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FLORIDA – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., the convicted murderer known as the “Hog Trail Killer.”
Conahan, 72, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. September 10th at Florida State Prison.
The death warrant establishes an execution window running from noon September 10th through noon September 17th.
Conahan was convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and murdering 21-year-old Richard Montgomery in Charlotte County three years earlier.
Montgomery disappeared on April 16th, 1996, after telling family and friends he planned to meet someone who had offered him money to pose for nude photographs.
Utility workers discovered his body the following day in a wooded area near U.S. 41.
Investigators determined Montgomery had been bound and strangled.
Evidence recovered during the investigation ultimately connected Conahan to the killing.
Conahan waived a jury trial during the guilt phase of his case and was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and kidnapping.
A jury later unanimously recommended the death penalty.
He was sentenced to death for Montgomery’s murder and received an additional prison sentence for kidnapping.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld his convictions and death sentence in 2003.
Authorities have also investigated Conahan in connection with several other deaths in Southwest Florida that became known as the “Hog Trail Murders.”
He allegedly targeted other men and has been identified as a suspect in additional killings.
Conahan, however, was not convicted of those other deaths.
His scheduled execution stems from his conviction for Montgomery’s murder.
