Florida Inmate Faces Execution Over 1996 Hog Trail Murder Conviction

On Thursday, a Florida inmate was set to be executed after being convicted of one of the killings linked to the notorious Hog Trail Murders of the 1990s.

Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, received a death sentence by lethal injection for the 1996 kidnapping and strangulation of Richard Allen Montgomery. Montgomery’s mutilated remains were discovered in a wooded area of southwest Florida, a site where investigators have uncovered the bodies of at least six individuals over a three‑year period.

Florida has accounted for more than half of the 24 executions carried out nationwide this year under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is set to leave office in January. Conahan’s execution would mark the state’s 15th death‑row inmate put to death in 2024.

During DeSantis’s tenure, Florida performed 19 executions in 2025, establishing a new state high since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Conahan was taken into custody in July 1996 following a more than two‑year investigation by local and state authorities into a string of homicides where mutilated, decomposing bodies were found in a wooded section of Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers.

The killings were later dubbed the Hog Trail Murders due to the swampy, wooded settings where the victims were discovered. Over the past three decades, the case has repeatedly appeared in true‑crime documentaries and programs.

Conahan, who continues to assert his innocence, had earlier been named a person of interest in the other deaths but was never formally charged. He contended that the prosecution’s case relied solely on circumstantial evidence.

The first victim’s remains were uncovered by hunters in February 1994, with at least five additional bodies discovered over the subsequent three years. While most of the remains were badly decomposed, investigators concluded that Montgomery had likely been deceased for less than a day when his body was located.

Investigators ultimately determined that the perpetrator was specifically targeting homeless men.

Detectives began focusing on Conahan in 1996 after an incarcerated individual, who had stolen Conahan’s vehicle, alleged that Conahan had lured him to a secluded location with the promise of payment for nude photography. The informant said he fled in the car upon noticing a knife.

Conahan relinquished his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of murder and kidnapping by a judge in August 1999.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Conahan’s final appeals, among them a request for further DNA testing on evidence taken from the victim.

In his petition, Conahan stated that he had been seeking DNA analysis since March 2025 of material gathered from the crime scene and Montgomery’s body, aiming to “conclusively establish that he is not responsible for the death.”

Within 24 hours, the court determined that showing Montgomery’s bodily DNA originated from someone other than Conahan would not absolve him of guilt.

A final appeal is still pending before the United States Supreme Court.

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