WOODBURY, NJ – A man accused of killing a New Jersey man who he claims to have sexually abused him in childhood and who is a person interested in the deaths of his ex-wife and three others in New Mexico, said he is responsible for a total of 16 murders, prosecutors say – although officials have not yet corroborated his claim.
Sean Lannon, 47, said he was responsible for the murders in New Jersey and New Mexico – that he killed his wife and others, including “11 other people,” NJ.com quoted Alec Gutierrez, an assistant prosecutor in Gloucester County in Philadelphia, New Jersey suburb, as he said during a detention hearing Friday.
“He admitted to killing a total of 16 people … 15 being in New Mexico and one in the state of New Jersey,” said Gutierrez.
Authorities claim in court documents that the admission came in a phone call to a family member who told investigators in Gloucester County that Lannon expressed remorse.
Lannon was arrested in St. Louis after a search that stretched from New Jersey to Missouri. He was driving a stolen car from Michael Dabkowski, the New Jersey victim. He’s behind bars in New Jersey.
He is accused of breaking into Dabkowski’s 66-year-old home and beating him with a hammer on Monday, according to a sworn statement.
Lannon is also a person interested in the death of his wife and three other people in New Mexico. Authorities say a vehicle was discovered last week in a garage at Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico’s largest airport, containing four bodies.
The bodies were later identified as Jennifer Lannon, 39; Matthew Miller, 21; Jesten Mata, 40; and Randal Apostalon, 60. Sean Lannon lived 80 miles (130 kilometers) away in Grants, New Mexico.
Gutierrez claimed on Friday that Lannon admitted that he had lured several victims to a home in New Mexico and spun off some of them.
Concession Police Lieutenant David Chavez told the Albuquerque Journal that the authorities have no indication that Lannon’s allegations are true and that they are unaware of any missing persons or reports of homicide that fit his narrative.
“Is it possible? Of course it is possible. Is it likely? No, probably not,” Chavez told the newspaper, saying the authorities would investigate.
Grants police had been looking for Miller, Mata and Jennifer Lannon since last month and, on February 26, said that Lemos – a relative of Miller who knew the three – was wanted for questioning.
In addition to the five deaths already described by investigators, the authorities had not spoken before any other deaths in which Lannon was suspected. He was charged only with the homicide in New Jersey and was not charged in any case in New Mexico.
Public defender Frank Unger contested the probable cause of the New Jersey murder charge, arguing that Lannon entered Dabkowski’s home in East Greenwich Township with permission and that the acts that followed resulted, in the worst case, in manslaughter by provocation. passionate, NJ.com reported.
Unger claimed that Lannon had been abused and went to his home to retrieve photos because he did not want anyone to “have more control over me”.
Dabkowski mentored Lannon and his twin brother through a Big Brothers program in the 1980s, NJ.com reported. Lannon told investigators that Dabkowski had sexually abused him as a child and that he went to the man’s home to retrieve sexually explicit photos of the two together.
Unger said Dabkowski “documented these sexual assaults, these rapes, taking pictures of himself with Mr. Lannon in sexually compromised positions”.
Unger said Lannon retrieved two hammers from Dabkowski’s garage and gave them to the victim, saying, “You are going to need them. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I would suggest that this fact alone illustrates that it was not a murder on purpose. He didn’t even bring a gun home, ”he said, further claiming that Dabkowski attacked his client and was killed.
Unger also contested prosecutors’ comments about the New Mexico murders, saying that Lannon had not been charged in those cases.
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary Beth Kramer told prosecutors to limit her presentation to information relevant to the New Jersey case, but allowed limited references to New Mexico cases.
Gutierrez said the victims of New Mexico were attracted to a home and argued that the idea of Lannon being invited to Dabkowski’s home “should be looked through the lens of at least three previous New Mexico incidents.”
“These individuals, admittedly, were attracted to the residence and subsequently murdered,” he said.
Unger defended the pre-trial release, saying his client had no previous convictions and is an honorable discharge veteran of the Army.
Although he was born in Massachusetts, Lannon spent most of his early years in Gloucester County before being sent to Germany, and he has a family in southern New Jersey, including his mother and sister, and could remain locally monitoring electronically if released, said Unger.
Gutierrez said Lannon took a false name to avoid being detected when he returned to the East Coast and was arrested in New Mexico several weeks ago for not showing up and spent a week in prison.
Gutierrez claimed that Lannon admitted the dismemberment of the victims and the efforts to hide evidence and “is a significant danger to the community, based on these statements”.
The judge agreed and ordered Lannon to remain behind bars.