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Man Linked To 5 Killings In New Mexico And New Jersey Arrested In St. Louis
Sean Lannon was taken into custody two days after Michael Dabkowski was found dead in his New Jersey home and five days after the dismembered bodies of his ex-wife Jennifer Lannon and three others were found inside a car in New Mexico.
A man wanted in connection to the deaths of five people in New Mexico and New Jersey has been arrested in Missouri.
Sean Lannon, 47, was captured in St. Louis on Wednesday morning by the U.S. Marshal’s St. Louis Metro Fugitive Task Force, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey wrote in a statement.
The arrest comes five days after four dismembered bodies were discovered inside a vehicle parked in a garage at the Albuquerque International Sunport airport. The smell of decomposing flesh led security to the pickup truck where the bodies of Jennifer Lannon, 39, Matthew Miller, 21, Randal Apostalon, 60, and Jesten Mata, 40, were found inside, Albuquerque Journal reports. It's not clear when they were killed.
Jennifer Lannon is Sean Lannon’s ex-wife, whom he divorced in 2019. Miller has been missing from the small town of Grants, New Mexico since late January, where Sean Lannon also lives. Grants Police Lt. David Chavez told Oxygen.com earlier this week that investigators originally eyed Jennifer Lannon and Mata, two acquaintances of Miller, with suspicion. But there was no sign of them either.
Then on Monday, thousands of miles away in East Greenwich, New Jersey, 66-year-old Michael Dabkowski was found murdered in his home, dead via blunt force trauma to the head. Authorities linked Sean Lannon to all five murders, with acting Gloucester County (N.J) Prosecutor Christine Hoffman describing him as a "direct threat to the public."
"The rapid and successful apprehension of Lannon is the direct result of excellent collaboration between a wide array of local, county, state and federal partners," Hoffman wrote in Wednesday’s press release.
Sean has been charged with murder, robbery, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and other offenses in relation to Dabkowski’s death. He was allegedly driving a car he stole from the New Jersey man when he was captured in Missouri, NJ.com reports.
He has not yet been charged in connection with the quadruple murder in New Mexico.
A “credible witness” told investigators that Lannon confessed in a phone call that he “murdered his wife and her boyfriends in New Mexico” before killing Dabkowski in New Jersey, according to an affidavit obtained by NJ.com. The former couple had three children together. Authorities said they're safe, according to NJ.com.
In addition to Dabkowski's murder, Lannon is accused of breaking into a home on Monday in Elk Township, New Jersey while armed with a 16-inch kitchen knife and later trying to break into another, NJ.com reports.
It’s unclear if Lannon has a lawyer.
Investigators have also identified 44-year-old Daniel Lemos as a person of interest in the Albuquerque murders. He has been described as “armed and dangerous.”
Authorities encourage anyone with information to call Sgt. John Petroski of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office at 856-498-6238.
