Photo: El Paso County Sheriffs Office
A Colorado man claims to have surveillance footage of an 11-year-old boy from before he was reported missing last Monday.
Neighbor Roderrick Drayton tells PEOPLE that he started looking through surveillance footage on Saturday, afterGannon Stauchdisappeared.
Drayton, who first spoke about the footage to ABC News, says he combed through 48 hours of video before he came across footage ofGannonallegedly leaving his Colorado Springs home with his stepmother, Letecia Stauch on January 27. Drayton claims the footage shows Stauch later returning to the house with no sign of the child.
Initial reports from the sheriff’s office described Gannon as a “runaway,” but on January 30, the agency’s social media posts shifted to describe him as missing and endangered.
According to Drayton, Gannon is seen in his surveillance video getting into a red pick-up truck with his stepmother.
“I saw Gannon get into the truck Monday morning at 10:13, and leaving and not coming back,” he claims.
Drayton, 49, claims he also has video of Stauch coming back to the house at 2:19 p.m. without the boy.
“I have kids and if someone is in the neighborhood picking up kids, I want to know,” he says.
Stauch says she had nothing to do with her stepson’s disappearance, according to aCBS affiliate.
Cynthia H. Coffman, a Stauch family spokesperson, tells PEOPLE the family felt emotional after they saw the surveillance footage.
“It was very emotional to the family to see the video, because it’s hopeful. And seeing him alive and walking is certainly a positive and heart-rending thing. … Anything, at this point, that shows their son, after he’s believed to have disappeared, is going to be incredibly emotional.”
Coffman also says the video helps “fill in some blanks.”
“We can each draw our individual conclusions based on our own experience,” she says. “But the thing that matters is to get to the bottom of this, so we find Gannon. And if anyone has seen anything … or believes that they can help, we want them to. We don’t want people to hesitate and say, ‘Oh, that’s probably not important. That doesn’t mean anything.’ Because sometimes those are the most important facts that are missing.”
PEOPLE was unable to reach Letecia Stauch for comment, but she reportedlyhas told a CBS affiliate, “I would never, ever, ever hurt this child. We are going to find Gannon and that’s the main goal that we all have.”
On Wednesday, the family posted an emotional video statement on the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office’s YouTube page.
“This week has been awful. It’s been more than a rollercoaster ride,” Gannon’s mother, Landen Hiott, said in the video. “It’s been more than an emotional mess. I don’t have answers for my feelings, other than I’m afraid. I’m afraid that I’ll never hear his voice, that I’ll never hear him run and say, ‘Mommy!'”
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Gannon has brown hair, brown eyes, weighs 90 pounds and stands 4 feet, 9 inches tall, and was wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and tennis shoes at the time he went missing, police said.
More than 50 people, including agents from the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, have assisted in search efforts to find Gannon, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado Springs. More than 134 tips have been received.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office tip line at 719-520-6666 or email tips@elpasoco.com.
source: people.com
