The USAA Life Insurance Company is seeking to stop Letecia Stauch, the woman convicted of murdering her 11-year-old stepson, from obtaining a life insurance policy she took out before his murder.

According to court documents reviewed by Newsweek, the USAA Life Insurance company has filed a lawsuit against Stauch and the biological parents of the deceased 11-year-old, Gannon Stauch, saying that a court should decide who receives the life insurance payment.

"USAA Life is an innocent stakeholder seeking to interplead funds into the Court's Registry to resolve the potential for exposure to multiple liability and potential rights to the Death Benefit," the court document said.

The lawsuit filed by USAA Life comes shortly after Stauch was found guilty of murdering her 11-year-old stepson earlier this month. Stauch was sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty of murdering Gannon Stauch in 2020 and placing his dead body in a suitcase before disposing of it.

"Ms. Stauch, you betrayed the person you loved enough to marry, you told your husband lies and took away someone he loved. You took away every day that Mr. Stauch or Ms. Bullard could have had with their son," Judge Gregory Werner of the Colorado 4th Judicial District said during Stauch's sentencing hearing this month. "I cannot fathom the pain Mr. Stauch and Ms. Bullard have experienced as a result of the defendant's actions."

The lawsuit filed by USAA Life states that Stauch took out a life insurance policy, titled a "Term Life Insurance Rider for Children," in 2017, which would have provided her with $25,000 in the event that her stepson had died.

"The Child Rider specifies that USAA Life will pay the Death Benefit, 'to the Insured, if living' or 'to the estate of the Insured Child,'" the court document said. "Letecia was arrested for Gannon's murder in March 2020 and was charged with murder in the first degree, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence...Thus, if this Court finds that Letecia feloniously killed Gannon, she will be precluded from receiving the Death Benefit. In that event, the Child Rider requires that the Death Benefit be paid to Gannon's estate."

Rebekah Nelson, a USAA Spokesperson, told Newsweek in a statement, "This is a tragic situation and USAA has given the proceeds to the court to determine the appropriate recipient of the life insurance policy."

The lawsuit also names Gannon Stauch's biological parents, Al Stauch and Landen Hiott, saying that a court should decide where the money goes and that profit should not be made off of a "felonious killing."

The court documents also state that Stauch attempted to alter the life insurance plan so that Gannon Stauch's biological father was not a beneficiary to receive the funds.

Newsweek reached out to USAA Life via email for comment.

According to childprotect.org, five children are killed every day due to child abuse.

Recently, a mother and her boyfriend were found guilty of torturing and murdering her 10-month-old son earlier this month. Last October Los Angeles County approved a $32 million settlement for the baby's biological father and siblings.

The family had filed a lawsuit alleging that the county's Department of Children and Family Services had disregarded more than a dozen reports of abuse from family members, teachers, counselors and police.

Another couple was urged not to let their children visit one of their family members after it was revealed the person was using cold showers as a punishment for the children.

Update: 5/23/23, 2:12 p.m. EST. This story has been updated to include a statement from USAA.