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Florida Executes ‘Hog Trail Killer’ Daniel Conahan For 1996 Murder
September 11, 2026
Daniel Owen Conahan Jr. was put to death by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison for the 1996 strangulation of 21-year-old Richard Allen Montgomery in Charlotte County.
Conahan, 72, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., according to the state Division of Corrections.
Dubbed the “Hog Trail Killer,” Conahan reportedly killed Montgomery after paying him to pose for nude photos in the woods and was suspected of similar homicides in southwest Florida.
Conahan is the 15th inmate put to death this year by the state after a modern-era record 19 in 2025.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has also already signed a warrant for Curtis Wilkie Beasley to be executed Sept. 29 for the 1995 murder of a Polk County woman.
Conahan, who contested the charges, was convicted in 1999 of Montgomery’s death and his counsel sought further DNA testing of evidence collected from Montgomery’s body and the scene where the body was found.
Hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay.
The Florida Supreme Court denied a similar request for a stay last week.
Conahan’s main argument was the 30-day period between DeSantis signing the death warrant and the execution date is not long enough for him to fully investigate and litigate both his pre-warrant and post-warrant claims, which he asserts violates his due process rights.
But the Florida justices noted Conahan hadn’t identified additional claims that could be raised beyond the warrant-to-execution period and, “more crucially, ignores the fact that he had almost twenty-three years before the warrant was signed.”
Conahan was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and kidnapping. A jury unanimously recommended a death sentence.
Conahan was given the “Hog Trail Killer” moniker as he was investigated but not charged in the deaths of five other men found along remote dirt tracks that were known as hog trails from North Port to Fort Myers between 1993 and 1996.
The first body found was discovered in 1994 by hog hunters in northern Charlotte County.
According to court records, Conahan, an unemployed nurse, lured Montgomery into woods in northern Charlotte County to take nude bondage photos. Montgomery told friends he was going out to make a few hundred dollars.
Montgomery’s body was found a day later wrapped in carpet padding. Investigators were in the woods because county workers found the decomposing remains of another man later identified as Kenneth Smith.
Conahan was arrested in February 1997, accused of raping Montgomery, strangling him and cutting off his genitals to eliminate DNA tracing.
Law enforcement tied Conahan to Montgomery through a police report filed in Fort Myers by Stanley Burden, who claimed to have been assaulted after being offered $150 to pose nude while tied to a tree in 1994. Fibers linking Conahan to both Burden and Montgomery were reportedly found at Conahan’s home.
Conahan was initially charged in July 1996 with attempted murder of Burden. The charge was dropped when Conahan was charged with Montgomery’s murder.
An attorney for Conahan sought to discredit Burden by noting he as a convicted pedophile.
written by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
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