‘Serial killer’s shocking toll
‘Admits’ to 16 slays including ex-wife
A man suspected in the deaths of his ex-wife and four others — including a South Jersey resident — has shocked authorities by confessing that he’s killed 16 people in all.
Sean Michael Lannon, 47, who was arrested by US Marshals earlier this month after a multistate manhunt, admitted to New Jersey investigators that his alleged killing spree included “11 drug dealers,” NJ.com reported.
Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Alec Gutierrez said in court Friday that Lannon “admitted to killing a total of 16 people.”
“Fifteen being in New Mexico and one in the state of New Jersey,” Gutierrez said. “It’s my understanding that the FBI is assisting New Mexico in their investigation.”
Lannon, of Grants, NM, is charged in New Jersey with the death of his one-time youth mentor Michael Dabkowski, who was found beaten to death in his East Greenwich Township home on March 8.
Lannon allegedly told cops that Dabkowski sexually abused him as a child and that he went to the home to obtain sexually explicit photos of the pair.
Although he has only been charged in that killing, authorities said he is suspected in at least four others, including the death of his exwife, Jennifer Lannon, 39.
According to investigators, he admitted to a witness that he “murdered his wife and her boyfriends in New Mexico,” NJ.com reported.
Lannon and his ex-wife, who had three children, moved from New Jersey to New Mexico before they divorced in 2019.
Lannon is also a person of interest in the deaths of three other people who were found dead with Jennifer Lannon in a pickup truck at Albuquerque International Airport — Matthew Miller, 21, and Jesten Mata and Randal Apostalon, both 60.
Some of the bodies had been dismembered.
New Mexico police said Miller and Mata knew Jennifer Lannon, but have not determined Apostalon’s connection.
Authorities have not released details of Lannon’s other alleged victims, other than to say he admitted to nearly a dozen more killings.
Sean Lannon told police his exwife had “long-standing difficulty” with drug use, and had “issues” with child welfare authorities in New Mexico, according to court records reviewed by NJ.com.
Jennifer Lannon had worked as a registered nurse in New Jersey but had her license suspended in 2018 for allegedly “diverting” medications. Her nursing license in New Mexico was revoked last year.
The US Marshal Service had a $5,000 reward for Sean Lannon’s arrest before authorities finally caught up with him March 10 in St. Louis.