South Jersey native admits he killed five people and was planning to kill a sixth, authorities say

A former South Jersey man suspected in multiple slayings told authorities he killed five people, including his ex-wife, and was planning to kill a sixth, according to court documents.

Sean Lannon, 47, said he killed four people in New Mexico earlier this year and killed Michael Dabkowski, 66, of Gloucester County, who was found dead in his home March 8, authorities said.

He has been charged with murder in the deaths of three of the New Mexico victims, including his ex-wife, Jennifer Lannon, 39, as authorities in Albuquerque continue to investigate the fourth death. He is also charged with murder in the fatal bludgeoning of Dabkowski.

During Lannon’s detention hearing last month before a Gloucester County judge, a prosecutor said Lannon told a family member he killed 11 other people who were involved in the drug trade in New Mexico. Authorities in that state have said they are investigating but have not substantiated those claims.

Lannon and his wife grew up in South Jersey and married in 2013 in Pennsylvania. They moved to New Mexico in 2017, then divorced two years later, according to public records.

In early March, police in New Mexico found the bodies of Jennifer Lannon; Matthew Miller, 21; Jesten Mata, 40; and Randall Apostalon, 60, in a vehicle in an Albuquerque airport parking garage. Miller’s and Mata’s bodies were dismembered, authorities said. Three of the bodies were concealed in containers, court records show.

Lannon told investigators he killed Jennifer Lannon, Mata, and Miller in the Grants, N.M., home he had shared with his ex-wife. He contended that he found her and Mata having sex in the home, so he shot her after Mata left.

A week later, Lannon said, he lured Mata back to the house and shot him, court documents say. Days later, he said, he killed Miller after seeing a sexually explicit photograph of him with one of Lannon’s children.

He told authorities he put the three bodies in Apostalon’s vehicle, then killed Apostalon in Albuquerque after he asked for more money for use of the vehicle.

After the killings, authorities say, Lannon fled to South Jersey and went to Dabkowski’s Mickleton home and beat him to death with a hammer, then stole his wallet and vehicle. He then fled to Missouri, where he was arrested.

Lannon’s lawyer said at a hearing last month that Lannon told him Dabkowski had sexually assaulted him when Lannon was about 14 years old and met him in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. A Gloucester County law enforcement source said Tuesday that no evidence has been found to substantiate Lannon’s claims of sexual abuse, but the matter remains under investigation.

Law enforcement officials in New Mexico continue to investigate Lannon’s assertion that he had planned to kill a sixth man in that state as well as his claims that he had killed others.

Lannon remains in custody at the Salem County jail.