Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, whose body was discovered in a wooded area that became known as the "Hog Trail Murders" site. Conahan's scheduled execution would mark the 15th person put to death in Florida this year.
Authorities found Montgomery's mutilated body in a southwest Florida wooded area where the remains of at least six people were discovered over a three-year period in the 1990s. Conahan, who has maintained his innocence, was identified by authorities as a person of interest in the other deaths but was never charged. He argued that the evidence against him was circumstantial.
Conahan was arrested in July 1996, following more than two years of investigation into a series of homicides in Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers. The "Hog Trail Murders" moniker emerged as the number of discovered bodies, often mutilated and decomposing, grew, drawing significant media attention. The first body was found in February 1994, with at least five more discovered in the subsequent three years. Investigators believed the killer was targeting homeless men.
Detectives began investigating Conahan in 1996 after an incarcerated individual claimed Conahan had lured him to a remote area and offered him money to pose for nude photos, stating the man drove off in Conahan's car after seeing a knife. Later, detectives learned of a similar case in Fort Myers where a victim reported a man who offered cash for nude photos attempted to strangle him after tying him to a tree. Conahan was initially charged with attempted murder and later with Montgomery's death.
In August 1999, Conahan waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted by a judge of murder and kidnapping. While Conahan was never charged in connection with the other homicides, a sheriff's office report concluded that all victims found within a 10-mile radius were likely killed by the same individual.
In 2007, eight bodies were discovered in Fort Myers. Four identified victims were homeless and exhibited injuries similar to those found in Charlotte County. Conahan, already on Florida's death row, was publicly identified as a person of interest in these cases, though he was not charged.
The Florida Supreme Court last week denied Conahan's final appeals, including a request for additional DNA testing on the victim. The court ruled that proving the victim had DNA from someone other than Conahan would not exonerate him. A final appeal is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida has carried out more executions than any other state this year, with 15 individuals executed under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January. Nationally, 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025, with Florida accounting for 19, a state record since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Earlier this year, Florida executed two prisoners on the same day, the first state to do so in nearly a decade.