Investigators say a false account about a grandparent pickup collapsed as deputies traced the child’s last known movements.
FLORA VISTA, N.M. — The case against a San Juan County father began to take shape when the mother of an 11-month-old boy told deputies that the child never came home from a walk, even though the father returned with another child and said a grandparent had picked the baby up.
That account, given by Krystal Phillips, placed the father, John Hannon, at the center of the boy’s disappearance and set off a search that ended the next morning with the child found dead in a remote area near Flora Vista. Prosecutors have since charged Hannon, 43, with child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence. Court records cited by local media later added grim detail, saying the baby had a skull fracture and dirt in his airway. The criminal case is now paused while Hannon undergoes a competency process.
According to investigators, Phillips told deputies she had not seen her son JJ for about a day when she called for help on the night of Feb. 8. She said Hannon had taken the infant and a 4-year-old child on Feb. 7 on what was supposed to be a trip to a nearby Dollar General. He came back with only the older child. Phillips told investigators Hannon said his mother, who lived in Colorado, had picked JJ up. That explanation would become a key early claim in the case, because detectives later said it did not match what they were finding on the ground. Her report also gave deputies a precise starting point: who last had the child, when the child was last seen and what story had been offered to explain the baby’s absence.
At almost the same time Phillips was sounding the alarm, another thread in the case was already sitting with deputies. A homeowner near Flora Vista had reported suspicious surveillance video that showed a man pushing a stroller through a remote area. Deputies responded and found the stroller discarded near a ditch. The video did not clearly show whether a child was inside, but investigators later determined the man was Hannon. That made the stroller and the video more than background details. They became the first physical markers tying the missing-child report to a specific route away from the family’s home and away from the store trip described by Phillips.
When deputies went to the RV where Hannon was staying, the case tightened further. Authorities said he did not come out when deputies tried to contact him, so they forced entry and found him hiding inside. Investigators later said he gave conflicting statements about where JJ was. In reported interview excerpts, Hannon denied that he would ever hurt the child, but he also told detectives JJ was “hurt bad.” When they asked whether he hit the baby, he answered, “No, not technically.” He rejected other simple explanations too, saying the child had neither fallen nor been thrown. Later reporting based on the affidavit said he admitted burying the child and told detectives he believed the baby was already dead.
The search ended on Feb. 9 when deputies found JJ’s body in a remote area near a ditch. Reporting based on the affidavit said the child’s head and left arm were buried while the rest of the body remained visible. Shoe prints linked to Hannon were also reported at the scene. A doctor later found a skull fracture and forehead abrasion, and dirt in the airway that investigators said suggested the baby may still have been breathing when buried. Sheriff Shane Ferrari publicly condemned the killing and said the department would do everything in its power to bring justice to the child. The sheriff’s office has said it would not publicly release the victim’s name out of respect for the family.
Even before the case reaches trial, its broader backdrop has become part of the public conversation. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department confirmed prior involvement with the family. Local reporting also pointed to earlier domestic-related cases involving Hannon and to a protection-order request filed by Phillips in the past. Those earlier records are not proof of what happened during the walk on Feb. 7, but they help explain why the allegations landed so heavily in San Juan County and why officials have treated the case as both a criminal prosecution and a test of how warning signs are handled around vulnerable children.
The next chapter will unfold in court. Prosecutors filed the felony charges on Feb. 11, but multiple judges later recused themselves, and defense attorney Nicole Hall asked for a competency evaluation, writing that Hannon did not appear to understand the charges and had memory issues. A judge moved the case to the competency docket on March 3. Hannon remains in custody while the court waits for that review, and no trial date has been set.
The story now stands at a narrow but important point: investigators have laid out a detailed account of JJ’s disappearance and death, and the court must decide when the defendant is fit to answer those allegations.
Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.