Suspect Admits to Killing 16: Police

Sean Lannon was charged with one slaying when he confessed to others, prosecutor says
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2021 3:35 PM CDT
Police: Suspect Admitted 16 Slayings
Sean Lannon   (Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office via AP)

A suspect charged in a New Jersey slaying not only admitted the crime but told police he killed 15 other people in New Mexico, authorities said. One of the New Mexico victims was Sean Lannon's estranged wife, CNN reports. A prosecutor made the revelation Friday in court, during a probable cause hearing. Lannon "admitted to the dismemberment of some of the individuals involved in those homicides," Alec Gutierrez said. "He admitted his efforts in an attempt to conceal evidence, I'll put it, in those homicides. And he admitted to killing a total of 16 people." Lannon, 47, was in court by video but didn't enter a plea. Prosecutors said they couldn't immediately verify Lannon's claims. He was arrested in St. Louis this week after a manhunt, then extradicted to New Jersey to face the charge in Gloucester County.

Lannon did tell the court he used a hammer to kill Michael Dabkowski after breaking into his home, per WCAU. He has said Dabkowski, 66, sexually abused him for years and attacked him first in the home; his public defender said the killing might have been in self-defense. His attorney didn't contest the claim that Lannon had confessed to the New Mexico killings but objected to that being included in Friday's hearing. Police said he's a suspect in the slayings of four people whose remains were found in a vehicle in an Albuquerque garage this month. One of them was Lannon's wife, Jennifer, per KOAT. The other 11 killings were "in the Grants and Cibola County area," an Albuquerque police spokesman said. Lannon is being held in New Jersey without bail. (More multiple murder stories.)

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