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Detectives named an ex-husband as a “person of interest” in the killing of four people whose bodies were found — some of them dismembered — in a pickup truck at the Albuquerque International Sunport last week.
Rebecca Atkins, an Albuquerque police spokeswoman, said 47-year-old Sean Lannon of Grants is wanted for questioning in the deaths of Jennifer Lannon, 39, Matthew Miller, 21, Jesten Mata, 40, and Randal Apostalon, 60.
Authorities say Sean Lannon, who shares three young children with Jennifer Lannon, is also a suspect in a New Jersey killing that happened Monday.
Chief of Detectives Tom Gilbert of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said Sean Lannon is being sought in the slaying of a man in his 60s in East Greenwich Township. He said that “it was not a random act,” and that Lannon and the man knew each other.
In a separate incident, Lannon is charged with burglary and possession of a weapon after allegedly forcing entry into a building in Monroeville, New Jersey, on Monday.
Gilbert said authorities believe Lannon, last seen in Camden, New Jersey, is still in the area and is “armed and dangerous.”
The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
“We have to approach as though he’s still within our grasp,” he said. “We feel he’s a very significant danger to the community here.”
Last Friday, a “foul odor” led Sunport security to discover the bodies of Jennifer Lannon, Miller, Mata and Apostalon in a truck on the top level of the airport parking garage. Police say that the four were not killed at the Sunport and that it’s unclear whether they were killed in the city.
Grants police Lt. David Chavez said that the bodies, which had decomposed, “were not whole” and that at least two were in pieces. Chavez said Miller, Mata and Jennifer Lannon knew one other.
“We haven’t figured out how Randal (Apostalon) fits into this,” he said of the fourth victim, who lived in Albuquerque.
Along with Sean Lannon, Chavez said Daniel “Perro” Lemos, 45, is also wanted for questioning in the case, and both men knew Miller, Jennifer Lannon and Mata, who all lived in Grants.
According to court records, Sean Lannon filed for divorce and sole custody of the couple’s children in 2018, citing his wife’s “long-standing difficulty” with drug use and “issues” with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
The Grants Police Department started looking for Miller after he disappeared Jan. 24.
Dasie Castillo, Miller’s aunt, said she heard Miller was last seen leaving to give two friends, Mata and Jennifer Lannon, a ride.
“There was a lot of rumors that were going around, and it had these cops in every different direction,” she said.
Miller’s truck was found abandoned in Grants on Feb. 9 and, a day later, Grants police said they were looking for Jennifer Lannon and Mata for questioning in Miller’s disappearance. On Feb. 18, Grants police said Miller, Lannon and Mata were all missing, and on Feb. 26, that Lemos was wanted for questioning.
Castillo said that Lemos is related to her husband and was friends with Miller and that she doesn’t know of any reason somebody would harm Miller, who was quiet and respectful.
“I don’t see it. He was good; he was harmless,” she said. “I can say that over and over until I’m blue in the face, but it’s the truth. Anybody that knows Matthew will say the same thing.”
