The 11-month-old child had a skull fracture and dirt in his airway after disappearing during a walk, investigators say.
SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. — A homicide case against a 43-year-old New Mexico father took a darker turn after investigators said the man’s 11-month-old son suffered a skull fracture and had dirt in his airway, findings that court records say suggest the baby may have been alive when he was buried.
Those findings now sit at the center of the case against John Hannon, who is charged in the death of his son, John “JJ” Teigue Hannon. Authorities say the child disappeared after Hannon took him and another child on a walk near Flora Vista on Feb. 7. The body was found on Feb. 9 in a remote area near a ditch. Since then, prosecutors have filed felony charges, while defense lawyers have raised questions about whether Hannon is competent to stand trial.
The case file, as described by local outlets, points first to what happened after deputies got Hannon into an interview room. Investigators asked whether JJ was hurt. Hannon answered that he was “hurt bad,” according to reports based on the affidavit. When detectives showed him a photograph of the child and asked whether he had hit him, Hannon replied, “No, not technically.” Asked whether the baby had fallen or been thrown, he answered, “Neither one of those.” Later reporting on the same affidavit said Hannon admitted burying the child and told investigators, “I knew he was dead.” Another reported statement said he called it “a mistake” and said that at one point he had loved his children but that something had changed.
Before those remarks, investigators had already begun assembling a physical trail. A homeowner reported surveillance video showing a man with a stroller moving through a remote area near Flora Vista. Deputies responded and found the stroller discarded near the area in question. Hours later, Krystal Phillips reported her 11-month-old son missing and said Hannon had taken JJ and a 4-year-old child toward a nearby Dollar General, then returned without the baby. According to the sheriff’s office, he claimed a grandparent had picked up JJ. Deputies later identified Hannon as the man on the video. When they went to the RV where he was staying and he would not come out, they forced entry and found him hiding under a blanket, according to KOB.
The medical evidence outlined in court reporting pushed the case beyond a missing-child investigation. A doctor who examined the body said the infant had a skull fracture and a forehead abrasion before death. The same reporting said dirt in the child’s airway suggested he likely was alive when his face was buried in the dirt. Deputies searching on Feb. 9 found the body near a ditch, with the head and one arm covered by dirt while the torso and legs were still visible. Investigators also said shoe prints connected to Hannon were found at the same location. That combination of scene evidence and autopsy findings gave prosecutors a direct narrative of how the child died, even as authorities have not publicly laid out a motive.
Outside the forensic record, the case has exposed a broader history around the family. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department confirmed prior involvement. Local court reporting said Hannon had faced multiple domestic-related charges in 2024 and had been discharged from probation unsatisfactorily. The child’s mother had also sought a domestic-violence protection order for herself and her children, according to the same reporting, though the petition did not remain in place. Those records do not answer what happened on Feb. 7, but they help explain why the case has drawn intense scrutiny from local officials and residents as details have emerged piece by piece.
The prosecution is now moving along two tracks: proving the allegations and determining whether the defendant can legally participate in his own defense. The district attorney sought to keep Hannon in custody before trial. After several judges recused themselves, the matter landed with an out-of-district judge, who later transferred the case to the competency docket. Defense attorney Nicole Hall wrote that she had a good-faith belief Hannon might not understand the nature of the charges and had apparent memory issues. That filing paused the criminal case while a forensic evaluation is completed. Until that process is resolved, the homicide allegations will remain pending without a set trial schedule.
The result is a case still defined less by courtroom testimony than by the record investigators say they built in the first 48 hours: a missing-child call, a stroller found in the brush, a father’s conflicting account, a body near a ditch and medical findings that sharply raised the stakes. Sheriff Shane Ferrari has said the department will do everything in its power to bring justice to the child, while leaving several central questions, including motive, unanswered for now.
The next major step is the competency process, which will determine when, and how, the criminal case can proceed in San Juan County.
Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.