Man sentenced for fatally beating mentor with hammer, faces charges for allegedly killing several others
12/23/2022 12:08 pm PST
WOODBURY, N.J. (TCD) -- A 48-year-old man accused of killing multiple people in two states was recently sentenced to over three decades in prison for fatally beating his former mentor with a hammer in 2021.
The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Sean Lannon was initially arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals’ St. Louis Metro Fugitive Task Force in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 10, 2021.
Several days before his arrest, on March 5, 2021, four decomposed bodies stuffed in plastic bins were located in a vehicle in a parking garage at the Albuquerque International Sunport airport. One of those victims was reportedly Lannon’s ex-wife, Jennifer Lannon. The other three victims in the parking garage were identified as Matthew Miller, 21, Jesten Mata, 40, and Randal Apostalon, 60.
Two of the four New Mexico victims were friends with Lannon’s ex-wife, and another victim was a man who authorities say agreed to help Lannon move the bins but was unaware of what they contained, The Associated Press reports.
Sean Lannon confessed to killing all four people found at the Albuquerque airport parking garage and "11 other individuals."
Another victim’s body was found in East Greenwich, New Jersey, a few days later, on March 8. Lannon was last seen on the same day at a Camden bus station, about 18 miles from East Greenwich.
The body found in New Jersey on March 8 was identified as Michael Dabkowski, 66. According to The Associated Press, prosecutors allege that Lannon broke into Dabkowski’s home and beat him to death with a hammer.
Dabkowski was reportedly a mentor to Lannon and his twin brother in the 1980s and had worked with a youth program. Lannon alleged that Dakowski had sexually abused him as a child, and he went to the victim’s home to gather sexually explicit photos. However, Lannon’s allegations were not substantiated.
Lannon was driving Dabkowski’s stolen car when he was arrested in St. Louis on March 10, 2021.
According to The Associated Press, on Wednesday, Dec. 21, Lannon was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in Dabkowski’s slaying. He still reportedly faces charges for the death of the four victims in New Mexico.
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