Indictments On 3 Murder Charges For Man Imprisoned For South Jersey Slaying

NEW MEXICO — A man convicted of murder in Gloucester County was indicted Friday on charges that he killed his estranged wife and two men in New Mexico.

Sean M. Lannon, who moved from New Jersey to the Southwest, is serving a 35-year sentence in New Jersey for bludgeoning his former to death in East Greenwich. Authorities in New Mexico also accused Lannon of killing four other people.

A grand jury in New Mexico returned an indictment on three of the murder charges, stemming from the alleged 2021 killings of his ex-wife, Jennifer, and two acquaintances — Jesten Mata and Matthew Miller. Authorities also previously accused him of killing a fourth victim in New Mexico — Randall Apostalon.

Lannon, 49, was sentenced last December to 35 years in prison for the March 2021 murder of Michael Dabkowski, 66, in Gloucester County. Officials sought his extradition to New Mexico in January.

Officials say Lannon broke into Dabowski's home on March 8, 2021 and repeatedly struck him in the head with a hammer, causing his death. Related article: Confessed Murderer Sentenced For Bludgeoning Death In South Jersey

Lannon, previously of South Jersey, claimed Dabkowski had sexually abused him as a child; Dabkowski served as mentor to him and his twin brothers in the 1980s, when they were involved in a youth program.

Lannon said that he had gone to Dabkowski’s home to get sexually explicit photos which were evidence of the abuse. No evidence was presented in court to support that claim.

Authorities said Lannon then stole Dabkowski's car. He was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 10, 2021 after a multi-state manhunt, as officials sought him for murders in New Mexico.

Lannon killed his ex-wife Jennifer and three other people in Grants, New Mexico, in January 2021, authorities said. Police found their bodies in a parked car outside an airport in Albuquerque that March, a day after officials say he boarded a plane to Philadelphia with his three children, NJ Advance Media reported.

Police said Lannon lured Jennifer, her boyfriend Mata, and Mata’s friend Miller to their deaths over a period of weeks in Grants, according to KOAT-TV and the Associated Press. They were dismembered and their remains stuffed into plastic bins, officials said.

Grants, where the three victims had been reported missing, is in Cibola County. It's about 78 miles west of Albuquerque, which is itself in Bernalillo County.

Authorities say the fourth victim, Randal Apostalon, agreed to help Lannon move the bins and was unaware of what they contained. Lannon told police Apostalon asked him for money and hinted he knew what was in the totes, and said he was angry Apostalon was trying to “extort him” according to KOAT. He told police he hit Apostalon in the head with a hammer and killed him, that report said.

Jennifer had five children. An online fundraiser for the family raised more than $21,000.

Lannon is eligible for parole in New Jersey on March 10, 2051.