Key facts
- Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, is scheduled for execution on Thursday.
- He was convicted of the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery.
- The case is linked to the "Hog Trail Murders," a series of killings in the 1990s.
- Authorities found Montgomery’s mutilated body in a wooded area where at least six other bodies were discovered.
- Conahan maintains his innocence and argued the evidence against him was circumstantial.
- Florida has carried out more than half of the US's 24 executions this year.
Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, is scheduled for execution on Thursday for the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery. The conviction is tied to a series of killings in the 1990s known as the "Hog Trail Murders" in Charlotte County, Florida, where at least six other mutilated and decomposing bodies were discovered over a three-year span.
Authorities identified Conahan as a person of interest in the other deaths but never charged him. He has maintained his innocence, arguing that the evidence against him was circumstantial. Conahan was arrested in July 1996 after a two-year investigation into the homicides. He waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted by a judge in August 1999.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 24 total executions in the US this year. Under Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida executed 19 people in 2025, a state record since 1976. Conahan Jr.’s sentence would make him the state’s 15th execution this year.
The Florida Supreme Court denied Conahan’s final appeals last week, including a request for additional DNA testing on evidence collected from the victim. A final appeal remains pending before the US Supreme Court.