Yahoo News 'Mommy Wants You Home': Mother of Missing Colo. Boy's Gannon Stauch Asks Public to Help Find Him
On Thursday, the mother of Gannon Stauch asked the public to help her find the missing 11-year-old Colorado boy.
“I don’t want to wait another day,” Landen Hiott said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. “If he is not with me, he is hurting.”
The Colorado Springs boy vanished from his family’s home after staying home sick from school on Jan. 27.
Gannon’s stepmother, Letecia “Tecia” Stauch, told police he left home between 3 and 4 p.m. to walk to a friend’s house. When he didn’t come home, Tecia said she called the sheriff and reported him as a runaway.
Gannon’s father Albert, an active-duty Army National Guardsman, flew home the following day from Oklahoma, where he had been training. Hiott, who lives in South Carolina, arrived soon afterward.
RELATED: What to Know About the Mysterious Disappearance of 11-Year-Old Gannon Stauch
Three days later, the El Paso County Sherriff’s Office upgraded the search status from runaway to an endangered missing child.
Hundreds of volunteers on foot and horseback began scouring Gannon’s Lorson Ranch neighborhood and beyond, and the El Paso County sheriff’s office started chasing down hundreds of tips. As many as 15 detectives are working full-time on finding Gannon.
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Neighbors have replaced lights throughout the complex with blue bulbs — Gannon’s favorite color — and tied blue balloons and ribbon to trees “to help guide Gannon home,” said Salvation Army captain Caleb Fankhauser.
Mom: ‘I Need My Boy … More than Life’
But, 27 days after his disappearance, there is still no sign of the fifth-grader, and his family and law enforcement are still looking for answers.
On Wednesday, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said they “remain steadfast and hopeful” they will find the boy.
“Our investigation is progressing,” the office tweeted. “We have received 675 tips to date.”
“The only thing I can question is like, ‘Why? Why Gannon?’ Because he does not deserve this at all,” Hiott said. “I need my boy like, more than air, more than life.”
Hiott told ABC News that she was always confident her son was not a runaway.
“Bubba, if you see this, mommy wants you home,” Hiott said. “I know that you want to be home, and I will do anything in this world to make sure that I can get you. You are my hero. You are my baby. And I want you to come home so bad.”
