WOODBURY, NJ (AP) – A man accused of murdering a New Jersey man he claims to have sexually assaulted in his youth, and who is interested in the deaths of his ex-wife and three other people in New Mexico, has said he is responsible for a total of 16 massacres, a prosecutor said – although authorities have yet to confirm his claim.
Sean Lannon, 47, said that not only did he kill his ex-wife and the three others in New Mexico, but he was also responsible for the deaths of “11 other individuals,” NJ.com said. Alec Gutierrez, an assistant prosecutor in Gloucester County, New Jersey, in suburban Philadelphia, said during a detention hearing Friday.
“He admitted to killing a total of 16 people … 15 in New Mexico and one in the state of New Jersey,” Gutierrez said.
Authorities allege in court documents that the confession came in a phone call to a family member who told Gloucester County investigators that Lannon expressed regret.
Lannon was arrested in St. Louis on March 10 after a house search in several states. He drove a car stolen from New Jersey victim Michael Dabkowski and is now behind bars in New Jersey.
He is accused of breaking into the house of 66-year-old Dabkowski and hitting him with a hammer on Monday, according to an affidavit.
Lannon is also a person involved in the deaths of his wife and three others in New Mexico. Authorities say a vehicle was discovered on March 5 in a garage at Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico’s largest airport, with 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 away in Grants, New Mexico.
Gutierrez said Friday that Lannon confessed to luring several victims to a home in New Mexico and dismembering some of them.
Grants Police Lieutenant David Chavez told the Albuquerque Journal that the authorities have no indication that Lannon’s claims are true and that they are unaware of reports of missing persons or murder that would fit his story.
“Is this possible? Sure it is. Is it likely? No, probably not,” Chavez told the newspaper, saying authorities would investigate.
Lannon has only been charged with murder in New Jersey and not cases in New Mexico.
Public defender Frank Unger challenged the likely cause of the murder charge in New Jersey, arguing that Lannon had entered Dabkowski’s home in East Greenwich Township with permission and that the acts that followed amounted to manslaughter at worst. passion, NJ.com reported.
Dabkowski mentored Lannon and his twin brother through a Big Brothers program in the 1980s, NJ.com reported. Lannon told investigators that Dabkowski sexually assaulted him as a child and that he went to the man’s house to retrieve sexually explicit photos.
Unger argued that Lannon didn’t want anyone to “control me any longer.” Dabkowski had “those assaults, those rapes documented by taking pictures of himself with Mr. Lannon in sexually compromised positions,” Unger said.
Unger said Lannon took two hammers from Dabkowski’s garage and gave them to the victim, saying, “You need these. I do not want to hurt you. “
“I would suggest that this fact alone illustrates that this was not willful murder. He didn’t even bring a gun, ”Unger said, arguing that Dabkowski attacked his client and was subsequently murdered.
Judge Mary Beth Kramer of the New Jersey Court told prosecutors to limit their presentation to information relevant to the New Jersey case, but allowed limited references to the New Mexico cases.
Gutierrez said the victims of New Mexico had been lured into a home and argued that the idea of Lannon being invited to Dabkowski’s home “must be seen through the lens of at least three previous incidents in New Mexico.”
Unger pleaded for provisional release, saying his client had no previous convictions and is a veteran of the military with an honorable discharge.
Lannon was born in Massachusetts and spent most of his early years in Gloucester County before being sent to Germany, Unger said. He has family in southern New Jersey, including his mother and sister, and could remain local on electronic monitoring upon release, the defender said.
Gutierrez said Lannon took a false name to avoid detection when he returned to the East Coast and was arrested in New Mexico several weeks ago for non-appearance, spending a week in prison.
Gutierrez claimed that Lannon admitted that the victims had been dismembered and that he was attempting to conceal evidence, and that on the basis of those statements he “posed a significant danger to the community.”
The judge agreed and ordered Lannon to stay behind bars.
This story has been updated to remove the incorrect attribution in the first paragraph about the suspect’s confession to 11 murders. It also corrects that the suspect was arrested on March 10, not March 17, and that the bodies were found at the airport on March 5, not last week.