YouTuber under fire for charging viewers to see autopsy photos of murder victim
Zav Girl/YouTubeTrue crime YouTuber Zav Girl has come under fire from viewers after charging people $3 to get to see autopsy photos of murdered 11-year-old Gannon Stauch who was brutally murdered by his stepmom.
In 2020, Gannon Stauch, 11, was murdered by his stepmother Letecia Stauch. Letecia was found guilty by a Colorado court on May 8, 2023, of stabbing and shooting Gannon to death in a fit of “hatred and jealousy,” then shoving his body in a suitcase, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, the Independent reported at the time.
After Letecia was sentenced, YouTuber Zav Girl, whose real name is unknown, obtained photos of Gannon’s autopsy via a public records request. She then posted a video about them on her Patreon account, where her 88,8 thousand followers could pay $3 to watch.
The YouTuber has received backlash for posting the images on her Patreon account, which has now been deactivated by the company.
Zav Girl releases statement defending her video
On July 11, Zav Girl issued a statement on her YouTube channel, where she has 88,000 subscribers. She said people had been “very divided on how they feel” about the video and she was “hearing a lot from both sides.”
“The reality of the situation is that different people feel differently about this,” she said. “Some people genuinely think making a video including the autopsy photos is bad and I respect their opinion and feelings.”
Others, like herself, she said, thought the photos were “interesting and informative,” and were “able to view it all in a more scientific detached way.”
“It’s just one of those things where it depends on the person,” she said.
Zav Girl said she was charging the fee because she “spent a lot of time and worked hard” putting the video together. She also said she had been dealing with threats and was going to take a step back from her channel while she dealt with them.
Gannon’s family speaks out about Zav Girl
While appearing on ‘Dan Abrams Live‘ on July 11, Michael Allen, the lead prosecutor on the Stauch case, said his office reached out to the child’s family about the photos, and revealed he’d urged them to reach out to a private attorney.
Stauch’s family has since spoken out about this, with his dad, Al, saying that there are people who have found a way to “further the evils committed against Gannon.”
“But goodness and love will prevail. For every hint of evil concocted, a preponderance of kindness outshines the darkness of those that would deepen our pain,” he told NewsNation.
“We just finished the trial just over two months ago. And now we’re having to kind of relive some of this stuff and not being able to put it behind us,” he said.
“The word I use to describe it is evil,” said Al, adding that it was a “dishonor” to his son.
Al said that he skipped only one day of the trial, the day the autopsy photos were shown to the jury, to avoid seeing the pictures.
“Now, I feel like I can’t even go on YouTube without the possibility of accidentally coming across these photos,” he said.
